There is plenty of examples of events being used to foment war, including the Maine in Havana Harbor, which led to the US declaring war on the Spanish (Spanish American War). The press reported that the Spanish mined it and it became the justification for war - they didnāt. It was an accident. What happened in the Gulf of Tonkin is still disputed and unclear. Then there are vents like Operation Ajax, which precipitated the US government helping the Shah to over throw the elected government of Iran in 1953. Itās not all conspiracy theories and unreality. There is some truth to the problematic nature of the US government (or any government) misrepresenting or helping to cook up events to get the action they desire.
As they say, just because weāre paranoid, doesnāt mean they arenāt out to get us!
The second one about Holocaust Remembrance Day reminds me of how in the Soviet Union the official line recognized the murder of Jews as an anti-communist and anti-partisan event primarily.
I always thought āfalse flagā stuff was paranoia but at this point itās hard to separate paranoia from plausible concerns; I feel like Trump and some of his cronies are capable of just about anything terrible.
Thr false flag paranoia was always projection on the part of bigots and anti-democrats (small d) for what they wish someone on their side would do, except not get caught so red-handed as McVeigh.
Waitā¦ McVeigh was a false flag? Or people think that? Can all ālone wolfā operations be considered false flags? Roof? Honestly, Iād never considered it a false flag, just an outcropping of the right wing, white power movement post 70s asserting itself through violence, and that we should (or law enforcement should) be paying far closer attention to white power organizations in general.
Depending on when/how you catch a wingnut on a roll, āfalse flagā can be a defense of the bigot movement by disavowing one of its atrocities, or if you look like I do, you can hear, occasionally, fantasies about, for example, nuking Jerusalem and blaming Pakistan or something. The false flag trope plays such a huge role in military thrillers that itās both a lens of projection and a defensive delusion.
I dunno, Iām probably biased because I listen to Kevin talk about how much fun he and Johnny had with it, but I get a kick out of Guy LaPointe. And it adds to that father daughter vibe of the film for me.
Not stranger things, but it was entertaining enough with a fun throw back feel.
I have so far resisted the urge to tease personal friends who made fun of the sovereignistas and survivalists and other tinfoil hat regime people in the past now that the shoe is on the other foot and they are worried about things that sound very very similar.
I think thereās a very very big difference between imagining that the President is going to take away your guns, land, and civil rights ā despite him saying exactly the opposite ā and people being terrified because the President is saying, flat out, that heās going to take away your land and civil rights.
Itās a theme that is recurring in a lot of discussions recently. For example:
āDonāt call Trump a fascist, the GOP called Obama a Nazi and you said that was stupid when they did itā.
āHow can you approve of Californian secession when you opposed the Confederacy?ā
āYou said it was racist when the GOP tried to delegitimise Obamaās presidency, why are you now saying that Trump has no mandate?ā
The problem with the batshit crazy behaviour of the US right over the last couple of decades is not what they did but why they did it.
Similarly, the problem with the obstructionist tactics of the Obama-era GOP is not what they did but why.
Total obstructionism was not justified by Obamaās centre-right compromise politics; it is justified by Trumpās blitzkreig assault on democracy. If not now, when?
Appears to be the Visa Interview Waiver Program, not the Visa Waiver Programā¦
(clear, eh? which explains why the initial reports on this seem confused)
Speaking with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Trump said that it had been āimpossible, or at least very toughā for Syrian Christians to enter the United States.
āIf you were a Muslim you could come in, but if you were a Christian, it was almost impossible and the reason that was so unfair ā everybody was persecuted, in all fairness ā but they were chopping off the heads of everybody but more so the Christians. And I thought it was very, very unfair. So we are going to help them.ā
ā¦
Also on Friday, Trump signed an executive order explicitly freezing refugee applications from Syria. Itās unclear how his pledge to help persecuted Christians from that country will accord with the order.
