I agree that he probably didn’t have the forethought to install these people in VOA. I keep wondering who’s the Bib Fortuna/Rasputin that’s really pulling the strings but I doubt it’s really one person.
VOA was indeed anti-Communist propaganda, although on the other hand they carried Willis Conover’s program. (On the other other hand, I’ve seen a video of Conover making a homophobic joke.)
Trump nominated Michael Pack two years ago, so it could have been a succession of people with Trump’s ear. Threatening to adjourn Congress seems pretty heavy even for Trump.
I didn’t think that the CDC was supposed to talk to anyone except through Pence’s office.
I hate the man, but I thought something was wrong when I saw he carries a CRKT Hissatsu. It didnt look like mine.
I got one of those, but I have the original, which is a hellishly frightening nearly footlong fixed blade, almost a quarter of an inch thick. It was designed to penetrate kevlar body armor in close quarters in Iraq. I hike a lot, and I got mine specifically in case of bear attack. Its about the only knife that has a real shot at penetrating a bear skull, if I ever got attacked.
I was wondering who was nuts enough to carry the fixed blade version as EDC, then realized they turned it into a quaint little folder.
Lastly- I think it’s nuts to EDC a gun unless you get death threats or have certain jobs, but EDC of knives isn’t nuts at all. Plenty of uses for a simple EDC knife for most people. I recommend a Kershaw Leek- cheap, assisted opening, super comfy in hand.
I used to think that as well until I stopped carrying a knife and hardly ever missed it. I don’t judge people who do, though. Personally I’d go for a carbon steel Opinel though. Cheap, so you’re not worried about losing or destroying it and more importantly it looks “civilian” not tacticool. If I use my knife to open boxes and cut salami I don’t want or need a blade designed to cut jugulars. Plus it develops a nice patina if you don’t lose it, like a tool should.
To be fair to Gorka (I can’t believe I just typed that!) the text clearly states he’s carrying the one gun or the other, not both.
Of course carrying one, two or three guns on a daily basis is equally insane.
Two guns that don‘t even shoot the same rounds, a tourniquet and a copy of the constitution. What a dickhead.
I can’t like this enough. I spent a big chunk of my youth listening to the VOA Jazz Hour on a big old Körting multiband tube radio.
Oh I can see the practicality of carrying a blade but this guy had a really odd choice for one. Somehow it’s even worse than the guys who think they need to carry a karambit like in case the matsumoto clan is still looking to carry out a old blood debt and that guy needs to fight off 5 to 8 ninja while at Costco.
Gorka is a fascist loon, so it’s not surprising that his EDC is useless posturing.
During the Cold War, VOA was basically the closest thing to real news people in Eastern Europe could get. Yes, there obviously was a pro-US bias, but that paled against the nonsense that their official Communist news agencies sent out. There is still some residual respect for VOA in that region today, so it is sad to see it come to this.
VOA meets TMZ armed with all that metadata equals a mighty reality distortion field for the feeble minded.
VOA is a propaganda project but wow these folks are hacks, they’ll drive it into the ground within a year I swear.
So basically Trump saved Radio Marti which is hella annoying right up there with Brother Stair on Shortwave. >_>
Hopefully it’ll go on just for a couple of months and then they’ll be out of a job.
Kershaw Leek does both just fine, and its small and non threatening?
I’m not really sure how to say a blade is not designed to cut jugulars? Any knife that has a cutting-edge can do that equally well. Some “look” scarier than others, but I would argue that does not make them less lethal unless perhaps they are designed with a spear point which is what goes on a dagger and a specifically designed to penetrate by stabbing.
The full size Hissatsu is legitimately frightening, even to me who owns one- and specifically because it is designed primarily for stabbing, I would argue that is what makes it impractical for normal carry and actually scary but most knives are just knives. They aren’t more dangerous if they are “tactical looking”.
The Hissatsu is more dangerous because it is designed to be, but I have it to fill a legitimate but niche need (last ditch bear attack defense when hiking).
Switchblades, too, are no more dangerous than a normal knife. The functional part of the knife that cuts is made no more lethal by an automatic action to bring it out.
I simply do not buy into the arguments of some people that some things are more dangerous because they look that way, I find such viewpoints preposterous. It might have something to do with the fact my career is based off of technical understanding of often very hazardous equipment.
The small Hissatsu (now that I see it exists) seems primarily designed with the same purpose in mind which is penetration rather than cutting.
I would say that makes it a more lethal design and appropriate as a self-defense weapon, but given Mr. Gorka’s general disposition, it probably makes sense if he is afraid of someone attacking him to carry something like that for self-defense.
Personally I have no need to carry something of that style on a daily basis because defending it if a cop found it is challenging I would guess.
I agree that it’s a propaganda operation, although one that has always gotten mixed reviews from the people who listen to it. I don’t agree Bannon taking it over would be a win. As @Mangochin noted, he’s pretty much an openly white supremacist.
That’s highly unlikely. They goal is not going to dismantle American empire, they seek to use it to promote global white supremacy.
Really? He was second in line after Gorring.
We ignore these people at our peril.
Plenty of us. Having it in the hands of actual white supremacists is not helpful and will make things worse, by empowering others abroad.
That was still propaganda. Soft power is probably more effective than flat out propaganda.
It was still propaganda. It’s not AMERICA GOOD, RUSSIA BAD here. Both sides lied and twisted facts to suit their needs. Both sides had a vested interest in keeping the tensions high. And very often, such as with the 1956 Hungarian uprising, outlets like VOA promoted the idea that the US would help, and then when the uprising happened, they rebels were utterly crushed because they did not.
[ETA] Hmmm…
Relevant section on VOA:
This weekend, we learned that the Centers for Disease Control had told its staff not to talk to reporters from the Voice of America, the government-funded news agency, because the independent news coverage there of the coronavirus was not positive enough to the president, who complained that VOA was run by “communists.”
Two years ago, Trump appointed to the head of the agency Michael Pack, an ally of his former chief strategist Steve Bannon. That position requires Senate approval, though, which was held up for two years because Pack’s film agency is under investigation by the D.C. attorney general’s office for financial improprieties. Under pressure from Trump, the Senate confirmed Pack earlier this month, despite his legal troubles. Today the two top editors at VOA, Director Amanda Bennett and Deputy Director Sandy Sugawara resigned.
How long is re-draining and re-filling the swamp going to take?
It was still propaganda. It’s not AMERICA GOOD, RUSSIA BAD here. Both sides lied and twisted facts to suit their needs
Clearly to a degree, but much like pointing out that American and British broadcasts to Axis-occupied territory were propaganda and not 100% truthful during WWII, as was the converse, it isn’t too much to say that the totalitarian propaganda in both cases was more of a lie.
More promotion of Christian-Nationalist ideas, now on the public dime.
A recent openDemocracy investigation found that America’s Christian right spent at least $50 million of “dark money” to fund campaigns and advocacy in Europe over the past decade. (By the measures of US political financing, this may not seem like a vast sum, but by European standards it’s formidable. The total spend on the 2014 European elections, for example, by all of Ireland’s political parties combined was just $3 million.)
