thewashingtonstandard--2020-09-09--Though Our Founding Fathers Warned Us Of The Two Party System, Americans Get Played By It Every Sing

Though Our Founding Fathers Warned Us Of The Two Party System , Americans Get Played By It Every Single Day & Every Single Election Cycle While Americans promote their favorite political idol from the two dog bowls served up by the mainstream media and the political parties in power that lie to us on a daily basis .
Yet , Americans have been subjecting themselves to this for more than 170 years and look at where it ’ s gotten us ?
It ’ s made us more divided and more under the boot of tyranny to the point we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t breathe .
However , our founding fathers warned us about succumbing to this two party tyranny and yet , most Americans succumb to it and the propaganda promoted by the two parties , as well as the mainstream media , which acts as a fake referee between the two while they simulate WWE .
If you don ’ t get my reference to WWE , watch Bradlee Dean ’ s Circus of Politics .
Also , keep in mind that there is a scripted , psuedo-war between Democrats and Republicans , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It ’ s fake , it ’ s entertainment and nothing more .
The two party system does not follow the law .
Instead , they go around the law , pretend to legislation and execute law while ignoring the law , and who profits ?
It certainly is not the people they serve .
Rather , it is both them and the special interests behind them that fill their pockets with dishonest gain .
As we draw nearer to election day , this will become more and more apparent , showing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ design .
But first , let me just remind you that I ’ m not the only one pointing this out .
Founding fathers like George Washington and John Adams also pointed it out .
There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties , each arranged under its leader , and concerting measures in opposition to each other .
This , in my humble apprehension , is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution .
George Washington agreed , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The alternate domination of one faction over another , sharpened by the spirit of revenge , natural to party dissension , which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities , is itself a frightful despotism .
But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism .
The disorders and miseries , which result , gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual ; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction , more able @ @ @ @ @ @ @ turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation , on the ruins of Public Liberty Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind , ( which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight , ) the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it .
It serves always to distract the Public Councils , and enfeeble the Public Administration .
It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false @ @ @ @ @ @ @ part against another , foments occasionally riot and insurrection .
It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption , which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions .
Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another .
There is an opinion , that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the Government , and serve to keep alive the spirit of Liberty .
This within certain limits is probably true ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Patriotism may look with indulgence , if not with favor , upon the spirit of party .
But in those of the popular character , in Governments purely elective , it is a spirit not to be encouraged .
From their natural tendency , it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose .
And , there being constant danger of excess , the effort ought to be , by force of public opinion , to mitigate and assuage it .
A fire not to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to prevent its bursting into a flame , lest , instead of warming , it should consume .
Are you awake yet ?
Or do you just think you are awake while you yet sleep while the puppet masters provide the American people with a false divide-and-conquer dog-and-pony show to keep divided and distracted ?
Article posted with permission from Sons of Liberty Media

Though Our Founding Fathers Warned Us Of The Two Party System, Americans Get Played By It Every Single Day & Every Single Election Cycle
While Americans promote their favorite political idol from the two dog bowls served up by the mainstream media and the political parties in power that lie to us on a daily basis. Yet, Americans have been subjecting themselves to this for more than 170 years and look at where it’s gotten us? It’s made us more divided and more under the boot of tyranny to the point we are literally at the point we can’t breathe. However, our founding fathers warned us about succumbing to this two party tyranny and yet, most Americans succumb to it and the propaganda promoted by the two parties, as well as the mainstream media, which acts as a fake referee between the two while they simulate WWE.
If you don’t get my reference to WWE, watch Bradlee Dean’s Circus of Politics.
Also, keep in mind that there is a scripted, psuedo-war between Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, right and left. It’s fake, it’s entertainment and nothing more.
The two party system does not follow the law. Instead, they go around the law, pretend to legislation and execute law while ignoring the law, and who profits? It certainly is not the people they serve. Rather, it is both them and the special interests behind them that fill their pockets with dishonest gain.
As we draw nearer to election day, this will become more and more apparent, showing the Balkanization of the American people by design.
But first, let me just remind you that I’m not the only one pointing this out. Founding fathers like George Washington and John Adams also pointed it out.
John Adams said:
There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.
George Washington agreed, saying in his farewell presidential speech:
The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty
Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind, (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight,) the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.
It serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.
There is an opinion, that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the Government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of Liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in Governments of a Monarchical cast, Patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in Governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And, there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.
Are you awake yet? Or do you just think you are awake while you yet sleep while the puppet masters provide the American people with a false divide-and-conquer dog-and-pony show to keep divided and distracted?
Article posted with permission from Sons of Liberty Media


thewashingtonstandard--2020-09-09--Woke Capitalism: How Huge Corporations Demonstrate Status by Endorsing Political Radicalism

It ’ s a rather strange claim of the American far left that their interests are opposed to that of corporate America , because there ’ s virtually no evidence to support it .
Quite the contrary : During the wave of Black Lives Matter rioting that took place during the early summer of 2020 , American corporations marched in lockstep .
Not only did they use social media to swear fealty to this political movement , but they also made massive internal changes in conformity with BLM propaganda .
It ’ s called “ woke capitalism ” and while @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s certainly more prevalent than it ever has been .
The term itself was coined by conservative editorial writer Ross Douthat in 2018 .
He succinctly summed up what woke capitalism is : superficial nods toward cultural leftism that allow the company to do what it really exists to do – make money .
You might be confused or think that there ’ s something ironic or askew about major corporations backing supposed “ rebel ” ideologies .
However , this stems from a very surface understanding of the topic .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the motivation for large corporations siding with ostensibly “ anti-capitalist ” groups will come clearly into focus .
What is “ Wokeness ?
” : Understanding “ Critical Theory ” and The Frankfurt School Before going any further , we should spend some time defining what “ wokeness ” means .
Wokeness is a kind of shorthand for an area of the American political left that is obsessed with identity politics .
This is , as the name would imply , the politics of identity .
Thus , people are not rational actors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Rather , they are little more than a collection ( or , in the parlance of this ideology , the intersections ) of skin color and séxuality .
Socioeconomic class might enter into this , but if it does , it ’ s generally as an afterthought .
While Marxism might play some influential role , the wokeists are far more likely to locate the revolutionary subject in , for example , trans-identified black men than it is the working class .
One can understand the hostility of the “ woke ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ context : it is much more revolutionary under the guidelines established by wokeism , to put more racial minorities with unusual séxual identities on the board of Lockheed-Martin and Goldman-Sachs than it is to provide for greater economic equality on behalf of their workers .
The bedrock of wokeness is not classical Marxist socialism , but something called “ critical theory ” and in particular its variant “ critical race theory.
” This has its roots in the Frankfurt School and an early 20th-century Italian philosopher and politician named Antonio Gramsci .
Gramsci @ @ @ @ @ @ @ power preceded political power .
Thus , to have a Marxist political revolution , one first needed a Marxist cultural revolution .
This was to be accomplished by a “ long march through the institutions.
” What this means is that leftists were to infiltrate every institution of significance and gain power within them .
We can see the result of this idea today .
While American leftists bear little , if any , resemblance to Marxists of old , they have penetrated our institutions and dominate culturally – in academia , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as well .
If one were to read the Communist Manifesto , there are a series of demands at the end , most of which have come to fruition such as universal public education , a progressive income tax , a national bank , and the industrialization of agriculture .
This isn ’ t to say that there is a massive Gramscian conspiracy with thousands of members .
Such a thing would be completely impossible to prove or disprove .
However , the kernel of the idea has taken root , in part @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and in part because it simply seems to have largely been a successful operation .
Thus “ critical theory ” is effectively a sociological philosophy and method that involves constant ideological attacks on Western civilization .
Its guiding principle is that Western civilization is based on subjugation , dominance and tyranny .
This takes many forms including “ racism , ” “ patriarchy , ” “ heteronormativity ” and “ cisséxism ” – all of which are predicated upon weaponized guilt .
Weaponized guilt is essentially taking those elements of Western and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ fair play , ” and turning them against the culture itself .
Indeed , the selection of the name “ Black Lives Matter ” is a masterstroke in weaponizing guilt : The only possible disagreement ( or so say the advocates and allies of the movement ) is that you don ’ t think black lives do actually matter .
But , of course , except for extremely isolated , marginalized and numerically insignificant pockets , virtually everyone agrees that all lives have the same value .
Indeed , it is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that this is true .
It is nearly axiomatic .
The Declaration of Independence declares that the basic equality of men is “ self-evident.
” No one would even know where to begin “ arguing ” this , simply because it is so accepted as a fact .
It ’ s worth noting that wokeness largely entered the American political vernacular after the fall of the Occupy Movement .
This is not an endorsement of either the Occupy Movement specifically , nor economic reductionism and confiscatory tax redistribution schemes more generally .
However @ @ @ @ @ @ @ corporate affinity for a seemingly “ radical ” form of politics requiring nothing in the way of actual financial sacrifice began after the death of a political movement demanding corporate accountability and economic redistribution starting at the very top .
A “ conspiracy , ” or however we wish to define it , is not the only reason that Wall Street loves wokeness .
Beyond the misdirection , there is also a lot of money to be made catering to the woke .
This has nothing to do with what “ most people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rather , it has to do with catering to those on the coasts and within bigger cities in the interior of our nation .
Almost all of the income growth in America over the last ten years has been concentrated in cities in Southern California , Silicon Valley and the Pacific Northwest , hotbeds of leftism in general and wokeism in particular .
However , even places outside of these regions that have seen income growth tend to be far left-leaning .
Examples include Austin , TX , Denver , CO and Nashville @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the larger companies in America , including the big banks in New York , the tech companies in Silicon Valley , the entertainment industry in South California and the cable news companies that cover the goings on in Washington , D.C. , are all interested in chasing after the dollar of urban wokes .
Increased wealth concentration , including the massive transfer of wealth that happened under the COVID-19 panic and subsequent lockdown , have made big companies increasingly the only game in town , with smaller , more responsive Main Street @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where they continue to exist at all .
It ’ s not that big companies think they ’ re too good for your money – they just know that you don ’ t have anywhere else to go .
The Colin Kaaepernick sneaker incident is an excellent example of woke capitalism in action .
In times past , companies generally avoided wading into controversial social issues .
After all , in the words of Michael Jordan , “ Republicans buy shoes too.
” But in an attempt to appeal to Generation Z ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , many companies are deciding that it ’ s worth alienating rural and exurban flyover people in favor of courting the woke dollar .
For Nike and many other companies , this commitment to “ social justice ” doesn ’ t run much deeper than marketing .
Nike knows it has a disproportionately black customer base .
But only 8 percent of their vice presidents are black .
What ’ s more , the company is notorious for using sweatshop labor in the third world to produce its expensive sneakers .
Some other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the woke left : While there is certainly no direct overlap between a college education and being a radical wokeist , the woke are certainly clustered around America ’ s college campuses and the cities that they move to after graduation .
( The average college graduate is going to earn over $ 1 million more than their less educated counterpart over the course of their life . )
There is also the spectre of the unmarried and the childless : these people will also have significantly greater disposable income than married couples @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
All of this adds up to a very lucrative market , both for catering to the woke and pillorying the unwoke .
There is no shortage of examples of either on your television during commercials .
One of the most disturbing elements of wokeism is its evangelistic quality .
As we saw during the riots of 2020 , it was not enough simply to not be racist .
One was now required to be an active “ anti-racist ” under the definition and terms established by the woke .
Those who failed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ way that went far beyond simply being hassled online .
People ’ s jobs and livelihoods were attacked in a manner befitting a Communist dictatorship .
The very notion of dialogue and civil debate isn ’ t just missing .
There ’ s a deep hostility to the notion that there is any point of view other than the most woke possible .
There is a line in the sand : On one side , there are the people who believe that America is a profoundly racist country and that this colors every @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other side , there ’ s anyone who is even mildly skeptical of this – and the people on this side are “ white supremacists.
” By the logic of wokeism , these people deserve anything that happens to them ( including being “ cancelled ” ) .
What this means is that wokeism does not simply operate in the background of the rest of society .
You can not simply ignore the cringe-inducing woke commercials on your television and not click the frankly hateful and racist articles of the woke online .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ wokeism .
Think back to the social media phenomenon of large companies denouncing alleged “ white supremacy ” with a black square .
Compliance with this was required , as if one were painting blood over their threshold to avoid the plague of the firstborn in ancient Egypt .
Corporations have begun echoing this rhetoric on social media , but there is a far more insidious element of wokeism ’ s radical evangelism : the “ diversity training seminars ” that are now de rigueur in the workplace .
While often positioned as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ increase workplace cohesion , these are in fact little more than Maoist struggle sessions – for all employees .
We categorically reject the assumption that these are any more comfortable for non-white employees than they are for the white ones .
So what goes on at these seminars ?
There was a taxpayer-funded seminar in Seattle that acts as an excellent exemplar of such .
It was called “ Interrupting Internalized Racial Superiority and Whiteness.
” This has nothing to do with eliminating racism as is commonly understood .
If we ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that individual racism has largely been eradicated in America , especially among educated people .
This seminar and others like it are about pillorying whites and eroding workplace solidarity – and also about cushy little gigs for those giving the seminars , which aren ’ t cheap .
The seminar includes instruction in qualities that allegedly represent “ white supremacy.
” These include objectivity , perfectionism and comfort .
They also ascribe some rather insidious qualities to whites in toto : arrogance , violence and anti-blackness .
These are the exact words used @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to engage in “ self-talk ” that “ affirms complicity in racism.
” As is often the case , there is not really a “ right ” answer for whites taking the seminar .
Talk too much at one of these events and you ’ re imposing yourself and dominating the conversation .
Talk too little and “ silence is violence.
” The Seattle seminar was only for white employees .
So to be clear , the City of Seattle used taxpayer dollars to propagandize at and pillory white employees in a segregated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public records requests , City Journal editor Christopher F. Rufo was unable to find any information about who ran the seminar or how much it cost the taxpayers .
While the seminar might sound extreme , it ’ s not .
In fact , these are happening all across the country in America ’ s workplaces and on our college campuses – and many times even in elementary schools .
They are totalitarian in nature but are increasingly a requirement of continued employment .
Employees who push back against them can expect disciplinary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their employment .
There is also the specter of “ racism ” hanging above anyone with even the slightest opposition or skepticism : they must be secret racists or else they ’ d be as gung ho as everyone else .
Many have noted the religious aspects of wokeism that go beyond its evangelical zeal .
This includes a concept of “ original sin ” ( whiteness ) , holds blacks and ( to a lesser degree ) indigenous peoples as a sort of “ holy ” race , and has a process @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of religious thought is missing – there is no process for redemption in the world of the woke .
One may “ do the work ” as the saying goes , but there is no way to complete it and be redeemed .
The fallen are simply fallen and constantly repaying their debt in a sort of state of karmic bankruptcy .
Every ideology and movement has its foundational text .
In the case of woke capitalism , this is White Fragility : Why It ’ s So Hard for White People to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ She earns a whopping $ 12,000 a day to lecture white people on their alleged racism .
That doesn ’ t include travel expenses , meals or accommodations .
Good work if you can get it and she does : DiAngelo has worked with companies such as Amazon , Netflix , Nike , Facebook , Under Armour , CVS , Goldman Sachs and American Express .
DiAngelo ’ s critics are not restricted to the right .
Socialist journalist and podcaster Matt Taibbi has described her writing as espousing a “ Hitlerian race @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for robbing black people of agency or condescending to them in other ways .
The term “ white fragility ” itself works a kind of magic for DiAngelo and the proponents of this theory .
It is , for them , axiomatic that all white people are racist simply for existing .
Any words or actions whites take in their defense is de facto evidence of white fragility .
While $ 12,000 a day might sound like a lot of money , we should compare the corporate cost of a DiAngelo seminar to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ additional benefits , or providing mentoring programs for new employees or literally anything that might benefit employees in the long term .
Such programs would be extremely costly in comparison to the piddling cost associated with a day of lost productivity spent on indoctrination , which also has the important side benefits of eroding worker solidarity and providing a cheap and easy PR win for woke consumers .
It hardly seems worth explaining how much power large corporations have over the United States .
However , we should take a moment to examine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public policy .
Consider the proposition , totally uncontroversial within living memory , that biological séx is a real thing .
Note that this does not require some rigid enforcement of social expression of gender : one does not need to believe that “ boys wear blue and girls wear pink ” to accept the existence of biological séx .
But states have been targeted by large businesses for the crime of codifying this belief , again , totally uncontroversial in recent times .
North Carolina was brought to heel by a coordinated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ passed a law barring trans-identified men from women ’ s bathrooms .
All told , the boycotts cost the state nearly $ 4 billion .
The 2017 boycott of North Carolina is hardly the only example of woke corporations bringing state governments to heel .
For example , when Georgia passed a law defending the rights of the unborn , Hollywood leapt to action .
Because a lot of television shows and movies are filmed in Georgia – for the cheap labor and tax incentives – the entertainment industry quickly declared that it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ law restricting abortion .
Even state flags aren ’ t safe from the attack of woke capitalism .
The SEC and the NCAA publicly discussed a boycott of the state of Mississippi , as did other companies .
This was during the moral panic about “ racism ” that followed the death of George Floyd in Minnesota .
One political entity that woke capitalism does not see fit to challenge ?
The People ’ s Republic of China .
Indeed , the NBA brought a general manager to heel over his support of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outspoken coach Steve Kerr was strangely silent on the topic .
And while the NBA has now approved political statements on jerseys , “ Free the Uighurs ” isn ’ t one of them .
If the only problem were state governments being undermined , woke capitalism would still be a serious problem .
However , there are numerous examples of private individuals being targeted by woke mobs with quick compliance from their corporate overlords .
Indeed , socialist podcaster Aimee Terese has likened the woke mob to a sort of HR department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mobs is often remarkably similar to that which is used by HR departments , particularly when they roll out diversity training seminars .
A graphic designer at the Washington Post was fired after it was revealed that she attended a 2018 party in blackface .
She was confronted at the party , left in tears and apologized to her hosts the very next day .
None of this was enough for the woke mob .
The designer was fired after a large – and largely manufactured by the Post itself – outrage .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ deeply uncomfortable with the decision to run an article outing the woman .
Around the same time , a 62-year-old communications chief at Boeing was fired for comments he made in 1987 at the age of 29 .
The man was very clear that these were not his opinions today .
For reference , Barack Obama opposed same-séx marriage until 2015 , which means he opposed it during both of his presidential campaigns .
In what is perhaps the most outrageous example of woke mobs getting a man fired , a truck driver @ @ @ @ @ @ @ OK ” hand sign , which is claimed by many to now be a symbol of white supremacy .
Even after an investigation into the matter by his employer , he was fired .
If all of this has you wondering “ why , ” you ’ re not alone .
Many have pondered the question of why corporations want to take a stake in politics .
It goes without saying that there is a massive political advantage to corporations being able to throw their weight around in this way and that there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attempt to claim power whenever and wherever the opportunity presents itself .
What ’ s more , diversity training seminars and woke mobs make it much easier to fire – and thus control – employees .
The best part is that this kind of progressive posturing comes at absolutely no cost to the company .
They don ’ t have to pay their younger workers in expensive cities higher wages , thus opening up the possibility of employment to those whose parents can not subsidize the first few years of their career .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ onsite childcare or other tangible – and expensive – benefits that might actually address some of the issues that these corporations feign concern about .
Instead , they can pay the relatively inexpensive annual fee for a diversity training seminar , throw out some woke branding on social media and be done with the matter .
But don ’ t expect the Washington Post to demand that Amazon start paying taxes anytime soon .
There is a sort of cliche online about corporate wokeness : “ get woke , go broke.
” But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and found it to not be true : In fact , all metrics point toward wokeness having absolutely no impact on the company ’ s bottom line either way .
So why do they do it ?
We ’ ve hinted at the reason for woke capitalism throughout this article .
It is a form of misdirection whereby huge companies can avoid dealing with thorny labor relations issues by throwing a bone to leftist cultural interests .
Remember that the left and the Democratic Party are formerly fixated on issues of economics and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The former is a much more expensive position for large corporations than the latter .
But we should also mention that there are potentially toxic unintended consequences of woke capitalism .
It ’ s not our contention that whites in America are an oppressed class , but it ’ s clear that anti-white racism is socially acceptable : You ’ re not going to get banned from Twitter for tweeting out “ I hate white people.
” What ’ s more , whites believe that they are increasingly the target of racism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is entirely besides the point .
The perception is far more important than the reality when discussing this topic .
Inflaming racial animosity between whites and everyone else will have dire consequences for the nation as a whole , especially during a time of declining wages , increased political instability and eroding social solidarity .
The end result of goading the American public into viewing their problems as largely stemming from race , rather than economics , might well have profoundly dire consequences for both the social fabric and for the individuals that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s worth noting that woke capitalism is very much the free market in action .
There is a benefit to the erosion of certain social values that have maintained Western civilization for hundreds of years .
Woke capitalism is an attack on the nuclear family and Western civilization while providing nothing in its place .
After all , who makes for better consumers than childless atoms whose only values are the prevailing cultural diktats of the day ?

It’s a rather strange claim of the American far left that their interests are opposed to that of corporate America, because there’s virtually no evidence to support it. Quite the contrary: During the wave of Black Lives Matter rioting that took place during the early summer of 2020, American corporations marched in lockstep. Not only did they use social media to swear fealty to this political movement, but they also made massive internal changes in conformity with BLM propaganda.
It’s called “woke capitalism” and while it’s not necessarily new, it’s certainly more prevalent than it ever has been. The term itself was coined by conservative editorial writer Ross Douthat in 2018. He succinctly summed up what woke capitalism is: superficial nods toward cultural leftism that allow the company to do what it really exists to do – make money.
You might be confused or think that there’s something ironic or askew about major corporations backing supposed “rebel” ideologies. However, this stems from a very surface understanding of the topic. When we delve deeper into it, the motivation for large corporations siding with ostensibly “anti-capitalist” groups will come clearly into focus.
What is “Wokeness?”: Understanding “Critical Theory” and The Frankfurt School
Before going any further, we should spend some time defining what “wokeness” means.
Wokeness is a kind of shorthand for an area of the American political left that is obsessed with identity politics. This is, as the name would imply, the politics of identity. Thus, people are not rational actors, nor are they necessarily economic units. Rather, they are little more than a collection (or, in the parlance of this ideology, the intersections) of skin color and séxuality.
Socioeconomic class might enter into this, but if it does, it’s generally as an afterthought. While Marxism might play some influential role, the wokeists are far more likely to locate the revolutionary subject in, for example, trans-identified black men than it is the working class.
One can understand the hostility of the “woke” to the Bernie Sanders campaign in this context: it is much more revolutionary under the guidelines established by wokeism, to put more racial minorities with unusual séxual identities on the board of Lockheed-Martin and Goldman-Sachs than it is to provide for greater economic equality on behalf of their workers.
The bedrock of wokeness is not classical Marxist socialism, but something called “critical theory” and in particular its variant “critical race theory.” This has its roots in the Frankfurt School and an early 20th-century Italian philosopher and politician named Antonio Gramsci. Gramsci’s big idea was that cultural power preceded political power. Thus, to have a Marxist political revolution, one first needed a Marxist cultural revolution. This was to be accomplished by a “long march through the institutions.” What this means is that leftists were to infiltrate every institution of significance and gain power within them.
We can see the result of this idea today. While American leftists bear little, if any, resemblance to Marxists of old, they have penetrated our institutions and dominate culturally – in academia, in entertainment and increasingly in the economic sphere as well. If one were to read the Communist Manifesto, there are a series of demands at the end, most of which have come to fruition such as universal public education, a progressive income tax, a national bank, and the industrialization of agriculture.
This isn’t to say that there is a massive Gramscian conspiracy with thousands of members. Such a thing would be completely impossible to prove or disprove. However, the kernel of the idea has taken root, in part thanks to bona fide promotion in academia, and in part because it simply seems to have largely been a successful operation.
Thus “critical theory” is effectively a sociological philosophy and method that involves constant ideological attacks on Western civilization. Its guiding principle is that Western civilization is based on subjugation, dominance and tyranny. This takes many forms including “racism,” “patriarchy,” “heteronormativity” and “cisséxism” – all of which are predicated upon weaponized guilt.
Weaponized guilt is essentially taking those elements of Western and Anglo-Saxon culture, which prize even-handedness and “fair play,” and turning them against the culture itself. Indeed, the selection of the name “Black Lives Matter” is a masterstroke in weaponizing guilt: The only possible disagreement (or so say the advocates and allies of the movement) is that you don’t think black lives do actually matter. But, of course, except for extremely isolated, marginalized and numerically insignificant pockets, virtually everyone agrees that all lives have the same value. Indeed, it is a cornerstone of Western civilization and Christian teaching that this is true. It is nearly axiomatic. The Declaration of Independence declares that the basic equality of men is “self-evident.” No one would even know where to begin “arguing” this, simply because it is so accepted as a fact.
It’s worth noting that wokeness largely entered the American political vernacular after the fall of the Occupy Movement. This is not an endorsement of either the Occupy Movement specifically, nor economic reductionism and confiscatory tax redistribution schemes more generally. However, it is worth noting that the corporate affinity for a seemingly “radical” form of politics requiring nothing in the way of actual financial sacrifice began after the death of a political movement demanding corporate accountability and economic redistribution starting at the very top.
The Business Side of Things
A “conspiracy,” or however we wish to define it, is not the only reason that Wall Street loves wokeness. Beyond the misdirection, there is also a lot of money to be made catering to the woke. This has nothing to do with what “most people” in America want or need. Rather, it has to do with catering to those on the coasts and within bigger cities in the interior of our nation.
Almost all of the income growth in America over the last ten years has been concentrated in cities in Southern California, Silicon Valley and the Pacific Northwest, hotbeds of leftism in general and wokeism in particular. However, even places outside of these regions that have seen income growth tend to be far left-leaning. Examples include Austin, TX, Denver, CO and Nashville, TN.
What this means is that the larger companies in America, including the big banks in New York, the tech companies in Silicon Valley, the entertainment industry in South California and the cable news companies that cover the goings on in Washington, D.C., are all interested in chasing after the dollar of urban wokes. Increased wealth concentration, including the massive transfer of wealth that happened under the COVID-19 panic and subsequent lockdown, have made big companies increasingly the only game in town, with smaller, more responsive Main Street America businesses becoming more and more marginalized where they continue to exist at all.
It’s not that big companies think they’re too good for your money – they just know that you don’t have anywhere else to go.
The Colin Kaaepernick sneaker incident is an excellent example of woke capitalism in action. In times past, companies generally avoided wading into controversial social issues. After all, in the words of Michael Jordan, “Republicans buy shoes too.” But in an attempt to appeal to Generation Z (also known as “Zoomers”), many companies are deciding that it’s worth alienating rural and exurban flyover people in favor of courting the woke dollar.
For Nike and many other companies, this commitment to “social justice” doesn’t run much deeper than marketing. Nike knows it has a disproportionately black customer base. But only 8 percent of their vice presidents are black. What’s more, the company is notorious for using sweatshop labor in the third world to produce its expensive sneakers.
Some other quick notes on the purchasing power of the woke left: While there is certainly no direct overlap between a college education and being a radical wokeist, the woke are certainly clustered around America’s college campuses and the cities that they move to after graduation. (The average college graduate is going to earn over $1 million more than their less educated counterpart over the course of their life.)
There is also the spectre of the unmarried and the childless: these people will also have significantly greater disposable income than married couples with children living in smaller flyover cities.
All of this adds up to a very lucrative market, both for catering to the woke and pillorying the unwoke. There is no shortage of examples of either on your television during commercials.
Wokeism’s Radical Evangelism: Diversity Training Seminars
One of the most disturbing elements of wokeism is its evangelistic quality. As we saw during the riots of 2020, it was not enough simply to not be racist. One was now required to be an active “anti-racist” under the definition and terms established by the woke. Those who failed to comply were often attacked in a way that went far beyond simply being hassled online. People’s jobs and livelihoods were attacked in a manner befitting a Communist dictatorship.
The very notion of dialogue and civil debate isn’t just missing. There’s a deep hostility to the notion that there is any point of view other than the most woke possible. There is a line in the sand: On one side, there are the people who believe that America is a profoundly racist country and that this colors every aspect of our history. On the other side, there’s anyone who is even mildly skeptical of this – and the people on this side are “white supremacists.” By the logic of wokeism, these people deserve anything that happens to them (including being “cancelled”).
What this means is that wokeism does not simply operate in the background of the rest of society. You cannot simply ignore the cringe-inducing woke commercials on your television and not click the frankly hateful and racist articles of the woke online. Your compliance is a required aspect of wokeism. Think back to the social media phenomenon of large companies denouncing alleged “white supremacy” with a black square. Compliance with this was required, as if one were painting blood over their threshold to avoid the plague of the firstborn in ancient Egypt.
Corporations have begun echoing this rhetoric on social media, but there is a far more insidious element of wokeism’s radical evangelism: the “diversity training seminars” that are now de rigueur in the workplace. While often positioned as some kind of politically neutral gathering to increase workplace cohesion, these are in fact little more than Maoist struggle sessions – for all employees. We categorically reject the assumption that these are any more comfortable for non-white employees than they are for the white ones.
So what goes on at these seminars? There was a taxpayer-funded seminar in Seattle that acts as an excellent exemplar of such.
It was called “Interrupting Internalized Racial Superiority and Whiteness.” This has nothing to do with eliminating racism as is commonly understood. If we’re being frank, we can probably agree that individual racism has largely been eradicated in America, especially among educated people. This seminar and others like it are about pillorying whites and eroding workplace solidarity – and also about cushy little gigs for those giving the seminars, which aren’t cheap.
The seminar includes instruction in qualities that allegedly represent “white supremacy.” These include objectivity, perfectionism and comfort. They also ascribe some rather insidious qualities to whites in toto: arrogance, violence and anti-blackness. These are the exact words used by the seminar.
Employees are urged to engage in “self-talk” that “affirms complicity in racism.”
As is often the case, there is not really a “right” answer for whites taking the seminar. Talk too much at one of these events and you’re imposing yourself and dominating the conversation. Talk too little and “silence is violence.”
The Seattle seminar was only for white employees. So to be clear, the City of Seattle used taxpayer dollars to propagandize at and pillory white employees in a segregated forum. While investigating the seminar using public records requests, City Journal editor Christopher F. Rufo was unable to find any information about who ran the seminar or how much it cost the taxpayers.
While the seminar might sound extreme, it’s not. In fact, these are happening all across the country in America’s workplaces and on our college campuses – and many times even in elementary schools. They are totalitarian in nature but are increasingly a requirement of continued employment. Employees who push back against them can expect disciplinary measures up to and including termination of their employment. There is also the specter of “racism” hanging above anyone with even the slightest opposition or skepticism: they must be secret racists or else they’d be as gung ho as everyone else.
Many have noted the religious aspects of wokeism that go beyond its evangelical zeal. This includes a concept of “original sin” (whiteness), holds blacks and (to a lesser degree) indigenous peoples as a sort of “holy” race, and has a process for confession. However, one aspect of religious thought is missing – there is no process for redemption in the world of the woke. One may “do the work” as the saying goes, but there is no way to complete it and be redeemed. The fallen are simply fallen and constantly repaying their debt in a sort of state of karmic bankruptcy.
White Fragility: The Communist Manifesto of Woke Capitalism
Every ideology and movement has its foundational text. In the case of woke capitalism, this is White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo. She earns a whopping $12,000 a day to lecture white people on their alleged racism. That doesn’t include travel expenses, meals or accommodations. Good work if you can get it and she does: DiAngelo has worked with companies such as Amazon, Netflix, Nike, Facebook, Under Armour, CVS, Goldman Sachs and American Express.
DiAngelo’s critics are not restricted to the right. Socialist journalist and podcaster Matt Taibbi has described her writing as espousing a “Hitlerian race theory.” Others have criticized the book for robbing black people of agency or condescending to them in other ways.
The term “white fragility” itself works a kind of magic for DiAngelo and the proponents of this theory. It is, for them, axiomatic that all white people are racist simply for existing. Any words or actions whites take in their defense is de facto evidence of white fragility.
While $12,000 a day might sound like a lot of money, we should compare the corporate cost of a DiAngelo seminar to increasing wages for workers, or offering additional benefits, or providing mentoring programs for new employees or literally anything that might benefit employees in the long term. Such programs would be extremely costly in comparison to the piddling cost associated with a day of lost productivity spent on indoctrination, which also has the important side benefits of eroding worker solidarity and providing a cheap and easy PR win for woke consumers.
Woke Capitalism and Governance
It hardly seems worth explaining how much power large corporations have over the United States. However, we should take a moment to examine the power that woke capitalism wields over public policy.
Consider the proposition, totally uncontroversial within living memory, that biological séx is a real thing. Note that this does not require some rigid enforcement of social expression of gender: one does not need to believe that “boys wear blue and girls wear pink” to accept the existence of biological séx. But states have been targeted by large businesses for the crime of codifying this belief, again, totally uncontroversial in recent times. North Carolina was brought to heel by a coordinated corporate boycott of the state after it passed a law barring trans-identified men from women’s bathrooms. All told, the boycotts cost the state nearly $4 billion.
The 2017 boycott of North Carolina is hardly the only example of woke corporations bringing state governments to heel. For example, when Georgia passed a law defending the rights of the unborn, Hollywood leapt to action. Because a lot of television shows and movies are filmed in Georgia – for the cheap labor and tax incentives – the entertainment industry quickly declared that it would boycott Georgia if it passed a law restricting abortion.
Even state flags aren’t safe from the attack of woke capitalism. The SEC and the NCAA publicly discussed a boycott of the state of Mississippi, as did other companies. This was during the moral panic about “racism” that followed the death of George Floyd in Minnesota.
One political entity that woke capitalism does not see fit to challenge? The People’s Republic of China. Indeed, the NBA brought a general manager to heel over his support of Hong Kong democracy protesters. The normally outspoken coach Steve Kerr was strangely silent on the topic. And while the NBA has now approved political statements on jerseys, “Free the Uighurs” isn’t one of them.
The Woke Corporate Stasi
If the only problem were state governments being undermined, woke capitalism would still be a serious problem. However, there are numerous examples of private individuals being targeted by woke mobs with quick compliance from their corporate overlords. Indeed, socialist podcaster Aimee Terese has likened the woke mob to a sort of HR department vigilantism. The language of these totalitarian mobs is often remarkably similar to that which is used by HR departments, particularly when they roll out diversity training seminars.
A graphic designer at the Washington Post was fired after it was revealed that she attended a 2018 party in blackface. She was confronted at the party, left in tears and apologized to her hosts the very next day. None of this was enough for the woke mob. The designer was fired after a large – and largely manufactured by the Post itself – outrage. Many editors at the Post found themselves deeply uncomfortable with the decision to run an article outing the woman. Around the same time, a 62-year-old communications chief at Boeing was fired for comments he made in 1987 at the age of 29. The man was very clear that these were not his opinions today. For reference, Barack Obama opposed same-séx marriage until 2015, which means he opposed it during both of his presidential campaigns.
In what is perhaps the most outrageous example of woke mobs getting a man fired, a truck driver was terminated after he flashed an “OK” hand sign, which is claimed by many to now be a symbol of white supremacy. Even after an investigation into the matter by his employer, he was fired.
Why Woke Capitalism?
If all of this has you wondering “why,” you’re not alone. Many have pondered the question of why corporations want to take a stake in politics. It goes without saying that there is a massive political advantage to corporations being able to throw their weight around in this way and that there is little reason for them to not attempt to claim power whenever and wherever the opportunity presents itself. What’s more, diversity training seminars and woke mobs make it much easier to fire – and thus control – employees.
The best part is that this kind of progressive posturing comes at absolutely no cost to the company. They don’t have to pay their younger workers in expensive cities higher wages, thus opening up the possibility of employment to those whose parents cannot subsidize the first few years of their career. They don’t have to offer onsite childcare or other tangible – and expensive – benefits that might actually address some of the issues that these corporations feign concern about. Instead, they can pay the relatively inexpensive annual fee for a diversity training seminar, throw out some woke branding on social media and be done with the matter.
But don’t expect the Washington Post to demand that Amazon start paying taxes anytime soon.
There is a sort of cliche online about corporate wokeness: “get woke, go broke.” But the Quilette did some research into this and found it to not be true: In fact, all metrics point toward wokeness having absolutely no impact on the company’s bottom line either way. So why do they do it?
We’ve hinted at the reason for woke capitalism throughout this article. It is a form of misdirection whereby huge companies can avoid dealing with thorny labor relations issues by throwing a bone to leftist cultural interests. Remember that the left and the Democratic Party are formerly fixated on issues of economics and class rather than social issues and race. The former is a much more expensive position for large corporations than the latter.
But we should also mention that there are potentially toxic unintended consequences of woke capitalism. It’s not our contention that whites in America are an oppressed class, but it’s clear that anti-white racism is socially acceptable: You’re not going to get banned from Twitter for tweeting out “I hate white people.” What’s more, whites believe that they are increasingly the target of racism.
Whether or not this is true is entirely besides the point. The perception is far more important than the reality when discussing this topic. Inflaming racial animosity between whites and everyone else will have dire consequences for the nation as a whole, especially during a time of declining wages, increased political instability and eroding social solidarity. The end result of goading the American public into viewing their problems as largely stemming from race, rather than economics, might well have profoundly dire consequences for both the social fabric and for the individuals that constitute it.
Finally, it’s worth noting that woke capitalism is very much the free market in action. There is a benefit to the erosion of certain social values that have maintained Western civilization for hundreds of years. Woke capitalism is an attack on the nuclear family and Western civilization while providing nothing in its place. After all, who makes for better consumers than childless atoms whose only values are the prevailing cultural diktats of the day?
Written by Sam Jacobs Article posted with permission from Ammo.com


thewashingtonstandard--2020-09-09--Georgia Secretary of State: 60% of Double Voters in June Primary Were Democrats

Georgia Secretary of State : 60 % of Double Voters in June Primary Were Democrats Shocker .
NOT .
The crooked party can ’ t win without cheating .
What is being done to keep the Presidential election 2020 safe ?
The whole of the GOP should be singular in this pursuit .
Everything is ay stake – everything .
Georgia Secretary of State : 58 % of Double Voters in June Primary Were Democrats The Georgia Secretary of State said on Tuesday that 1,000 voters cast ballots twice in the state ’ s June primary , and 58 percent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In Georgia , a voter must request a specific party ballot in the primary election .
“ While the investigation is still ongoing , initial results show that of the partisan ballots at issue , approximately 58 % were Democratic ballots , ” a spokesman for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told Breitbart News .
Raffensperger ’ s office announced voting twice is a felony and those accused would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law .
The Secretary of State said the voters returned absentee ballots prior to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ polling location on Election Day .
Many double-voters are able to be stopped , but county election officials “ weren ’ t able to catch everyone , ” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported .
“ A double voter knows exactly what they ’ re doing , diluting the votes of each and every voter that follows the law , ” Raffensperger said .
“ Those that make the choice to game the system are breaking the law .
And as secretary of state , I will not tolerate it.
” According to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but then attempted to vote in person because the ballot never arrived or they changed their minds and decided to vote in person instead .
Most of them were intercepted , but 1,000 double-voted .
Raffensperger said in past elections , absentee ballots accounted for five percent of all ballots .
In the June primary election , 50 percent of votes were mailed in .

Georgia Secretary of State: 60% of Double Voters in June Primary Were Democrats
Shocker. NOT. The crooked party can’t win without cheating.
What is being done to keep the Presidential election 2020 safe? The whole of the GOP should be singular in this pursuit. Everything is ay stake – everything.
Georgia Secretary of State: 58% of Double Voters in June Primary Were Democrats
By: Kyle Olson, Breitbart News, September 10, 2020:
The Georgia Secretary of State said on Tuesday that 1,000 voters cast ballots twice in the state’s June primary, and 58 percent of them were cast for Democrats.
In Georgia, a voter must request a specific party ballot in the primary election.
“While the investigation is still ongoing, initial results show that of the partisan ballots at issue, approximately 58% were Democratic ballots,” a spokesman for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told Breitbart News.
Raffensperger’s office announced voting twice is a felony and those accused would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
The Secretary of State said the voters returned absentee ballots prior to the election and then showed up at their polling location on Election Day.
Many double-voters are able to be stopped, but county election officials “weren’t able to catch everyone,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.
“A double voter knows exactly what they’re doing, diluting the votes of each and every voter that follows the law,” Raffensperger said.
“Those that make the choice to game the system are breaking the law. And as secretary of state, I will not tolerate it.”
According to the paper, 150,000 residents requested absentee ballots, but then attempted to vote in person because the ballot never arrived or they changed their minds and decided to vote in person instead.
Most of them were intercepted, but 1,000 double-voted.
Raffensperger said in past elections, absentee ballots accounted for five percent of all ballots. In the June primary election, 50 percent of votes were mailed in.
Article posted with permission from Pamela Geller


thewashingtonstandard--2020-09-09--America Can’t Breathe – A Nation Spends A Year Holding Its Breath

A Soviet citizen goes to the dentist .
He lies back in the chair .
The dentist tells him to open wide .
“ But I ’ m afraid to open my mouth , ” he replies .
The old joke has a new resonance in the age of lockdowns and masked pedestrians , cancel culture and self-criticism sessions when Americans are the ones fearful of opening their mouths .
Fear is the common denominator .
A nation has spent the year holding its breath .
And waiting .
Americans used to laugh at Soviet anecdotes without really understanding them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ laugh because they are coming to understand them all too well .
Mobs stalk the streets of American cities loudly bellowing , “ We can ’ t breathe !
” Sometimes they shoot or stab someone who then actually can ’ t breathe .
Or they set a building on fire and anyone breathing in the smoke quickly discovers what it ’ s like to really be unable to breathe .
When you actually can ’ t breathe , you can ’ t shout and you can ’ t tell anyone .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or speak are the victims of the ones shouting that they can ’ t breathe .
There are two reasons why people can ’ t open their mouths or breathe , as in the joke with the Soviet dentist , literal and figurative .
In a year when mouths are being shut with masks and censorship , the literal and the figurative things that people are afraid of have come together .
2020 is one long Soviet anecdote in which the only people allowed to disregard social distancing by gathering to protest in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so to complain about their oppression .
It ’ s a mock dystopia in which corporate CEOs berate their employees about their privilege and fire anyone who won ’ t confess their privilege , and government officials and agencies lecture the people they rule at length about the terrible evils of systemic racism .
Speech is violence and violence is speech .
Throwing firebombs is in the First Amendment , but saying All Lives Matter is literally killing people .
The only people who don ’ t have privilege are the ones who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ right to be safe from the police , but people don ’ t have a right to be safe from criminals .
Public safety is now about keeping criminals safe from the police by defunding the police so that no one except the criminals can be safe .
Everyone has to wear masks , except the government officials telling them to do it .
The only people who don ’ t have to worry about being able to breathe are the ones mandating the masks .
Democrat governors like Cuomo and Murphy who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the pandemic , while the villains are the Republican governors whose red states have few deaths .
The Communists called the newspaper in which they printed all their lies , Pravda or Truth .
Soviet anecdotes hinged on the central irony that everything was a lie , everyone knew it , and no one could say it .
The joke wasn ’ t in what was said , but in the mutual recognition of the unsaid .
Or , “ I ’ m afraid to open my mouth.
” We live in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the human shadowlands where people who go around with their mouths closed and faces covered , and in that world we know what is said is meaningless .
That which can be said is , by definition , a lie , and that which can ’ t be said , becomes the truth .
The real news is what ’ s read between the lines of the lies .
What people say is the opposite of the truth .
At struggle sessions , academics and executives confess that they ’ re racist to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The only people who can safely claim not to have privilege , have that privilege .
No one at work will admit to voting for President Trump , but someone must have .
The more speech is banned , the more worthless is the speech that is still allowed .
Polls become useless when people are too afraid to tell partisan pollsters the truth .
Democrats and their media demand censorship of social media to protect the integrity of democracy from the speech of the demos , and then are caught by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Censorship creates a culture of lies .
The more restrictive the censorship , the worse the lies .
In a totalitarian system , no one believes anything , and no one trusts anything that they hear .
And that culture of mistrust leads to a deep rot that corrupts everything and everyone it touches .
People retreat behind masks , literal and figurative , to protect themselves against a masked system which lies to them and spies on them .
And the system thinks that it ’ s in control because it hears @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , not realizing that it ’ s the one now being lied to .
The irony of the Soviet anecdote was that it was a joke that could only be told by not telling it .
To breathe , to open your mouth and fill your lungs with air , requires a sense of freedom .
American tourists visiting the USSR noticed the tension , the invisible weight , the closed faces of the people they met .
To the Russians , Americans seemed an open and free people .
Freedom was not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of elections and constitutions which on paper the Russians had .
Being truly free meant not even being able to imagine the loss of freedom .
Now it ’ s Americans who walk the streets , when they dare , their faces closed off , invisible weights bowing them down , wary that anything they say might end their careers and lives .
Hundreds of millions of people have been cut off from their families and thrust into a national conversation mediated by giant monopolies set up to enable the informants of cancel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ KGB could have only dreamed of is here and we ’ re living in it .
There is no telling when someone might be watching you , taping you , provoking a confrontation that will be posted on social media , made to go viral , and lead to permanent unemployment .
Not to mention possible arrest and prosecution , or even violent assault and murder .
It ’ s safer for millions to put on their masks and not say things .
And if there seem to be few Biden yard signs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the ruling class , that ’ s also unsaid .
And it is in the realms of the unsaid where the movements that really matter take place .
Everyone , from top athletes to corporate executives , knows that they have to kneel and mouth the words .
And the little people holding down jobs at some Fortune 500 company that assigns Robin DeAngelo as mandatory reading know it better than anyone else .
They wear their masks .
Free people breathe .
Unfree people hold their breaths .
They put on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ push the fear and the anger behind their eyes .
They repeat the lies until the entire world around them seems made of lies that they believe and don ’ t believe at the same time .
A nation has put on its masks .
And it ’ s waiting for November to find out if it can take a breath .

A Soviet citizen goes to the dentist. He lies back in the chair. The dentist tells him to open wide.
“But I’m afraid to open my mouth,” he replies.
The old joke has a new resonance in the age of lockdowns and masked pedestrians, cancel culture and self-criticism sessions when Americans are the ones fearful of opening their mouths. Fear is the common denominator. A nation has spent the year holding its breath. And waiting.
Americans used to laugh at Soviet anecdotes without really understanding them. Now Americans are too afraid to laugh because they are coming to understand them all too well.
Mobs stalk the streets of American cities loudly bellowing, “We can’t breathe!” Sometimes they shoot or stab someone who then actually can’t breathe. Or they set a building on fire and anyone breathing in the smoke quickly discovers what it’s like to really be unable to breathe.
When you actually can’t breathe, you can’t shout and you can’t tell anyone. The people who actually can’t breathe or speak are the victims of the ones shouting that they can’t breathe.
There are two reasons why people can’t open their mouths or breathe, as in the joke with the Soviet dentist, literal and figurative. In a year when mouths are being shut with masks and censorship, the literal and the figurative things that people are afraid of have come together.
2020 is one long Soviet anecdote in which the only people allowed to disregard social distancing by gathering to protest in the thousands and tens of thousands do so to complain about their oppression. It’s a mock dystopia in which corporate CEOs berate their employees about their privilege and fire anyone who won’t confess their privilege, and government officials and agencies lecture the people they rule at length about the terrible evils of systemic racism.
Speech is violence and violence is speech. Throwing firebombs is in the First Amendment, but saying All Lives Matter is literally killing people. The only people who don’t have privilege are the ones who have special privileges. Criminals have a right to be safe from the police, but people don’t have a right to be safe from criminals. Public safety is now about keeping criminals safe from the police by defunding the police so that no one except the criminals can be safe.
Everyone has to wear masks, except the government officials telling them to do it. The only people who don’t have to worry about being able to breathe are the ones mandating the masks. Democrat governors like Cuomo and Murphy who killed tens of thousands are the heroes of the pandemic, while the villains are the Republican governors whose red states have few deaths.
The Communists called the newspaper in which they printed all their lies, Pravda or Truth. Soviet anecdotes hinged on the central irony that everything was a lie, everyone knew it, and no one could say it. The joke wasn’t in what was said, but in the mutual recognition of the unsaid.
Or, “I’m afraid to open my mouth.”
We live in the world of the unsaid, of the human shadowlands where people who go around with their mouths closed and faces covered, and in that world we know what is said is meaningless.
That which can be said is, by definition, a lie, and that which can’t be said, becomes the truth.
The real news is what’s read between the lines of the lies. What people say is the opposite of the truth. At struggle sessions, academics and executives confess that they’re racist to prove that they’re not racist. The only people who can safely claim not to have privilege, have that privilege. No one at work will admit to voting for President Trump, but someone must have.
The more speech is banned, the more worthless is the speech that is still allowed.
Polls become useless when people are too afraid to tell partisan pollsters the truth. Democrats and their media demand censorship of social media to protect the integrity of democracy from the speech of the demos, and then are caught by surprise when they suddenly lose elections.
Censorship creates a culture of lies. The more restrictive the censorship, the worse the lies. In a totalitarian system, no one believes anything, and no one trusts anything that they hear. And that culture of mistrust leads to a deep rot that corrupts everything and everyone it touches.
People retreat behind masks, literal and figurative, to protect themselves against a masked system which lies to them and spies on them. And the system thinks that it’s in control because it hears its own lies repeated back to it, not realizing that it’s the one now being lied to.
The irony of the Soviet anecdote was that it was a joke that could only be told by not telling it.
To breathe, to open your mouth and fill your lungs with air, requires a sense of freedom. American tourists visiting the USSR noticed the tension, the invisible weight, the closed faces of the people they met. To the Russians, Americans seemed an open and free people. Freedom was not just a legal condition, a matter of elections and constitutions which on paper the Russians had. Being truly free meant not even being able to imagine the loss of freedom.
Now it’s Americans who walk the streets, when they dare, their faces closed off, invisible weights bowing them down, wary that anything they say might end their careers and lives. Hundreds of millions of people have been cut off from their families and thrust into a national conversation mediated by giant monopolies set up to enable the informants of cancel culture.
The perfect panopticon that the KGB could have only dreamed of is here and we’re living in it. There is no telling when someone might be watching you, taping you, provoking a confrontation that will be posted on social media, made to go viral, and lead to permanent unemployment.
Not to mention possible arrest and prosecution, or even violent assault and murder.
It’s safer for millions to put on their masks and not say things. And if there seem to be few Biden yard signs and little enthusiasm for the political program of the ruling class, that’s also unsaid.
And it is in the realms of the unsaid where the movements that really matter take place.
Everyone, from top athletes to corporate executives, knows that they have to kneel and mouth the words. And the little people holding down jobs at some Fortune 500 company that assigns Robin DeAngelo as mandatory reading know it better than anyone else. They wear their masks.
Free people breathe. Unfree people hold their breaths. They put on masks and close their mouths. They push the fear and the anger behind their eyes. They repeat the lies until the entire world around them seems made of lies that they believe and don’t believe at the same time.
A nation has put on its masks. And it’s waiting for November to find out if it can take a breath.
Article posted with permission from Daniel Greenfield


thewashingtonstandard--2020-09-09--Texas:  Cops Don’t ID Themselves, Shoot Through Door, Kill Innocent Unarmed Teen & Dog – No Charges

Texas:  Cops Don’t ID Themselves, Shoot Through Door, Kill Innocent Unarmed Teen & Dog – No Charges (Video)

San Antonio , TX — Charles “ Chop ” Roundtree Jr. , 18 , had never had a run in with police and had never had so much as a speeding ticket .
Despite being entirely innocent and unarmed , however , he was gunned down by San Antonio Police officer Steve Casanova .
Body camera footage of the teen ’ s unnecessary death was leaked to local media and despite a clear cut case of murder , the cop was never charged .
This week , the Seattle Seahawks announced that they will be honoring Roundtree during their upcoming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Roundtree will be one of 22 names honored by the Seahawks this season—along with Emmett Till , Trayvon Martin , Sandra Bland , Breonna Taylor , George Floyd and others .
The family was forced to file a wrongful death lawsuit which is still making its way through the courts and the cop who murdered their son is still patrolling their streets .
All too often , those who blindly support every action by police claim that if you don ’ t do anything wrong , you have nothing to worry about but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just how wrong that is .
The incident happened on October 17 , 2018 , when police were called out to a neighborhood for a complaint at the home of Davante Snowden .
When officer Casanova opened the door to Snowden ’ s house , he never announced himself and instead simply shined a light , yelled “ lem me see your hands , ” and then started shooting .
Roundtree was shot in the chest and died inside the home as he played video games on the couch .
“ It ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ happened , ” Police Chief William McManus said after the shooting .
According to police , the bullet grazed Snowden and then hit the innocent unarmed Roundtree in the chest .
As the video shows , Casanova is dealing with a couple who says a man fitting Snowden ’ s description assaulted a man .
When police respond to Snowden ’ s house , Casanova walks up on the porch , pulls open the door and began firing .
Never once did he announce himself as the police .
Casanova said that Snowden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this is not evident in the video .
What ’ s more , Snowden had no idea who was at his front door shining lights into his house pointing guns at them , so he naturally would ’ ve wanted to defend it from a home invader .
Geary Ramey , a law professor and police adviser agrees and described to KENS 5 the mistakes made by the officer .
“ He certainly needs to identify himself quickly because he ’ s wearing a dark uniform .
This is in the middle of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ So it ’ s not going to be clear to anyone who is on the porch.
” Indeed , as the body camera footage shows , Snowden asks “ who is it ?
” just before Casanova tells him to show his hands and fires .
“ There ’ s nothing at the point of the shooting that would justify a use of deadly force in order to make an arrest , ” Ramey said .
After Casanova shot Snowden and Roundtree , he ran back out into the street where he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ At this point , a dog runs out of the house and is seen walking toward another officer before that officer opened fire , killing the dog .
When the cop kills the dog , all the officers then begin to yell conflicting orders at the rest of the people in the home .
“ Hey…stay in the f***ing house !
” Casanova says .
“ Get in your house and you won ’ t get shot !
” another cops says .
Contradicting the other officers , another officer then yells , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ guys !
We ’ re not leaving until you come out !
” Eventually , one by one , the occupants emerge from the home , showing the officers that none of them are armed .
Luckily , no one else was shot .
Snowden would be the only person arrested that night for felon in possession of a firearm .
It is unclear as to whether or not he actually had the firearm on his person when Casanova opened fire .
No one has been charged for the death of Roundtree .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , recalled the last conversation she had with her son .
She told KENS 5 that she didn ’ t want him to leave that night .
“ And the last thing he said was , ‘ I love you and I ’ ll be back , ’ ” she said .
“ I want his uniform taken away .
I want him to pay the same price we have , ” Slack said at the time .
Sadly , however , that never happened .
The SAPD has a long history of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ never held accountable .
This is likely the reason that Casanova is still gainfully employed with the department and was not indicted .
In fact , the original police report listed Casanova as the victim and the innocent unarmed Roundtree as the suspect .

San Antonio, TX — Charles “Chop” Roundtree Jr., 18, had never had a run in with police and had never had so much as a speeding ticket. Despite being entirely innocent and unarmed, however, he was gunned down by San Antonio Police officer Steve Casanova. Body camera footage of the teen’s unnecessary death was leaked to local media and despite a clear cut case of murder, the cop was never charged.
This week, the Seattle Seahawks announced that they will be honoring Roundtree during their upcoming NFL season. According to KCEN, Roundtree will be one of 22 names honored by the Seahawks this season—along with Emmett Till, Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and others.
The family was forced to file a wrongful death lawsuit which is still making its way through the courts and the cop who murdered their son is still patrolling their streets. All too often, those who blindly support every action by police claim that if you don’t do anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about but Roundtree’s cold blooded murder proves just how wrong that is.
The incident happened on October 17, 2018, when police were called out to a neighborhood for a complaint at the home of Davante Snowden. When officer Casanova opened the door to Snowden’s house, he never announced himself and instead simply shined a light, yelled “lemme see your hands,” and then started shooting. Roundtree was shot in the chest and died inside the home as he played video games on the couch.
“It’s a very unfortunate tragic incident that happened,” Police Chief William McManus said after the shooting.
According to police, the bullet grazed Snowden and then hit the innocent unarmed Roundtree in the chest.
As the video shows, Casanova is dealing with a couple who says a man fitting Snowden’s description assaulted a man. When police respond to Snowden’s house, Casanova walks up on the porch, pulls open the door and began firing. Never once did he announce himself as the police.
Casanova said that Snowden pulled a gun on him, but this is not evident in the video. What’s more, Snowden had no idea who was at his front door shining lights into his house pointing guns at them, so he naturally would’ve wanted to defend it from a home invader.
Geary Ramey, a law professor and police adviser agrees and described to KENS 5 the mistakes made by the officer.
“He certainly needs to identify himself quickly because he’s wearing a dark uniform. This is in the middle of the night,” Ramey said. “So it’s not going to be clear to anyone who is on the porch.”
Indeed, as the body camera footage shows, Snowden asks “who is it?” just before Casanova tells him to show his hands and fires.
“There’s nothing at the point of the shooting that would justify a use of deadly force in order to make an arrest,” Ramey said.
We agree.
After Casanova shot Snowden and Roundtree, he ran back out into the street where he joined up with his fellow cops. At this point, a dog runs out of the house and is seen walking toward another officer before that officer opened fire, killing the dog.
When the cop kills the dog, all the officers then begin to yell conflicting orders at the rest of the people in the home.
“Hey! What’s going?!” yells a woman.
“Hey…stay in the f***ing house!” Casanova says.
“Get in your house and you won’t get shot!” another cops says.
Contradicting the other officers, another officer then yells, “Come out of the house, guys! We’re not leaving until you come out!”
Eventually, one by one, the occupants emerge from the home, showing the officers that none of them are armed. Luckily, no one else was shot.
Snowden would be the only person arrested that night for felon in possession of a firearm. It is unclear as to whether or not he actually had the firearm on his person when Casanova opened fire. No one has been charged for the death of Roundtree.
Patricia Slack, Roundtree’s mother, recalled the last conversation she had with her son. She told KENS 5 that she didn’t want him to leave that night.
“And the last thing he said was, ‘I love you and I’ll be back,’” she said.
“I want his uniform taken away. I want him to pay the same price we have,” Slack said at the time.
Sadly, however, that never happened. The SAPD has a long history of violent and criminal cops who are almost never held accountable. This is likely the reason that Casanova is still gainfully employed with the department and was not indicted. In fact, the original police report listed Casanova as the victim and the innocent unarmed Roundtree as the suspect.
Article posted with permission from Matt Agorist


thewashingtonstandard--2020-09-09--A September Stock Market Crash?

A September Stock Market Crash?

Many of us have been waiting to see what surprises the month of September would bring , and it appears that a stock market crash may be one of them .
Even the most ardent market optimists were admitting that the absurd bubble that had developed over the course of the summer was completely unsustainable , and the only real debate was over when it would finally burst .
So is this it ?
Stock prices have certainly plunged quite dramatically over the last several trading sessions , but it is always possible that things could stabilize for a little @ @ @ @ @ @ @ September , October , November , December or next year , the truth is that everyone knows that a crash is coming .
On Tuesday , the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell another 632 points , but that wasn ’ t the real story .
Far more noteworthy was the fact that the Nasdaq was down another 4.1 percent , and that means that it has now dropped a total of more than 10 percent since it hit a brand new record high last week .
Only two times since 2001 has the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sessions .
The index is now officially in correction territory , and the losses have been staggering .
In particular , the six largest tech stocks have collectively lost more than a trillion dollars in value during this three day stretch… The six biggest tech stocks have lost more than $ 1 trillion over the last three days alone , but it ’ s really just a dent coming off a huge rally that peaked last week .
Apple , which hit a $ 2 trillion market cap on Aug. 19 , is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time period .
Microsoft ’ s down $ 219 billion , Amazon fell $ 191 billion , Alphabet cratered by $ 135 billion , and Tesla , which fell 21 % on Tuesday to mark its worst single-day loss in its history , is down $ 109 billion in the last three days .
Finally , Facebook is off by $ 89 billion .
A trillion dollars is a serious amount of money .
If you had started spending a million dollars every single day when Jesus was born , you still wouldn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by now .
So we are talking about a giant pile of money that is almost unimaginable .
Apple has the largest market cap of any of the tech giants , and over the past three trading days it is down a total of more than 14 percent .
That is the worst three day stretch for Apple since October 2008 .
But if you want to see a real disaster , just look at what has been happening to Tesla ’ s stock price .
Do you remember a few days ago @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be overvalued if it went down 90 percent ?
Well , after Tuesday we only have 69 percent more to go before that actually happens… It was widely assumed that Tesla would be added to the S & P 500 on Friday , and when that didn ’ t happen it was “ a big disappointment for investors ” … But the bigger disappointment for Tesla investors will come when the general public finally realizes that a company that sold less than 100,000 vehicles and actually lost 862 million dollars last year is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I understand that people like to make money flipping Tesla stock , but to me the entire company is a giant mirage that will eventually collapse in spectacular fashion .
As for the market as a whole , I am not too excited about this current downturn just yet .
When CNBC asked Kristina Hooper about what we are seeing , she simply labeled it “ a healthy period of consolidation after a dramatic run-up ” … Yes , it is still entirely possible that this could turn into the big crash that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I think that I will wait until the Dow falls below 25,000 before I start hyperventilating .
Of course , I am among those that are entirely convinced that a stock market crash is definitely coming at some point .
At this moment in history , stock prices are absurdly overvalued .
Back in 1990 , the total value of all U.S. stocks was sitting at a level that was approximately 60 percent of U.S. GDP , and these days that number has been hovering around 200 percent… In his 2007 memoir , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , referring to late 1996 , that “ America was turning into a shareholders ’ nation ” .
He noted that the total value of US stock holdings had risen from 60 per cent of gross domestic product in 1990 to 120 per cent of GDP by 1996 — “ a ratio topped only by Japan at the height of its 1980s bubble ” .
In Japan , that ratio had jumped to 140 per cent by the end of 1989 , according to the World Bank .
The ratio of market capitalisation-to-GDP @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the amazement of Mr Greenspan , would go on to reach that same level .
Today , the market capitalisation-to-GDP ratio in the US is just shy of 200 per cent .
The S & P 500 companies alone are worth about $ 30tn , or 150 per cent of GDP .
So that would seem to imply that stock prices could ultimately fall by more than two-thirds , although I believe in the long-term they will go a whole lot lower than that .
In the short-term , we will see what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ single day percentage declines in stock market history have happened during the months of September and October , and it wouldn ’ t surprise me at all to see some huge waves of volatility during the weeks ahead .
But it is probably going to take some sort of a “ trigger event ” for the really big crash to happen .
That “ trigger event ” could happen tomorrow , or it may not happen for quite some time .
But without a doubt the market is perfectly primed for a major @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t take too much to push it over the edge .

Many of us have been waiting to see what surprises the month of September would bring, and it appears that a stock market crash may be one of them. Even the most ardent market optimists were admitting that the absurd bubble that had developed over the course of the summer was completely unsustainable, and the only real debate was over when it would finally burst. So is this it? Stock prices have certainly plunged quite dramatically over the last several trading sessions, but it is always possible that things could stabilize for a little while. But whether it happens in September, October, November, December or next year, the truth is that everyone knows that a crash is coming.
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell another 632 points, but that wasn’t the real story. Far more noteworthy was the fact that the Nasdaq was down another 4.1 percent, and that means that it has now dropped a total of more than 10 percent since it hit a brand new record high last week.
Only two times since 2001 has the Nasdaq fallen more rapidly over three trading sessions. The index is now officially in correction territory, and the losses have been staggering. In particular, the six largest tech stocks have collectively lost more than a trillion dollars in value during this three day stretch…
The six biggest tech stocks have lost more than $1 trillion over the last three days alone, but it’s really just a dent coming off a huge rally that peaked last week. Apple, which hit a $2 trillion market cap on Aug. 19, is down about $325 billion in that time period. Microsoft’s down $219 billion, Amazon fell $191 billion, Alphabet cratered by $135 billion, and Tesla, which fell 21% on Tuesday to mark its worst single-day loss in its history, is down $109 billion in the last three days. Finally, Facebook is off by $89 billion.
A trillion dollars is a serious amount of money.
If you had started spending a million dollars every single day when Jesus was born, you still wouldn’t have spent a trillion dollars by now. So we are talking about a giant pile of money that is almost unimaginable.
Apple has the largest market cap of any of the tech giants, and over the past three trading days it is down a total of more than 14 percent. That is the worst three day stretch for Apple since October 2008.
But if you want to see a real disaster, just look at what has been happening to Tesla’s stock price. Do you remember a few days ago when I said that it would still be overvalued if it went down 90 percent? Well, after Tuesday we only have 69 percent more to go before that actually happens…
Tesla shares closed down 21.06%, making it the worst one-day loss on record. Tuesday’s drop brought the company’s market valuation to $307.7 billion. The stock has been on a tear this year, having risen around 300%, and the company is now worth more than some of the world’s largest automakers, including Toyota and Volkswagen.
It was widely assumed that Tesla would be added to the S&P 500 on Friday, and when that didn’t happen it was “a big disappointment for investors”…
But while S&P Indexes announced late Friday that it was adding Etsy, an online marketplace for crafters; Teradyne (TER), a company specializing in industrial automation and robotics; and Catalent (CTLT), which develops pharmaceuticals, to the index, the absence of Tesla was a big disappointment for investors, prompting the sell-off.
But the bigger disappointment for Tesla investors will come when the general public finally realizes that a company that sold less than 100,000 vehicles and actually lost 862 million dollars last year is simply not worth 307 billion dollars.
I understand that people like to make money flipping Tesla stock, but to me the entire company is a giant mirage that will eventually collapse in spectacular fashion.
As for the market as a whole, I am not too excited about this current downturn just yet. When CNBC asked Kristina Hooper about what we are seeing, she simply labeled it “a healthy period of consolidation after a dramatic run-up”…
“Some are suggesting this is the start of another dramatic sell-off, similar to the spring of 2000 when the ‘tech bubble’ burst. I highly doubt that,” Kristina Hooper, Invesco Chief Global Market Strategist, said in an email to CNBC. “I think of this rout not so much as a correction, but as a digestion given that the NASDAQ Composite rose more than 60% from its March bottom in the course of less than six months. All In all, I think this is a healthy period of consolidation after a dramatic run-up.”
Yes, it is still entirely possible that this could turn into the big crash that everyone has been waiting for.
But I think that I will wait until the Dow falls below 25,000 before I start hyperventilating.
Of course, I am among those that are entirely convinced that a stock market crash is definitely coming at some point. At this moment in history, stock prices are absurdly overvalued. Back in 1990, the total value of all U.S. stocks was sitting at a level that was approximately 60 percent of U.S. GDP, and these days that number has been hovering around 200 percent…
In his 2007 memoir, former Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan wrote, referring to late 1996, that “America was turning into a shareholders’ nation”. He noted that the total value of US stock holdings had risen from 60 per cent of gross domestic product in 1990 to 120 per cent of GDP by 1996 — “a ratio topped only by Japan at the height of its 1980s bubble”. In Japan, that ratio had jumped to 140 per cent by the end of 1989, according to the World Bank. The ratio of market capitalisation-to-GDP in the US in 2000, to the amazement of Mr Greenspan, would go on to reach that same level. Today, the market capitalisation-to-GDP ratio in the US is just shy of 200 per cent. The S&P 500 companies alone are worth about $30tn, or 150 per cent of GDP.
So that would seem to imply that stock prices could ultimately fall by more than two-thirds, although I believe in the long-term they will go a whole lot lower than that.
In the short-term, we will see what happens. 10 of the 20 worst single day percentage declines in stock market history have happened during the months of September and October, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see some huge waves of volatility during the weeks ahead.
But it is probably going to take some sort of a “trigger event” for the really big crash to happen.
That “trigger event” could happen tomorrow, or it may not happen for quite some time. But without a doubt the market is perfectly primed for a major disaster, and it certainly won’t take too much to push it over the edge.
Article posted with permission from Michael Snyder