In The Year of The Pig one of the striking moments, which I focused on, [stderr] is when several of the people promoting the US’ involvement in Vietnam used the same construction for their arguments; it was clear that they were tapped into a common source – presumably what are now called “talking points memos” produced by government agencies in order to get out a consistent “message” to the public.
I believe in “the deep state” but it’s not quite what people think it is: the deep state is the combined momentum of several out-of-control government agencies; their political inertia and self-interest make their actions appear to be a behind the scenes government, but it’s mostly a desire to protect their importance and budget.
There’s a fellow on Twitter who somehow came across my path, claiming that the Japanese are playing victim regarding the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima. This moves me to want to offer a refuter for those who encounter such idiocy. It’s probably not complete – feel free to tell me what to add.
There are more cold war nuclear weapons stories that I want to tell you, before we get to the SIOP and circle back to the insanity that is about to happen, as the US attempts to establish global nuclear hegemony. That sounds dramatic, I know, but people need to understand that the US is preparing to win a nuclear war. The US has always been preparing to win a nuclear war. Most of that stuff about defensive counter-strikes, etc. – that’s all lies.
My accountant says “there are only two kinds of people in hell: those who were caught in the act, and those who kept records.”
Some of the fake news that the righteous fringe get is the Jim Bakker sort: it’s the end of days, buy our bucket of tasteless high-calorie chum. Sometimes I get really nasty stuff, like this.
When does a lifeboat look like a Scotch Terrier? It would appear that, if you’re an AI, the difference is a few pixel-shifts, and that’s got interesting implications.
The first moment where I started to wonder was in 6th or 7th grade social studies. We had a textbook about “geography” which included some geopolitics; a picture on one page of Uncle Sam sitting in a circle with characteristic (even stereotypical) kids of various ethnicities. It wasn’t quite as bad as that the kid from Africa had a bone through his nose – not quite. The caption read “Americans want to be friends with everyone.” And when the page was turned, the picture was of a Red Army soldier in WWII uniform, with a ppsh tommygun held at port arms, “The Soviets want to rule the world.”
Should the US military launch nuclear weapons, if Donald Trump orders a first strike?
Congratulations to our own Shiv, whose reporting on the J20 case is in VICE. [vice]
Writing something that is timely and fact-filled, in this day of “fake news” is a huge amount of work and takes tremendous dedication. Usually I don’t have much to say about her pieces, because I’m reading them to educate myself about the oppression transpeople experience, and I’m just in absorb mode. For someone like me, who’s coming at that world from “cishet, ignorant” perspective, she’s an invaluable read.
The actions of the police state are a concern Shiv and I share, for different reasons. The stuff she’s writing about is what’s happening on the cutting end of the retro-scope and the intelligence state. All the stuff I post about surveillance is theoretical(-ish) and she’s talking about the fear that real people have to deal with, confronting the abuse of power by the state. It’s only going to get worse.