Rex
1d ago
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The have a very effective political lobby in congress that directly affects the candidates running and laws enacted in the country. Whether that’s Americans lobbying on behalf of Israel or Israel directly lobbying them is irrelevant. I think this should be uncontroversially true but examples abound. This influence appears to supersede regular Americans policy and candidate preferences and directly affects me in myriad ways.
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They clearly have the ability to influence our foreign affairs and relationships. Trump carries plently of blame for this war - but again, it seems plainly obvious to me that Israel is the reason we’ve attacked Iran twice now. There were no shortage of people telling Trump it was a bad idea. The Israeli agenda carried the day.
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Israeli concerns, preferences, and agenda repeatedly is shown to be more important than America and Americans. I don’t know what to make of USS Liberty other than that US military seems more concerned with Israeli outcomes than American lives or money.
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The USA and its citizens are reputationally impaired by #1-3.
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Israeli preferences and concerns are privileged in US media. CBS and Ellison seem to have an explicit agenda on this point. And then you have things like the Free Press and Bari Weiss coming from the other angle with “independent media” and podcasts. I put independent in quotes since I’ve seen reporting that she was bankrolled by the Israeli lobby.
I guess those are the big ones but I imagine I could come up with a few more. Additionally:
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People may say that all this is driven by Americans and American preferences for Israel and therefore israel is not to blame. That’s really irrelevant to me. Maybe that gets around the law. But the outcome is the same. And I don’t put it past Israel to be exploiting every tactic available, legal or otherwise, to have their hand directly on the wheel here.
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Chinese and Beijing do not have this level of direct effect on my day to day life - other than our easily manipulated politicians disrupting things trying to counter the Chinese superpower threat - a threat narrative that I find less than persuasive.
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The threat of global jihad and terrorism seems to have been overblown or contained. Again, the only way this influences me is the additional security theater and tax dollar spent on that over the years. Maybe this issue was comparable back in the bush days since our whole society was oriented around terrorism. But I’m also pretty critical of the whole GWOT these days, but that mania seems to have died down thankfully.
It’s a pretty simple equation really. The US is well equipped to counter other foreign threats and none of these other “enemies” have the keys to our house.
Rex
1d ago
I don’t know what to add to this thread other than to say that when I was much younger, and as recently as 5 years ago, I was always perplexed by anti semitism. I live on east coast so I know some Jews IRL. I was a big fan of Seinfeld, Larry David, Albert Brooks and dozens of other Jewish comedians and entertainers. I thought israel was a pretty badass country.
At some point thought, i guess i just started noticing too many things to ignore. Humans are excellent pattern matchers. Prior to Oct 6, I was already fed up with their behaivor. And I wasn’t singling them out. There’s lots of groups of people that are just so stereotypically antisocial that I’m crucial of.
After October 6 the volume was turned up significantly on their subversive antics. I’ve got zero love or respect for Hamas, but the Jewish and Israeli response to this was outrageous.
Then we get to this Iran Nuclear strikes and this war. Where I am at right now is israel is the single biggest external threat to the USA and my day to day life - bar none. More than china. More than islamists. More than europe. More than Russia.
I can only imagine how many others followed this same evolution. I’m sure there are some good Jewish people that would push back on all of this. And they may have some valid points. But the overwhelming amount of evidence on the other side of the ledger carries the day in my personal opinion. OPs story is just but one example. They are just so darn disproportionate in any response to a real or perceived slight.
Other option: the geo-physical event is coming in the near to medium term and he’s moving to safer territory. At least that’s where my mind went. South America is speculated to ride things out better than North America.
Edit: on a more serious note (not implying the GE is not serious, just less serious), maybe he just realized NZ is a terrible hedge. It seems to me that the commonwealth countries are far more pozzed than the US. It seems hard for me to imagine the government there will be friendly, despite what money can can throw around. As someone else mentioned, if shit hits the fan, they will not let him live the good life while their fake country collapses.
Rex
24d ago
Fascinating. I love a good conspiracy theory. Something about DarwinismTM doesn’t sit right with me. I’m not a young earth creationist, but it does seem there are a lot of big outstanding questions. And it’s presented to every Westerner as a fairy tale story in school.
Why is this? Well it’s obvious. Politics.
Try bringing this up in typical PMC company and see their reaction.
Rex
1mo ago
I certainly could be wrong, but I read “You're way too sure no canoe could ever cross the great sea.” as a a more general comment on how definitive your dismissals are in general. It’s likely there are many unknown unknowns here. Unless it’s your claim that we have all the answers when it comes astrophysics, xenobiology, and the history of the galaxy.
Between the “look dude” in your reply to me and the emotional response here, perhaps we should all move on from this thread. You seem to have a bone to pick on the topic. No one’s asking you to believe in aliens. It’s just a fun topic that seems to be taking a CW turn.
Rex
1mo ago
I think you may have missed my point. You’re confidently suggesting that because ETs are unlikely, the evidence of unexplained phenomena are uninteresting, unimpressive, and not worth further investment.
I want to ask you specifically, have you considered the following:
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[https://www.overcomingbias.com/p/many-big-pre-sputnik-earth-orbit](Pre Sputnik Sky Survey) showing anomalous things in our sky
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[https://a.co/d/068TpBaG](UFOs and Nukes by Robert Hastings), a clinical examination of UFO observations around US and Soviet nuclear weapons. Includes the record interviews with some of our most well trained service members in control of nuclear weapons. People that are under constant monitoring for substance abuse and mental issues.
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Official USA releases of the GoFast, Gimbal, and other AARO videos/pictures showing objects that defy conventional explanation or at the very least, would require other tenuous explanations.
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Hundreds of interviews with people who worked in some official capacity at the government that say, on the record, I saw something that is not explained by conventional science.
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Historical accounts of similar experiences, e.g. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1561_celestial_phenomenon_over_Nuremberg](Nuremberg 1951) or [https://unidentifiedphenomena.com/people/diana-pasulka/](Diana Pasulka)’s academic research comparing historical religious accounts of encounters that map closely to modern UAP)
Any one story or observation can be explained away. When taken together, in my opinion, there is something happening that that explains all of this that is unknown or concealed from the general public. There’s too much smoke here for it to be nothing. ETs are just one possibility.
I suspect you have not thought too deeply about the specifics here. Especially what’s new to public since 2015. And that’s okay. It’s a niche interest. But to confidently express “I’m not impressed”, and then go on to emphatically explain why one narrow explanation is clearly false… is closed minded.
With all of that said I ask your opinion on this: do you think there is some unexplained here worth further time money and interest to investigate? Or is it a big jerk off waste?
Rex
1mo ago
I think my negativity is warranted.
The VASCO stuff is fascinating and those people deserve our utmost respect for doing this work in public.
The VASCO findings, along with everything else released by DoW will be ignored. It seems to me that certain people will not update their priors on this topic. They’ve not considered VASCO and will not consider other evidence that’s been released over the past few years. The rebuttals have not changed in 30 years.
There is a certain institutional arrogance at work here. Opinions have been cemented and mockery has been the protocol. /u/self_made_human made the case against ETs quite clearly. In some people’s mind, we have learned all there is to know about the material world. If we don’t, well the. Surely someone would have published a peer reviewed study on it somewhere and we therefore have incorporated it into the corpus of scientific knowledge.
It’s certainly possible that all of the testimony from government and military personnel is a mass hysteria or a scam. It’s possible the hundreds or thousands of pictures and sensor readings are just mistakes, visual artifacts, or frauds.
I’m rooting for more to be released though. If for no other reason than to see the increasingly absurd contortions that certain people will go through rather than admit they were wrong.
Rex
1mo ago
You’ve set up a nice strawman there batting down an ET explanation.
It seems to me that more people than ever are exploring non ET explanations.
The point of all of this is that there is a very long list of observations that do not comport to known phenomenon.
We also have a long list of government insiders who have talking about seeing, hearing, and being involved programs that are related to unexplained or unacknowledged phenomenon.
It sounds like you are bit hostile to the idea that there is something going on here that doesn’t fit neatly into our current understanding of how nature works. Why is that?
Someone above suggested I was being a hard on Science. I think this is exactly it right here.
Rex
1mo ago
The Dept of War has released a new batch of UAP documents at https://war.gov/ufo/
This is supposedly the first in a series of releases that will come out in the coming months. Trump has made repeated comments that he intends to declassify what the government has in UAP and that the public can make up its own mind.
There are many pages of documentation being sifted through this morning. The initial reaction seems to be that this is largely more of the same grainy video that we’ve previously had - with a few key exceptions. The big on being reporting by Peter Doocey is NASA records (picture and communications logs) from the Apollo missions. NASA astronauts reporting and confirming observations of very bright luminescent angular objects tumbling in the moons atmosphere. Also appearing formation in some videos. The NASA comms logs seem significant. Trained military and science professionals of the highest order. Reporting that they see a bogey out the window. Ground control asks “is that the booster?”. Astronaut says “it’s a bogey”.
From a culture war perspective, it’s going to be interesting to see how politics impacts this. Already the /ufo/ subreddit is completely fixated on the fact that Trump is behind this and that it’s a bit distraction from the Epstein files. While there is no smoking gun here, it’s obviously an escalation of the disclosure trend that started nearly 10 years ago. There are reports that subsequent release will include the infamous 46 HD videos that congress has seen. Also reports of potential anomalous (ET?) bodies.
We’re also in a very unfortunate position where conspiracy, uap, and other paranormal phenomena have been politicized. It’s impossible for me to believe that ScienceTM will take any real interest in this. I wonder when that dam will break. They are so invested in the pre-disclosure narrative that they will not update without something truly shocking being released.
It’s understandable that people remain skeptical. That being said, there is now an overwhelming amount of evidence out there that something is going on outside of what mainstream science will recognize. There are countless government insiders that have told their stories.
I personally don’t claim to know what to make of all of this. But I continue to update my priors on the following:
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There are NHI entities or technology regularly interacting with earth.
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There are one or more ET civilizations that are currently on earth and have formal relationships with various states.
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There are public and private organizations that have advanced technologies beyond conventional energy and aerospace tech.
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There are terrestrial breakaway civilizations from the deep past or present with otherwise unknown technology.
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There are paranormal phenomena and metaphysical entities that are the source of all of these events.
How about you all? Anyone else adjusting lately?
Edit. Link to nasa logs.
Rex
2mo ago
I listen to Carlson regularly. He’s quite specifically criticizing Israel and specific political groups. Not Jews. I’d reccomend you look into it a bit more.
Unless Jews and Israel are synonymous to you. Which would seem to be an obvious error.
Rex
2mo ago
Or try to raise abstinent kids by not teaching them about sex, which commonly results in teen pregnancies.
Not to derail things. But how true is this? I know people say that. But i find it hard to believe someone would commission, publish and report on a study that says Catholic abstinance sexed in fact reduces pregnant, harm, whatever.
I know you said “not teaching about sex” which is a straw man version of the argument.
I have no idea. But I could easily imagine how a religious abstinence approach is superior to the modern public school insanity that is sex and gender.
Rex
2mo ago
I doubt anyone else will offer this advice, but here it goes. He should approach this like a man would have approached it for all of human history until like the the last 10 minutes. Find a woman, have a family, and whack off to your gay porn/golden shower fantasies in the actual shower every morning.
The modern approach to homosexuality is so incredibly self indulgent. Maybe the thought of wife and kids is horrific to a young gay man. But consider the alternative - ending up an old queen, alone, no legacy, dwindling family.
The idea that one needs to orient their entire life around a sexual preference is disordered - no matter what that preference is.
I hear there are effective treatments these days too. CBT and/or Jesus.
I mean all of this sincerely. There’s likely no one else offering this advice.
Rex
2mo ago
If you listen to Mike Duncan’s History of Rome podcast, it’s amateur history done well. The conversational format that summarized his work was done well, even though it still caters more to junk food intellectualism. His work hasn’t been received well by historians. Academics that have read The Storm Before the Storm for instance have reviewed it and said “… he’s just aping what Appian and Plutarch have said…” “Pop” history isn’t “history.” In fact, actual “history” is very boring IMO. It’s learning foreign languages, academics debating dry, arcane details that are inaccessible to the understanding of a lay audience. So even then, it’d be unfair and biased for me to knock on Rogan, because I also enjoy people like Duncan, despite knowing much of what he’s done is flawed.
Are you sure about this or just convinced by their argument? I think academics are arguing in bad faith here. I think they’re insanely jealously of people like Duncan. These “amateurs” that are able to get an audience and minor celebrity while they toil away. I sense extreme resentment. I don’t know if Mike Duncan’s history is good or bad from a technical perspective. I do know I don’t trust an academic to assess it fairly.
Rex
3mo ago
I suspect there is some novelty to “chicks with dicks”. I imagine there’s some small population of transsexuals that are indistinguishable from women (except for extremely close inspection) who also have a dick. High sex drive or otherwise perverted men may find that interesting. Of course there’s a spectrum to the chicks with dicks and the men who experience them. But it seems pretty simple to me.
Rex
4mo ago
I hope that you are wrong and 2rafa is correct. I suspect you are right, though. Interesting take.
Rex
4mo ago
I had a similar response. It’s hard to see anything in the video. But even if the officer technically made a mistake, there was enough confusion there (due to the hysterical protesters) that I believe he is blameless.
There is no situation where Trump admin should give a single inch on this. No situation where the man should be subject to the hostile MN government apparatus.
I agree with your points. And I think it supports FC’s well articulated post. Europe is a leverage point for US blue tribe. Red Tribe should not let them have that uncontested.
And while I might like to see NED go, it’s fairly remarkable things like NED and USAID are even getting news articles. There is at least one person in the administration that is clued in.
Edit:I don’t agree with the intelligent people jab, honestly. I’m born and raised in a blue area but spent a decent amount of time doing business with industry in red tribe areas. It’s actually a trope to see the junior people on my team act shocked when they realize the engineer, who they can barely understand through the southern/rural accent, is a a brilliant engineer or some other SME.
Rex
4mo ago
This plus some random literal who leaker saying that Trump has written his disclosure speech and is just trying to time it right - and avoid China or Russia beating him to the punch.
Rex
4mo ago
Another example of was the concerted push of 2024 to enact the EU Digital Safety Act and bring the EU regulatory machine to bear on US social medial platform. With the implicit, if not explicit goal of shutting down and Red Tribe speech and hurt electoral prospects. The only reason this didn’t happen was Trump getting elected and having leverage over them. I have no doubt they will try again as soon as they are able. It would not surprise me in the least bit if deep state cutouts like the National Endowment for Democracy actively and publicly were involved.
I think the framing of “Greenland or NATO” is interesting.
It seem plausible, if not probable, that the administration wants to end NATO. Or at least wouldn’t be sad to see nato go. It’s certainly a high risk gambit, but I don’t think I’m totally against ending nato.
I’ve long felt our European allies have been pretty terrible friends for my entire life. Their biggest sin was getting involved in internal USA party politics. It’s clear that they have a common vision with establishment Democrats and are actively hostile to the political goals of MAGA. They’ve been interfering with our elections since at least 2020. If Harris had won, I have no doubt that the EU would have done everything it can to destroy Elon Musk and X.
I think the Trump administration has recognized that we’re in a multi-polar world. The plan is to retrench to the Americas. I don’t see how nato fits into that. Especially if we have Greenland.
Edit:
Two threads below this:
Amelia is a supporting character in the U.K. government-funded educational visual novel Pathways, a game developed by Shout Out UK to teach the youth about extremism and radicalization. In the game, Amelia is depicted as a far-right anti-immigration activist with purple hair, a pink dress, a purple sweater and a goth or e-girl appearance, who tries persuading the protagonist to join her cause.
I don’t know how we can work with an “ally” that does this. This is just one drop in an ocean of shit that comes from our “friends” in Europe and the anglosphere. Even if you believe (the likely true) theory that European countries are just branch offices of US deep state, I don’t see why we should allow them to share resources.
This is a much more salient problem for me than Russia and China.
Rex
5mo ago
I’ve never actually read a kulak post before, rather I only vaguely recall his posting and people sneering at him here.
That was actually a pretty good read though. A little long, but a decent bit of humor and some novel ideas.
Rex
5mo ago
I actually disagree and I wonder if this line is just propaganda that millennials have been fed our whole lives.
It seems to be that a large percentage (30%, 60%, 90%?) of gay men truly enjoy being deviant. The gayness is part of their expression of being counter to normal behavior. Many seem to lament the mainstreaming of gayness having taken a lot of the fun out of it. Deviant, abnormal sex is explicitly part of the appeal.
No kidding. It’s my opinion. How would you suggest we quantitatively prove a relative threat?
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