PN>>18034056 Discrepancy In 2022 Pinal County Recount Expected, Questions Persist

Corrupt & Incompetent Hobbs is a train wreck

Discrepancy In 2022 Pinal County Recount Expected, Questions Persist

December 28, 2022 ADI

A significant discrepancy between Pinal County’s officially canvassed vote tally and its recount tally of ballots cast in the 2022 General Election ballots is expected.

The results of the statutorily required recount in 3 races were expected to be released on December 22nd however, inexplicably, Secretary of State KatieHobbs petitioned the courts to have the results go directly to heroffice and asked to postpone the release until December 29th.

News of the discrepancy broke on Twitter when well-respected consultant, Constantin Querard, who is not known for spreading conspiracy theories, shared his understanding of the situation.

“From reliable source in rural county – sizable # of votes found during recount. Net benefit to GOP candidates in the 100s possibly? Yikes!Maybe why recount results are being slow-walked by Hobbs?I’m not one for conspiracy stuff, but no process is perfect, so keep an eye on it!” tweeted Querard.

There were automatic recounts in the Attorney General’s race, Superintendent of Public Instruction race, and the Legislative District 13 (LD13) House race. Arizona law was recently changed, requiring automatic recounts if a candidate wins by a margin that is less than or equal to 0.5% of total votes cast.

The approximately 300 ballot discrepancy in Pinal County stems from a “system failure,” and is expected to favor Arizona Attorney General candidate Abe Hamadeh, a Republican who is only 511 votes away from the declared winner Democrat candidate Kris Mayes.

It is believed that the issue withPinal’s tally was known before Hamadeh and gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake filed their separate election challengesin Arizona courts. If that is the case, then both candidates were denied information that could have changed their election challenges which focused only on the mismanagement in Maricopa County on Election Day.

Both Hamadeh and Lake were denied court victories on the grounds that they did not prove that the mismanagement could have changed the outcome of their cases. However, legal experts say the new revelations about Pinal County certainly change the legal landscape for Hamadeh.

Due to a court order, all Pinal County elected officials refused to discuss the matter.

In August, officials were forced to fire Pinal County Elections Director David Frisk in the wake of the County’s disastrous disenfranchisement of untold number of voters in the Primary Election. Pinal County Recorder Virginia Ross then resigned her elected office in order to fill the vacancy left by Frisk.

At the time, voters in Pinal County said they felt like they were watching the chairs being moved around the deck of the Titanic.

Prior to the Primary Election Day, Pinal County became the focus of lawsuits after the Elections Department sent about 63,000 voters in seven municipalities an incorrect early ballot in the mail.

Relying on a formula provided by Hobbs’ office, the Elections Department failed to have enough ballots on hand at multiple locations for voters. As a result, voters were turned away and ultimately disenfranchised.

https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2022/12/discrepancy-2022-pinal-county-recount-expected-questions-persist/

Ivan Zuenko: China unveils a surprising new weapon in its information war against the West

The US and its allies control the global media space, but Beijing has a plan to weaken their stranglehold

When summing up 2020 – a difficult year with the Covid-19 pandemic and an escalation in the confrontation between Beijing and Washington – prominent Chinese political scientist Yuan Peng wrote: “It no longer matters what is true or false – what matters is who controls the discourse.”

The expert was referring to media pressure to discredit China, but in fact he identified one of the main features of our time – which could be calledthe ‘post-truth era’, when public opinion is shaped not by facts but by emotions.

Those who can guide these feelings in the right direction are the ones who shape the information agenda. The emotions that are generated have become the ‘discourse’. This concept, born among French poststructuralist philosophers (primarily Michel Foucault) in the mid-twentieth century, has found itself at the core of global politics in the early twenty-first century.

The year 2022, with all its tumultuous events – the escalation of the ‘Ukraine crisis’, the diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics, Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, and the expansion of ‘global NATO’ – has raised the temperature of information confrontation to record levels. We have no reason to expect it to be less heated next year. China is one of those countries which, although it missed out on the initial division of ‘discursive capital’, has recognized the problem in time and is now consistently building up what experts call ‘discursive power’.

Beijing became concerned about this issue about ten years ago, when it became clear that its traditional ‘soft power’ approaches were no longer working. Despite generous investments in promoting its image, China was not treated better as a consequence.

Indeed, on the contrary, the degree of Sinophobia increased in direct proportion to China’s growing economic power. Confucius Institutes were perceived exclusively as breeding grounds for Chinese propaganda. Even a public relations event as obviously successful as the 2008 Summer Olympics was accompanied by loud accusations of human rights abuses and speeches in support of Tibetan separatists.

This is when it became clear to Beijing thatwhat matters is not what is actually happening, but how it is reported on the internet. And online content in today’s world is mostly produced by Westerners and in the English language. As a result, not only the West itself, but also China’s neighbors, look at it through the eyes of the West.

It became necessary to analyze why attitudes towards the actions of a particular country are explained by the manner in which it is presented in the public square – and such an explanation was found in the concept of ‘discourse’. “Whoever controls the discourse controls the power,” Chinese intellectuals began to write, creatively modifying Foucault’s ideas to suit the political demand.

And soon these theoretical findings emerged from the offices of scholars and became the informational basis of Beijing’s new foreign policy – focusing on the ‘great renaissance of the Chinese nation’. The active position of Chinese diplomats and experts in social media (so-called ‘wolf warrior diplomacy’), thepromotion of their terminology in various international platforms– all this is part of the ‘discursive power’ that is being developed by Beijing.

The phenomenon of ‘discursive power’ in China has not remained unnoticed by experts on the country. The Institute of International Studies of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) has also published an analytical report titled ‘From Soft Power to Discursive Power: The New Ideology of China’s Foreign Policy’, which provides a comprehensive assessment of this phenomenon and makes predictions for the future.

According to its findings, struggles around discourse are part of the hybrid confrontation that is already taking place on a global scale. China’s main goal is to counter the ‘discursive hegemony’ of the West, without overthrowing it, because Beijing needs the structure to build constructive relations with other countries. As a result, an alternative discursive reality to the West will gradually be created and most countries of the world will find themselves in the horns of a dilemma in choosing which point of view to adopt. Most importantly, ‘discursive power’ in Chinese interpretations is not limited to the written word – technological, financial and managerial standards are also part of it. Which, of course, means a new divide awaits the planet.

Such is the wondrous new world – the world of post-truth and ‘discursive multipolarity.’

https://www.rt.com/news/569070-china-unveils-new-weapon/

We Need the real CIC back now

Gallup Sees 'Momentous Shifts in Public Opinion' in 2022

As 2022 draws to a close, the pollsters at Gallup took a look back at how Americans responded to its surveys during the year and found that the past year was one with "momentous shifts in public opinion," many of them being new lows that paint a malaise-swept country as we head into 2023.

Just before Independence Day, Gallup's survey of patriotism saw the number of citizens who say they are "extremely proud" to be American come in at just 38 percent, the lowest ever recorded by Gallup since it started tracking Americans' pride in their country in 2001. As Gallup explained, the drop in patriotism recorded in 2022 took place across the political spectrum:

Republicans' pride in being American has consistently outpaced Democrats' and independents' since 2001 and does so today. However, Republicans' extreme national pride (58%) is now at its lowest point in the trend. Independents' extreme pride, at 34%, is likewise the lowest on record for the group.

After hitting a 22% low point in 2019, Democrats' extreme pride rose to 31% in 2021 at the start of Joe Biden's presidency, but it is down this year to 26%.

All three major party groups show double-digit declines in pride compared with 2013, with Democrats' 30-point decline the largest. The current 32-point gap in Democratic versus Republican pride is larger than the historical average though smaller than the record-high 54-point gap in 2019.

In addition to sinking patriotism, Americans' confidence in our country's institutions also dove in 2022. Gallup noted "significant declines" from 2021 in 11 of the 16 institutions they asked Americans about.

While small business had the highest confidence with 68 percent, Congress bottomed out at a new low of just seven percent. The military had 64 percent confidence while all other institutions had the confidence of fewer than 50 percent of Americans.

New lows were reached for the Supreme Court (25 percent) and presidency (23 percent), while organized religion was at 31 percent, newspapers had 16 percent, and both America's criminal justice system and big business saw 14 percent confidence.

Taken as an average by Gallup, these institutions hit a record low of 27 percent confidence — some three points lower than the previous all-time low.

The lack of patriotism and confidence in the country paralleled decreasing optimism that the next generation will have better lives than their parents. In fact, 2022 tied the record-low number of Americans who believe that the next generation will be better off — just 42 percent. Gallup noted that 2022's survey was "an 18-percentage-point drop since June 2019 and is statistically tied with the previous low in 2011."

"Americans' overall sour mood about the economy and the direction of the country is also borne out in their low optimism about the next generation's prospects of having a better life than their parents," Gallup noted. "Republicans, in particular, have become sharply more pessimistic since 2019."

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/spencerbrown/2022/12/27/americans-2022-highs-and-lows-n2617594

Some More of the More Riffable Headlines From the Past Year – Part Two

Brad Slager

Covering the media on a daily basis in Riffed From The Headlines provides one with a wide panoply of press peculiarities. In between these polemic paradoxes on the calendar was all manner of unhinged reporting and laughably inept examples of journalism. So here is the second half a fun chronology of some of the more mirthful media mendacities from the past year. (Part 1 is here.)

Politico may have explained so much that is wrong in the DC media complex by detailing that many working in journalism are taking mushrooms recreationally.

Liz Cheney was the focus of the media for much of the year and serving as the face of the January 6 Committee. It all led to her getting trounced by 40 points in the Wyoming primary.

The FBI raid on Mar-A-Lago to retrieve documents was blown up as the worst malfeasance by a former president. Nuclear documents, international intel, and the identities of spies were alleged to be in his possession. The latest reports on the actual contents however a far less dramatic.

Biden delivered his odd and oppressive Red Sermon speech, and CNN attempted to soften the optics. The network was seen altering the colors of the lighting on its live feed, in order to make him appear less foreboding to viewers.

When the water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi was making the news the attempt was made that the GOP-run legislature was ignoring the problem due to racism. This is the state capital, so it would be tough to say they were ignoring a problem that was affecting them. Tougher is blaming Republicans for a city run by Democrats for over thirty years failing to take action…for decades.

Las Vegas reporter Jeff German was murdered on his front lawn. As the press was lecturing about the dangers of right-wing commentary leading to violence few wanted to note German was killed by a Democrat politician.

The Ron DeSantis immigrant flight to Martha’s Vineyard had the press spinning in an imbalanced fashion. When a rumor online was another flight would land near Biden’s home in Delaware, the media that ignores the strife at the border showed up at the airport in a mob

Stacey Abrams delivered some medical misinformation about the way ultrasounds work in detecting fetal heartbeats. Fact-Checker extraordinaire Glenn Kessler rushed to defend her inaccuracies.

Jose Biden declared that “right-wingers” wanting to take on the government would need to use an F-15 to do so. This undermined more than a year of media narratives that mostly unarmed right-wingers staged a coup attempt.

The collective press complex fell into a hilarious round of hysterics when Donald Trump arrived in D.C. wearing golf shoes. First was the rampant speculations. Next came the surveillance photos being taken, followed by the accusations of clandestine meetings being held. All of this, over a gathering of executives to go over the design of his new golf course on the Potomac.

Taylorenz doxxed the Libs Of TikTok, requiring corrections by her paper. Lorenz reported on YouTube accounts profiting from the Depp/Heard trial, requiring corrections by her paper. Lorenz blamed Libs of Tik Tok for a Boston hospital being evacuated which never occurred, requiring corrections by her paper. Lorenz was assigned a specific editor to double-check her work.

The Atlantic determined how Trump directed people to storm the Capitol on January 6:He used memes.

During Hurricane Ian coverage Florida reporter Kyla Galer used a condom to protect her microphone.

https://townhall.com/columnists/bradslager/2022/12/28/some-more-of-the-more-riffable-headlines-from-the-past-year-part-two-n2617648

2022 Sucked

Picture 365 days full of sucking and you’ve got this past year. Not in my personal life, and hopefully not in yours either, but politically. We have a moron in the White House, a culture going to hell, and a media actively working against any and everything that refuses to conform to their left-wing agenda. At least on January 3rd a new Congress with convenes and some of the horrible will end. So we make sure we repeat a little of the garbage from 2022 to 2023, let’s take a look back at some of the worst.

First, we’re going broke faster than anyone thought possible. Joe Biden doesn’t understand math… economics…or how to tie his shoes (seriously, he’d either be barefoot or tripping constantly with only laces), and no amount of explanation is going to make him care that he’s bringing about the collapse of our economy. It’s not really that he’s too stupid to understand, though he’s plenty stupid, it’s that to the extent to which he does understand what he’s doing, he does not care.

Then we have that media that will not report honestly about Joe Biden or any Democrat. That’s not going to get any better, they’re on the team. I’ve never seen adults look at something so obviously, one thing, and all collectively either ignore it or insist that it is something else entirely. After an election season of them screaming “THREAT TO DEMOCRACY!!!!” you’d think the people actively working to undermine it in the name of politics might recognize an actual threat to democracy.….

I saved the cultural rot for last because it is, long term, the most important and dangerous.

There is no point in my life in which I would have believed you if you’d told me a political party would be openly sided with pedophiles, but here we are. And have no doubt, that’s what you are engaged in when you’re sexualizing children, whether or not it gets physical is irrelevant.

In 2022, the smell from the dump not only wafted all over everyone, but it also came to life and was given royal treatment by the political left in the country.

Honestly, I don’t care what people do in private, as long as whoever they do it with is of age and willing. At some point over the past few years what was going on in private became public, not because normal people started prying into the bedrooms of others, but because some people decided to make the world their bedroom and try to force the world to watch and applaud.

If some guy in a dress gyrated in front of me when I was a kid my dad would’ve knocked him into next week. Now, that same guy is celebrated by politicians, the media, librarians, etc. I don’t care if you want to wear a dress or pretend to be a woman, it’s the need a small percentage of these people have to rub the faces of kids in it, or at least their crotches, that is sick. There is no circumstance under which the sexualizing of children is OK. Parents who bring their kids to these “shows” are just as sick as the men getting off on it. If you took a kid to a strip club you’d be arrested, what the hell is wrong with the people who cheer it?

I know, they say it’s all about “acceptance” and not making trans people feel bad. When it comes to kids, I simply don’t give a damn. I’m not going to celebrate anyone’s sexuality or fetish, I simply don’t care – you have to explain to God what you’ve done, I don’t – but no one’s self-esteem or anything else is worth damaging a child. If you want to have a drag club where adults who enjoy that toss cash and adulation your way, knock yourself out. If you want your elementary school’s public library filled with students to be that venue, hell no.

That an entire wing of society defends and cheers this is not only a sign of the decline of American greatness, but if we don’t squash it’ll be the end of it, and deservedly so.

It’s shocking enough how pandering Democrats collectively forgot what a woman was in 2022, especially the “feminist” wing, but that they’re now forgetting what a child brings to a new level. Body mutilation, chemically altering children on whims and delusions, permanently butchering…

Yes, 2022 brought about a new level of evil most people wouldn’t have thought possible just a couple of years ago. If it isn’t destroyed, it will destroy us all. And honestly, we’d deserve it. Let’s hope 2023 is much, much better.

https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2022/12/29/2022-sucked-n2617661

MSNBC Host Gets Schooled By Twitter After Defending Biden's History of Lying

MSNBC host of “All In,” Chris Hayes, was hit with a reality check after defending President Joe Biden’s long history of lying to GOP Rep.-elect George Santos (R-NY) admitting he lied on his resume.

In the wake of Santos admitting that he lied about his work and education experience while on the campaign trail, Democrats were quick to deem him unfit for the position he is running for.

While the Left called for Santo’s dismissal, writer Jonah Goldberg called out Democrats for the hypocrisy happening as Biden tells lies like it’s his job.

"I think Santos is a total embarrassment and has no place in public life. But a lot of folks on this site dinging him seem to have forgotten how much both the current president and his predecessor ‘embellished’ about their accomplishments,” Goldberg tweeted.

In response, Hayes defended Biden, calling his lies "normal politician bs-ing.”

“I think there's a line between ‘normal’ politician bs-ing and conman serial lying, and he's got infractions on either side of that line… I mean it would have been a pretty big deal if it turned out Joe Biden didn't have a law degree!” Hayes tweeted to Goldberg.

However, Hayes was schooled by Twitter after his comments.

Another pointed out that Biden has lied about the most important parts of his life.

"Biden lies about the most important moments in his life all the time. From the tragic death of his daughter and first wife to the number of grandchildren he has. He lies incessantly about his education. Find something biographical he doesn’t lie about. Hell, he’s not even Irish."

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2022/12/28/msnbc-host-gets-hit-with-reality-check-after-defending-bidens-history-of-lying-n2617660

Why You Need to Stop Worrying and Love Trump Again

Kevin Downey Jr.

President Trump has been taking some flak from his own MAGA crowd lately, specifically for two reasons:

he verbally attacked Ron DeSantis, referring to him as “Ron DeSanctimonious.”

he pimped some digital trading cards, thus diverting attention from the video of his plan to save free speech, which I personally believe was his most powerful video in a long time.

It was understandable to get depressed over the midterms. Apparently, New York and Michigan didn’t get enough crime, communism, racism, Democrat-deep state collusion, and double standards over the last three years and voted for more. Ditto Pennsylvania, though Doug Mastriano–the die-hard pro-life gubernatorial candidate–was doomed from the start. Liberals will always want an escape hatch for their irresponsible sexual behavior.

People tend to blame their leaders when they lose elections, and Trump took plenty of heat after the midterms. Political pundits and talk show hosts on the right have sworn Trump off. I’m here to tell you that, no matter how you feel about Trump today, get over it.

If you read my columns, you know I’m the dog barking at the commies lurking in the shadows. Trump himself stated that the Democrats have skipped socialism and gone straight to communism.

Whatever your problem is with Trump, you need to get over it. Trump sees that our republic is in danger. He knows it’s now or never. The next “red wave” you hear about sweeping the nation might not be the kind you think it is.

Ron DeSantis is proving to be a great leader and seems to be fervently anti-communist. We don’t know yet if he is running. Also, he just took a purple Florida and made it blood red. Do we want him to leave the Sunshine State at this point? DeSantis is GOP money in the bank and likely will remain so for years. Let’s not play that card too soon.

Do you think deep-stater Mike Pompeo is going to save us from the globalist, bolshie surge slowly sweeping over the nation? Do you trust Mike Pence to… let me get back to you on this.

We know Trump can do the job because he has done it. He has also sacrificed tremendous wealth for the opportunity to lead us. Most importantly, he isn’t afraid. The lack of courage we’ve seen from the GOP is appalling. RINOs like Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham strike me as perfect specimens for a low-T infomercial.

You may not always like Trump, but you don’t have to. Legendary college basketball coach Bobby Knight was hated by his players and fans but he brought them championships. There are internet rumors that WWII General Patton was hated by some of his men despite a string of glorious victories. Now is not the time to worry about your feelings. There is too much to lose.

I see Trump as a real-life Han Solo; he is arrogant and sometimes obnoxious, but he is the guy that we all know can get the job done and save our republic. Your kids’ and grandkids’ futures are worth dealing with another four years of mean tweets.

You may be sick of hearing it, but I can’t say it enough: The communists are here and they won’t stop until they have it all. I like DeSantis, but as of now, I’m going with the guy who has proven himself. Get over your feelings and save the nation. If George Washington’s men could live outside in the harsh New England winters to fight for your freedoms, you can deal with Orange Man Bad for one more term, especially if it means another 100 years of constitutional freedoms. So talk to (insert name of suburban white woman you’re close to) and convince herto get back on the Trump Train. It’s now or never.

https://pjmedia.com/columns/kevindowneyjr/2022/12/19/why-you-need-to-stop-worrying-and-love-trump-again-n1654859

>>18035161

I needed to read this, he writes the reality and Truth

All Americans Need To Get Back On The Trump Train

AANTGBOTTT. Kek

Utah’s Most Famous RINO May Fall Off the Fence

Lincoln Brown

It should come as no surprise to Utahns or anyone who identifies as conservative that Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) did not vote along party lines when it came to the $1.7 trillion spending bill/omnibus package. Well, he did vote along party lines, just not the party with which he is affiliated. Romney took to Twitter to explain his rationale:

If you couldn’t stand a political version of a time-share pitch, let me summarize it for you:

It would cost less to pass it this year than next.

Republicans aren’t organized enough to get a speaker together, let alone budgets.

They need Senate Democrats to pass a budget, anyway.

Sure, $1.7 trillion sounds like a lot of money, but it only makes up 1/3 of government spending. The other 2/3, which include social security entitlements, Medicare, and Medicaid, are the real culprits when it comes to debt.

The Electoral Count Act will stop attempts to overturn elections.

The bill has some good things in it.

Utah gets some money out of it.

The Law of Averages would indicate that there are indeed some good things in many bills that make them easier to pass. But mixed in with those “good things” is a plethora of awful things. That, of course, is the price Americans pay to pass a 4,000 page bill full of items that Congress should have been working on all year long.

And did you catch the jab at the GOP? Republicans can’t pick a speaker, so they can’t create a budget. No, sir, not all members of the GOP want to rush something through for political favors and to score points on the Sunday morning talk shows. A working republic is not supposed to be easy. For crying out loud, Mitt, why don’t you just caucus with the Democrats already?

On top of all this, Romney has said that, should he decide to run again, he would be re-elected, although he has not decided if he plans to throw his hairdo into the ring. And before you start laughing, it isn’t as far-fetched as you may think.

It is true that despite what some uninformed pundits and news outlets may tell you, Romney is not popular with the Republicans in Utah.The word “Romney” is well on its way to replacing “flip” and “fetch” as the substitute Mormons use for swear words. So his chances of getting through a convention are low. He didn’t even bother to attend the last GOP state convention. But Utah’s caucus/convention system is a threatened and endangered species.

Originally, candidates had to stump for their seats. That meant meeting with elected delegates either in a group or even one-on-one to deliver a pitch and win the nod at the convention. But the caucus/convention system has long been under attack, and Utah now permits people to gather a requisite number of signatures to appear on the ballot. While Mike Lee won the convention, one of his left-leaning challengers had enough signatures to run against him in the primary. And I personally watched her supporters do everything possible to submarine the convention process to get her the nomination.

And keep in mind that, while Mike Lee did win his re-election bid, Evan McMullin gave him a run for his money, aided and abetted by Democrat money and a sympathetic press. Utah is not the conservative bastion that it used to be, especially when it comes to the media. Consider this headline from theDeseret News: “Utahns call on Sen. Romney to protect Dreamers.” If you click on the link, you see that the number of protesters at the event numbered about 19. But from the headline, one would think that Utahns by the thousands are in support of DACA. And most people don’t bother to read much below the headline.

It makes perfect sense that Romney leans to the left and votes with the donkeys. He is betting on Democrats retaining power for the foreseeable future. He is also betting that Utah continues to drift blue and that he may be able to ride the fence to victory. And he just might.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/lincolnbrown/2022/12/27/utahs-most-famous-rino-may-fall-off-the-fence-n1656588

>>18035102

Good, nice summary

>>18035096

Unite and pray. And do anon work

I talked to two of my liberals sisters separately, they both agree the “forces that be”, are dividing people greatly and its “their intent”. Thats progress for them anons. And they are tired of it.

>>18035018

When he gets back he’s going to judge the dems and rinos of an insurrection, and I’m sure he has the proof.

As a matter of fact Fauci, Birx, FDA, CDC and any other government agents and agencies will also be charged with an insurrection.

Yes your statement sounds right to me

Fighting the ‘Psyopcracy’

December 27, 2022

It is a hard thing to combat because it’s not a physical enemy but rather messages that lodge themselves in millions of people’s minds. And it has come to rule over us.

Cathy Vogan, the executive producer of Consortium News‘ webcast CN Live!,recently coined a new term to describe rule by psyops, or psychological operations:psyopcracy

According to Wikipedia:

“Psychological operations (PSYOP) are operations to convey selected information and indicators to audiences to influence their emotions, motives, and objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of governments, organizations, groups, and individuals.

The purpose of United States psychological operations is to induce or reinforce behavior perceived to be favorable to U.S. objectives.”

William Casey, C.I.A. director under Ronald Reagan, said: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”

Thus the American people are continuously subject to a number of psychological operations otherwise known as “the news.”

U.S. intelligence officials feed journalists disinformation to create a false narrative that is intended to mislead the public and cover-up what is actually taking place. The constant reinforcement of these lies becomes entrenched in the public mind and after time comes to be accepted as unquestionable truth.

Here’s an explanation of how the C.I.A. did it in Vietnam:

https://youtu.be/UwerBZG83YM

Through such operations, the American people were led to believe for years that the United States was winning in Vietnam, when it was actually losing, as the Pentagon Papers proved.

Since then, many examples have followed of completely false stories being planted into people’s minds to start and keep a war going, the fake WMD narrative in Iraq perhaps the most infamous.

Today the war people are being fooled about is in Ukraine. Sometimes a psyop doesn’t involve inserting false information, so much as leaving out what’s true.

The American people, and by extension people around the world, have been led to believe that an unprovoked Russian madman started the war last February.

That’s because they are purposely not told that the war actually began in 2014 after a U.S.-backed coup in Kiev led Russian speakers in Donbass to declare independence, after which the coup government militarily attacked them.

Other facts are removed from the story, such as Russia’s proposed treaties with the U.S. and NATO last December that would have prevented Russia’s intervention in the Ukrainian civil war.

Robert Parry, the founder of this website, in March 2017 wrote the article, “How US Flooded the World with Psyops,” in which he reported for the first time:

“Newly declassified documents from the Reagan presidential library help explain how the U.S. government developed its sophisticated psychological operations capabilities that – over the past three decades – have created an alternative reality both for people in targeted countries and for American citizens, a structure that expanded U.S. influence abroad and quieted dissent at home.

The documents reveal the formation of a psyops bureaucracy under the direction of Walter Raymond Jr., a senior CIA covert operations specialist who was assigned to President Reagan’s National Security Council staff to enhance the importance of propaganda and psyops in undermining U.S. adversaries around the world and ensuring sufficient public support for foreign policies inside the United States.”

So many people are subject to psyops that telling the truth becomes a formidable task. You become the one that is out of step. You are the one that seems to be mad.

https://consortiumnews.com/2022/12/27/fighting-the-psyopcracy/

We’ve Reached Peak Zelensky. Now What?

December 29, 2022

1 of 3

After the farcical, almost psychotic over-promotion, Robert Freeman says the only place for the Ukrainian president to go from here is down. And, that is surely coming. Soon.

When the president of the poorest, most corrupt nation in Europe is feted with multiple standing ovations by the combined Houses of Congress, and his name invoked in the same breath as Winston Churchill, you know we’ve reached Peak Zelensky.

It’s a farcical, almost psychotic over-promotion, probably surpassed only by the media’s shameful, hyperbolic railroading of the country into war with Iraq, in 2003. Paraphrasing Gertrude from Hamlet, “Methinks the media doth hype too much.”

Let’s remember that before ascending to his country’s presidency, Volodymyr Zelensky’s greatest claim to fame was that he could play the piano with his penis. I’m not joking. And he ran on a platform to unite his country for peace, and for making amends with Russia. Again, I’m not joking.

Now, he’s Europe’s George Washington, FDR and Douglas MacArthur all rolled into one and before whom the mighty and powerful genuflect.

Please. The only place to go from here is down. And, that is surely coming. Soon.

Consider some inconvenient facts that the fawning media, which is essentially the public relations arm of the weapons industry, doesn’t want you to know.

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, recently let slip that the Ukrainian army has lost more than 100,000 troops in the eight months since the beginning of the war. Over the nine-year span of the Vietnam War, the U.S. with a population six times that of Ukraine, lost a total of 58,220 men.

In other words, on a per day, per capita basis, Ukraine is losing soldiers at a rate 141 TIMES that of U.S. losses in Vietnam. The U.S. lost the public on Vietnam when middle class white boys began coming home in body bags. Does anybody with half a brain believe such losses in Ukraine are sustainable? Does anybody have another plan to avert such slaughter?

Von der Leyen is shrewdly laying the predicate for Western withdrawal from Ukraine and ending the war. If you look at the facts on the ground, not the boosterish propaganda ladled out by the media, you can understand why.

In a matter of weeks, Russia, with its hypersonic missiles, destroyed half of Ukraine’s electrical power infrastructure. This, as winter is coming on. It can just as easily take out the other half, effectively bombing Ukraine back into the Stone Age. Is that what anybody wants?…

https://consortiumnews.com/2022/12/29/weve-reached-peak-zelensky-now-what/

>>18035382

2 of 3

The startling, indeed, terrifying part of this is that neither Ukraine nor the West have any defense against these hypersonic missiles. They travel so fast, and on variable trajectories, they cannot be shot down, even by the most advanced Western systems. They represent one of the greatest asymmetries in deliverable destructive power in the history of warfare, probably dwarfed only by the U.S.’s possession of atomic bombs at the end of World War II.

Again, there is no effective defense against them. The Russians have them. The Ukrainians don’t. Game over. Can you understand why leaders in the West are beginning to wake up?

On the conventional front, the Ukrainians are having trouble securing even conventional weapons to defend themselves. U.S. arms suppliers are working around the clock to replace their own stocks and the stocks that European countries have given to Ukraine. But the backlog is running into years. A recent headline from The Wall Street Journal stated, “Europe is Rushing Arms to Ukraine but Running Out of Ammo.”

Finally, the U.S. has committed $112 billion to Ukraine. That includes $45 billion just slipped into the omnibus funding bill against the likelihood that a Republican-controlled House will cut such funding, almost certainly substantially.

That’s more than $10 billion per month since the war started in February. And that doesn’t even count the subsidies, both material and financial, from the EU which amount to billions of dollars more per month.

Without such subsidies, Zelensky would not have lasted a month in the war. How many hours do you think he is going last once that flow dries up? And it surely is.

Europeans Waking Up

The Europeans are coming to realize that their continent is being de-industrialized, literally moved backwards an entire epoch in economic terms, because of their willingness to serve as the doormat for the U.S.’ imperial war against Russia. Not even they, with their supine fealty to U.S. domination, are willing to commit collective economic suicide on behalf of the U.S.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Olaf Scholz are suggesting that accommodations to Russian interests must be devised in order to bring about a peaceful settlement of the war.

Macron suggested in a television address to his nation that an antagonized Russia is not in the security interests of Europe. “We need to prepare what we are ready to do … to give guarantees to Russia the day it returns to the negotiating table.”

Scholz was even more specific. In an article in Foreign Affairs he declared, “We have to go back to the agreements which we had in the last decades and which were the basis for peace and security order in Europe.”

This is a direct repudiation of the U.S.’s maximalist position before the start of the war, that Russia’s security needs were of no interest to a marauding NATO.

>>18035386

3 of 3

Even U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is now mooting the idea that territorial concessions must be on the table. In a Wall Street Journal article, Blinken stated that, “Our focus is … to take back territory that’s been seized from [Ukraine] since February 24th.”

Notice, that this is a significant climb down from the U.S.’ earlier position that all Russian gains since 2014, including Crimea, must be reversed before negotiations could begin. And this is just Blinken’s opening hand. More concessions are sure to follow as Russian gains become greater and their likelihood of being reversed, lesser.

Formula for Losing the War

Put these four things together: staggering, unsustainable losses of soldiers; terrifying, indefensible asymmetries of destructive power; inability to supply oneself with even conventional defensive weapons; and categorically reduced support from your most important backers.

Does that sound like the formula for winning a war? It is not. It’s the formula for losing the war, which is why von der Leyen, Macron, Scholz and Blinken are now laying pipe for getting out. The tide is going out under Zelensky. He will soon be remembered as a Trivial Pursuits question, or an answer on Jeopardy: “The only modern head of state known to be able to play the piano with his penis.” Ding. “Contestant #3?” “Who is Volodymyr Zelensky?”

A peace will soon be declared. Russia will keep the Donbass and Crimea in recognition of the facts on the ground. Both sides will be better off for this. The Donbass is ethnically, linguistically, religiously, and culturally Russian, which is why it voted overwhelmingly for assimilation into Russia. Besides, if Kiev loved them so much, it wouldn’t have murdered 14,000 of them over the past eight years and resumed massive shelling in early February of this year, before the Russian invasion.

Ukraine will foreswear any future affiliation with NATO. This is Putin’s highest priority and what he asked for — and was denied — in his request to the U.S. and NATO last December, before the invasion was launched. If Russia begins its much-feared winter offensive, as many expect, Ukrainian generals will dispatch Zelensky in a coup rather than send their few remaining soldiers to certain annihilation.

U.S. grain and pharma conglomerates will buy up Ukrainian farmland — some of the best in the world — for pennies on the dollar. This is the standard MO of U.S. multinational vultures coming in after the kill to pick apart the carcasses. U.S. weapons makers will look for and help provoke the next feeding frenzy, much as they materialized Ukraine barely a year after the humiliating U.S. defeat in Afghanistan derailed their last gravy train.

Russia and China, driven together by U.S. bullying, will continue to constellate the nations of the Global South into an anti-Western bloc committed to collaborative, mutually profitable, peaceful development. The U.S. and its closest allies will cower behind the walls they’ve constructed of the ever-shrinking share of the global economy that they can manage to hold as their own.

Ukraine will prove a turning point in the dismantling of U.S. hegemony over global affairs that it has enjoyed — and, let’s be honest, often abused — since 1945. The U.S. public is not psychically prepared for such a come down. But that is the cost of living in the fantasy world that the media lavishes up to keep that self-same public ignorant, fearful, confused, entertained, and distracted.

Finally, the neo-cons who have led the U.S. into the serial debacles of Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Ukraine, costing the country tens of trillions of dollars and even greater amounts of destroyed reputational capital, will claim their customary immunity from any accountability for their savage failures and cheerily move on to their next calamity. We need to be on the lookout for their next gambit to pillage the treasury and advance their own private interests above those of the nation. It will surely come.

https://consortiumnews.com/2022/12/29/weve-reached-peak-zelensky-now-what/

29 Dec, 2022 14:16

Ukrainian plot to breach dam revealed by media

Kiev considered attacking the Kakhovka hydropower plant on the Dnieper, an ex-commander told the Washington Post

(US told to leak this)

Ukrainian forces were planning to damage a major hydroelectric dam on the Dnieper River in Russia’s Kherson Region to paralyze the movement of Moscow’s forces, who were at the time defending the key city of Kherson, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing a former Ukrainian commander. The revelation comes despite Kiev’s claims that the destruction of the facility would be a “large-scale disaster.”

Speaking to the newspaper, Major General Andrey Kovalchuk, who formerly headed Ukraine’s Operational Command South, described Kiev’s attempts to push back the Russian forces that had been stationed on the right bank of the Dnieper by cutting off their supply routes. To this end, Ukraine repeatedly shelled several crossings, using US-made HIMARS missiles.

Kovalchuk also considered flooding the river by attacking the Kakhovka hydropower plant. The general said, as reported by the Post, that Kiev’s forces “even conducted a test strike with a HIMARS launcher on one of the floodgates.”The purpose of the ‘experiment’ was to “see if the Dnieper’s water could be raised enough to stymie Russian crossings but not flood nearby villages.”

The ex-commander described the test as “a success,” but decided to resort to such an attack only if there were no other options remaining.

Russian forces ended up withdrawing from Kherson behind the Dnieper River in early November. At the time, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu explained that Ukraine’s recurring attacks on the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam posed a serious risk to both the military and civilians. Should attempts to blow up the dam be successful, “large areas”could be flooded and the troops there could have been cut off from the rest of the Russian forces.

In late October, Moscow appealed to the UN to prevent Ukraine from destroying the dam. This “terrible provocation” could result in thousands of civilians dead, Russia said at the time.

The same month, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky claimed that Moscow had allegedly planted bombs in the dam. “Blowing up the dam would mean a large-scale disaster,” he said.

https://www.rt.com/russia/569123-ukraine-plan-dam-breach-kherson/

29 Dec, 2022 13:36

Russia boosts naval nuclear force

A sixth Borei-class nuclear-powered submarine has entered service, while a seventh has been floated ahead of sea trials

A new advanced Borei-class nuclear-powered submarine was among three warships that entered service in the Russian Navy on Thursday. Another boat of the same class, which is designed to carry Bulava intercontinental ballistic missiles, was floated for the first time on the same day.

The Russian military conducted three simultaneous ceremonies, during which naval flags were raised on the new vessels, marking the formal beginning their active service.

The Borei-class submarine ‘Generalissimus Suvorov’ was the largest and most powerful of the three. Boats of that class form the backbone of the naval component of Russia’s modern nuclear deterrence. She is the sixth ship of her kind and was welcomed into service in the city of Severodvinsk in northern Russia, but is slated to join the Pacific Fleet.

President Vladimir Putin, who directed the ceremony remotely, noted that Russia was in the process of building four more Borei-class submarines, which he declared “will ensure Russia’s security for decades to come.”

The sister ship of ‘Generalissimus Suvorov,’ the ‘Imperator Aleksandr III,’ was floated in a separate simultaneous ceremony at the same location. As the seventh boat in the class, it will undergo sea trials starting next June before entering military service, the Defense Ministry reported.

The two other ships that entered service on Thursday were the advanced Buyan M-class missile corvette ‘Grom’ and the Alexandrit-class minesweeper ‘Anatoly Shlemov’. Their flags were raised in the ports of Baltiysk and Vladivostok as they joined Russia’s Baltic and Pacific fleets respectively, with events there coordinated with those in Severodvinsk.

The addition of the new assets was a milestone for the Russian Navy, the president stated. He expressed his gratitude to the designers and builders of the vessels and wished good luck and honorable service to their crews.

(The only thing the US & EU accomplished was to motivate Russia to build a lot more weapons)

https://www.rt.com/russia/569118-russia-borei-nuclear-submarine/

29 Dec, 2022 11:26

Belarus shoots down Ukrainian missile – MOD

The projectile, fired by an S-300 air defense system, has been intercepted mid-air, the Defense ministry says

Belarusian forces intercepted and destroyed a Ukrainian S-300 anti-air missile on Thursday, the Defense Ministry said.

According to the MOD, parts of the missile fell on agricultural land near the village of Gorbakha in the country’s southwestern Brest Region, which shares a border with Ukraine. There were no casualties.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has been briefed about the incident, state news agency Belta said.

Photos posted on social media show missile parts lying in the middle of a field.

The incident comes as officials in Minsk accuse Kiev of amassing troops and setting up firing positions across the border. The Belarusian government restricted movement in several border areas last week, citing tensions with Ukraine.

On November 15, a falling missile killed two people in eastern Poland, not far from the border with Ukraine. Warsaw said that the projectile was probably an S-300 fired by Ukrainian forces as they were trying to fend off a Russian attack, and that there was no evidence that the fallen missile was launched by Russian troops.

Kiev initially accused Moscow of attacking Polish territory, but later said that further investigation was needed to determine what happened. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky described the incident at the time as an attack on NATO. Russia denied that the missile that hit Poland was fired by its forces.

https://www.rt.com/russia/569110-ukrainian-s-300-missile-falls-belarus/

29 Dec, 2022 14:16

Polish PM calls for spending EU pandemic funds on military

Mateusz Morawiecki wants to use the money intended to restore the country’s economy on the army instead

Poland is looking to use the money it received from the European Recovery Fund, intended to help restore the country’s economy after Covid-19, to finance its army, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in a Twitter statement on Thursday.

“The dispute with the European Commission must be over,” insisted the PM. “The real conflict is being played out in the east of Poland, and the funds from the KPO [National Recovery Plan] mean more money for the Polish army” he stressed, referring to the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev.

In June, the European Commission approved the so-called Polish Plan which was set to provide some €35 billion ($37 billion) to restore the country’s economy following the coronavirus pandemic. That money was to be allocated from the €750 billion ($799 billion) EU economic post-pandemic recovery package.

The funds, however, have been blocked by the EU due to a long-running standoff between Warsaw and Brussels over rule-of-law concerns. Polish officials insist they have already met the EU’s demands and implemented several judicial reforms, arguing that the money is being withheld for political reasons.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, on the other hand, has insisted the changes introduced by Warsaw are “not enough” and that more needs to be done to ensure the independence of Polish judges.

Meanwhile, Poland has recentlystarted making record military purchases which include tanks, aircraft, artillery and air defense systemsand concluding large contracts with manufacturers from the US and South Korea.

Earlier this month, the Polish Defense Ministry urged people to undergo military training and sought to enroll up to 8,000 volunteers as young as 15 to teach them combat and survival skills during the winter.

Poland wants “to train as many people as possible” to be prepared for a “crisis,” said Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak, noting that some 4,000 people had already gone through the first phase of the “Train the Army” program in October and November.

Back in July, Blaszczak stated that Poland wants to have the most capable land force in Europe and aims to boost the strength of its armed forces from 143,500 to 300,000 soldiers.Warsaw also intends to spend 3% of its GDP on defense – one of the highest levels among NATO members.

(I wonder if the EU misses No More Wars, President Trump yet)

https://www.rt.com/news/569127-poland-eu-funds-military/

>>18035322

I’d rather see him dismissed as never being the resident, that way everything hes issued and signed is defunct and all his cabinet are gone for good. I like the request they can never run or hold a public office again. A much better idea the Brunson’s have

>>18035516

Meanwhile they want to go to war with Russia, their leader is a crazed war monger

>>18035506

Its doubtful it was successful in EU…..

29 Dec, 2022 10:07

Kiev braces for blackouts amid reported missile barrage

Air attacks have been observed throughout the country, some striking energy sites, Ukrainian officials have said

Ukrainian officials and media reported a Russian missile barrage on Thursday, with explosions said to be heard throughout the country. The capital, Kiev, faces new blackouts, its mayor has warned, while other cities reported experiencing power disruptions.

An air alert was issued early in the morning across all of Ukraine. Blast sounds, which some officials attributed to Ukrainian air defenses engaging Russian missiles, were reported in several large cities, including Kiev, Odessa, Kharkov and Dnepropetrovsk.

The mayor of the city of Kharkov, Igor Terekhov, reported that some of the missiles had hit targets in his city, without identifying them. The head of Kharkov Region, Oleg Sinegubov, said there were four rocket hits and that critical infrastructure was targeted.

Odessa Region Governor Maxim Marchenko reported that a strike on energy infrastructure caused a partial blackout in the province. Debris of an intercepted Russian missile fell on a residential building, he claimed.

Vitaly Klitschko, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital, warned residents about possible power cuts and urged them to stockpile water and charge their devices. Lviv Mayor Andrey Sadovoy, reported that 90% of his city was without power, forcing the suspension of trams and trolleys.

The Russian military did not immediately confirm firing a barrage of missiles on Thursday. Mikhail Podoliak, an advisor to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, claimed in a tweet that Moscow had fired over 120 missiles.

Ukraine has been experiencing power shortages since October, when Russia began targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure. The shift in military tactics came after a truck bomb exploded on Russia’s iconic Crimean Bridge, killing three civilians, including the rigged vehicle’s driver. Russian investigators said that Ukrainian military intelligence had masterminded the attack.

President Vladimir Putin subsequently stated that this was one of several Ukrainian “terrorist attacks” against critical Russian infrastructure that cannot be left without a response. TheRussian military claims to select targets based on their value to Ukraine’s military capabilities, and that the damage inflicted has significantly decreased Kiev’s ability to deliver weapons and troops to the front.

Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko assessed last week that it would take six months to “stabilize” the country’s energy system, provided that Russia stops causing damage to it.

(The US knows Ukraine can’t win, so all the money sent is for laundering purposes)

https://www.rt.com/russia/569100-ukraine-missile-barrage-blackout/

>>18035576

Messed up country, now they have another 850,000 Ukrainian refugees living off aid from the country with another 2.5 Ukrainians with jobs in Poland. Why aren't the people revolting especially when the leader wants to spend more on arms and military

>>18035588

I truly hope we have at least one functioning military force, Austin and Milley has destroyed all the rest. They should be court marshalled by the real CiC

>>18035610

Kek!!!