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It is unusual for me to not write something for an entire month. My last blog on the dumpster fire that was the Academy Award nominations was a turning point of my 2023. After that date, a lot of things happened. Here is a quick summary:
Went to Houston via Oklahoma City for some real estate shopping. Went skiing at Lee Canyon outside Las Vegas. Saw an AHL minor league hockey game in Palm Desert (Coachella Valley Firebirds) and an NLL Lacrosse game (San Diego Seals) in San Diego. It has been a busy month. But it got more complicated just before my trip to Houston. I have been very healthy through most of my life. I never really had an issue with drugs or alcohol. I can change my diet immediately due to my self-discipline. Besides my three to five times a week Diet Coke or eating at a few too many fast-food joints during the week (Usually two or three), I live a pretty healthy life. In late February, I got up in the middle of the night coughing up blood. My family rushed me to the hospital where I was diagnosed with an ulcer. This completely changed my mindset overnight. All my little vices, Wine Tasting Whisky Carbonated Soda Spicy Foods , were gone in a second. Despite my diagnosis, I still participated in all the social events mentioned above. But I also don’t want to bore you with the details of my social activities over the past couple of weeks. The details the medication given to me for ulcer treatment is a much more interesting blog to write. After diagnosis, I was given two medications: Protonix (Pfizer), a proton pump inhibitor, and Sucralfate, a medication that coats and protects the stomach lining (Ulcer) during food digestion. On my first evening of taking Protonix AKA Pantoprazole, I got all the side effects but none of the benefits. Without getting into too disgusting of a description, the medication was in my trash within 12 hours. A quick note: I FUCKING HATE PFIZER. Their bullshit COVID-19 shots don’t work so why did I think their copyrighted ulcer medication would? I did some research and settled on Nexium. Both Nexium and Prilosec are proton pump inhibitors, but the former seemed to have the best score with the least amount of side effects. So I began taking it. As I got better, the side effects of the Nexium started kicking in after two weeks. Some fun things like headaches, diarrhea, and muscle aches in random places around my body. I decided to lower my dosage and get off the medication while continuing to use the Sucralfate, the only medication I took that had no discernable impact on me. Writing this blog, I am on my way to recovery. But, the medication also makes you susceptible to bacterial infections. So I am fighting a nasal infection for the past two weeks that just won’t go away. But in terms of my stomach problems, my body is on the mend. Here is the point I want to make. If I had done a little more research, I could have probably healed my ulcer on my own with a proper diet, exercise, and rest. The medication really tore my body up. Sitting up late at night shaking with chills and getting piercing migraine headaches was not worth whatever the positives of the medication happened to be. I feel like my life was shortened between six months to a year while I was fighting this ulcer with modern day medication. I later found out that H2 blockers like Pepcid caused me an allergic reaction after stopping the proton pump inhibitors. So these were just as dangerous. The only thing that actually gave me temporary relief turned out to be the antacid Pepto Bismol which has been consistently working for dozens of years with millions of people around the world taking that pink goop after a bad pizza. But here is my main point. The American people need to start doing something about these pharmaceutical companies. Historically, the chemists and pharmacists besides coming up with “Snake Oil” type cures were always looking for a way to heal illness. In the 1950s, Jnoas Salk invented the polio vaccine which basically wiped the disease off the face of the Earth. The amount of innovation that occurred in the medicine field over the past 100 years is mind-blowing. The global population has exploded and there is a generic medication that works wonders on illnesses in every country. Antibiotics have been one of the most amazing discoveries of our time. But over time and as these companies gained power, it feels like everything that has been invented over the past 40 years is different. The medications seem to resolve the current ailment that you have but it helps to create another one through the medication’s side effects profile. These companies do not seem like they are interested in curing you of any disease. They are only interested in turning you into a permanent customer until the Grim Reaper finally comes calling. I will not make this mistake with these medications again. My last bit of advice. If any of my readers comes down with a medical condition or illness, do your homework on everything that the medical doctor prescribes for you. Like investing, we have reached an era where the professionals in charge can not be trusted. They maybe compromised by money, industry pressure, or government regulation. I do not want to say that they are always wrong. Many doctors are concerned about their patients and generally wish for them to get better. But these medications have gotten so complicated and the information regarding them online is so muddled, that it is very possible that they are unaware of the dangers of these medications. It is up to you to protect your life in the best way that you can. Until next week!
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Over the years, you have probably noticed a cynicism from me about the film industry. It is the only media art form which I am defensive about. Even though the industry is not producing movies as well received as the eras of the late 60s/late 70s or mid 90s/mid 2000s, I was always hoping for a creative rebound. Well if 2022 is any indication, films are going to continue their decline for the foreseeable future. For this analysis, I will discuss three factors that have led to this decline. After that short summary, I will go over each movie one at a time. For me, many of these films are not necessarily bad. They are even solid and enjoyable. But when you talk about a Best Picture movie, these films except for one honest exception based on my personal standards of quality do not meet this description.
Not wanting to dive into the complexities of the problems surrounding the industry, there are three significant factors that have noticeably changed which have impacted the industry for the negative. NUMBER 1: END THE POLITICAL INDOCTRINATION AND “WOKENESS’ IDEOLOGY Remember when Hollywood made films that left you reeling with their powerful messages whether it involved identity, politics, or systemic discrimination? The dark message and themes of APOCALYPSE NOW. The incredible upbringing of Loretta Lynn in the COAL MINER’S DAUGHTER. Or the futuristic prediction and omnipotence of a movie like NETWORK which seems to have successfully predicted the current state of our news media 40 years early. Yeah, I do. Hollywood still tries to make political movies, but they never create the emotional attachment that many of these 20th Century films did. Inspirational movies all seem to be made with the same formula. Good luck looking for a film that challenges American foreign policy or shows government corruption. Those days are over. Now, any movie involving a controversial topic feels like it was made with a filter. A popular film can bring about political change. They can make you aware of the terror at your doorstep. Yet, Hollywood has lost the ability to bring about this inspiration. The reason it happened in the first place is because studios trusted creators and producers with their passions which helped lead to these unforgettable films. Oliver Stone is probably Example A for this type of filmmaking. Would PLATOON be a classic film without his own personal experience inside Vietnam? In addition, the Oscar quota system is also a factor in this decline. Instead of focusing on the quality of the work, too much effort is being put into creating a socially acceptable system. When the system is the priority over the creative work, the quality of the art is going to decline. NUMBER 2: MOVIES ARE TOO LONG According to Statista, films have increased in length pretty significantly. In 1990, the top 10 highest grossing films averaged 1 hour and 51 minutes. In 2021, this average increased to 2 hours and 10 minutes. Can you realistically admit this extra 19 minutes has been beneficial for the industry? Many of these movies feel bloated and over long with scenes included that should have been edited out. Despite this extra time, the movie’s plots seem even more scattered and less focused than the tightly edited era that preceded it. So films are almost 20 minutes longer with stories that feel more chaotic and lack direction. The 2022 Best Picture films definitely are Example A of this particular problem. NUMBER 3: BREAK UP THE MONOPOLIES Other than A24, how many independent film studios have made incredible films over the last decade? Most of these studios are usually wholly owned subsidiaries of the large studios. When the studios started snatching these independent studios up in the late 20th/early 21st Century, they were at the apex of their creative output. Now, these studios just feel like another arm of the mass media. This is why we have not had the revolution of a new generation of filmmaking voices (Millennial and Gen Z except for a handful of exceptions) because there is no system in place to bring this talent out of the darkness. Many of these unknown talents end up making solid short films on YouTube or release them online on a personal website. This is going to lead to stagnation as the same well-known individuals make the same type of movies. This stagnation is a primary reasons why 2022 is going to be one of the worst years for Hollywood from a financial perspective. NOW FOR THE FILMS! Here are the Best Picture nominees. Before beginning, I want to discuss two specific films. I have not seen Spielberg’s latest spectacle THE FABLEMANS or Sarah Polley’s WOMEN TALKING. Out of fairness for these films, I have excluded them from this analysis. There is a part of me that thinks THE FABLEMANS will be my favorite of these ten films. When I watch both these movies, this post will be updated. TRIANGLE OF SADNESS I am still in a state of shock about how this film got nominated. It is a mediocre film at best. The film analyzes power dynamics and how people often slip into their identities when put into a position of survival. In this film’s case, the power dynamics flip in the 3rd act. Whatever this film’s message was trying to convey, the film is sloppy. It feels like it was written in segments that the screenwriter returned to every other year. Of these ten films, this is the one I would recommend skipping. AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER Many film lovers have always felt rightfully upset that incredible big budget action films (Like the DARK KNIGHT) did not get Academy Awards nominations for Best Picture. Now that more films get nominated, this problem has not recurred as much. But giving a nomination to the AVATAR sequel seems like a stretch. Is it a good and enjoyable movie? Yes, even if it is too long. Does it feel very similar to the first film? Absolutely. It is made with the incredible level of detail that James Cameron is known for. So why did it leave me feeling empty? Why did the story feel like a retread? It left me with more questions than answers. This is not a great film other than from a technological perspective. ELVIS I really did not like this film. I think Austin Butler nailed his performance as Elvis Presley. I also think Tom Hanks was awful as Colonel Tom Parker. The movie was 30 minutes too long and often skipped very significant moments of Elvis’s career despite its length. I wanted to like this movie. I have always like Baz Luhrmann. But this film had no soul. It felt empty and not the dedication to this once in a lifetime talent that it should have been. TAR I do like this movie. Cate Blanchett (Unless Michelle Yeoh pulls the upset) has given the best performance of the year. This film is a hardcore character study of passion, talent and intellect about a composer and her life that begins to unravel for unknown reasons. The movie makes some great points about our present-day culture. It has some wonderful Easter Eggs in scene which make the film better. Despite this, it mostly bored the hell out of me. I found myself wandering off on multiple occasions and forcing myself into a rewind to watch parts I missed. I even watched the film again to see if my mindset was not in the right place during my initial viewing. It happened again on my second watch. I can only recommend this to see the greatest actress of our era perform at the top of her game. But as a whole, the film is boring through large sections and somewhat disappointing. THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN This movie is very Irish. I found it enjoyable. I watched it with a smile on my face from beginning to end. But the film left me wanting much more. Who is this film for? Why would the character resort to such desperate tactics to remove an individual from his life? The film was very cruel and “Irish”. Also, this film is absolutely not for everyone. In fact, I think only a small majority of people will ever enjoy it. EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE It is hard to root against this movie. It is such a good time. Michelle Yeoh has been one of my favorite actresses for decades. This film is the comeback for the actor that played Short Round in INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM. The movie is a story about the dynamics surrounding an Asian family. My problem with this movie was on the creative side. I enjoyed the idea behind the movie. Or what needed to be accomplished to jump through the multiverse. The movie failed for me during its late second half and conclusion. The jokes got repetitive, and the film jumped the shark. It just became too ridiculous despite the powerful message at its core. This falls into my most overrated film of the year. TOP GUN: MAVERICK This is my favorite film of the year without question. Is it flawed? Hell yes. What country could make “fifth generation” fighters that are better than the United States without our country likely providing them? Thinking about the story for two seconds will take you out of the experience. But unlike the above movies where the story was the key to the experience, this film does not suffer this burden. TOP GUN: MAVERICK is an experience. It is also a highly enjoyable one. The film knows what lane it picked and it settled inside perfectly. Never try to be more than what you are. This film takes that premise and runs with it. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT Finally a German adaptation to one of the best anti-war novels of all-time. An adaptation of this book has already won Best Picture all the way back in 1930. A highly regarded TV film was also made in the late 70s that was also very good. This film is my second favorite of the year. It is more dedicated to the book than any of the previous versions. My biggest issue is that like 99% of the people who have seen it, the movie is exclusive to Netflix. This movie would have been much better if it was able to be experienced on the big screen. Despite this, it is almost a perfect film. So there you go. Ten films nominated, only two worthy of that nomination (With my notable exceptions included above). There have been years where I often dislike or am unimpressed with a chunk of the Best Picture nominees. But never at a percentage like this year. If 2022 is the image of what Hollywood has in store for us (And keep in mind that TOP GUN: MAVERICK was made last decade when our culture was a little different), than the future is indeed bleak. I recently watched the latest MARVEL extravaganza, BLACK PANTHER 2: WAKANDA FOREVER. My expectations for this film were non-existent. Marvel films and many of the Disney Plus TV shows have been disappointing. The films seem to be trying to regain the luster that was lost after Thanos was thwarted in the process of trying to implement the WEF/United Nations Agenda of depopulation. Other than the nostalgic impact brought about by SPIDERMAN: NO WAY HOME, the quality of the films during Stage 4 have been mostly mediocre. So going into watching the latest BLACK PANTHER movie, I prepared for the worst. So after completing this over 160-minute marathon, let me tell you what I think. BLACK PANTHER 2: WAKANDA FOREVER is one of my favorite Marvel films.
Before diving into this evaluation, I have to make two key points. First, I was not a fan of the first BLACK PANTHER film. Despite being told that it was the first movie to reflect African culture, it felt more like a bastardized Hollywood version of it. The movie had an interesting premise and the villain, Killmonger played by Michael B. Jordan, was a complex and fascinating character. But despite getting a Best Picture nomination (Which the second BLACK PANTHER movie actually deserves), the film was flawed. Unlike many of the elitists writing about this film and the revolutionaries on Reddit using the film as an example for a future rebellion, the villain was a terribly flawed character because the basis of his motivation was revenge. It made the Wakandans sympathetic because their philosophy on how to evolve the world was through technology and education, not force. Hence Killmonger dying at the end was a fitting resolution for that character. Besides this, the movie also had a terrible final section that ruined anything good that occurred during its initial two-thirds. Second, you have to accept the universe that was created by Disney and Marvel for these films. Killmonger believed that black people were being repressed and forced into second class citizenship. This led to his motivation for violence to “balance’ the scales. For most of history, I would agree with aspects of this thought. But you would also have to overlook the slavery that non-whites force onto their own populations inside their own countries. In the present day, it is much harder to make this argument in the United States. So understanding that Disney has created a universe with an advanced culture leading the world from Africa and all of world history is about oppressing minorities is the creative jump that needs to be taken to embrace the ideas of the film. In actuality, most of human history is about conquest. Every culture on this planet on every continent fought wars and created empires. The first few thousand years of human history was various different groups of people fighting over land and conquering different tribes of individuals. During the heyday of the British Empire, conquest was replaced by colonization. Canada and the United States started out as colonies of the British. There are examples of this throughout modern-day history. So understanding that the ideas behind the BLACK PANTHER universe are as fictional as the ideas behind the ongoing and real “woke” revolution is important before taking the leap into those films. SPOILERS: IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE, STOP HERE. BLACK PANTHER 2 starts with the Wakandans mourning T’Challa. As everyone knows, Chadwick Boseman, who played the character in four films, died at 43 years old in 2020 from colon cancer. The movie pays him a wonderful tribute during the opening funeral scene. In all honesty, I was not sure what direction they were going to take this film after this emotional opening scene. But the film ends up having a deep, vibrant story that puts the ideas from the first film into the dustbin of history. Due to the Americans’ curiosity about the element vibranium that is the key to the technological advances of Wakanda, they find an outcropping of the mineral in the middle of the ocean. After trying to obtain the mineral, the Americans are attacked and killed by a race of blue people that depend on the vibranium for their own culture. No, these are not extras from the latest AVATAR movie. This is a thriving civilization named the Talokan that has evolved from the Mayan civilizations of the 15th and 16th centuries. This is a wonderful beginning but is not even close to being the best part of the film. The leader of the Talokan, Namor (Played by the wonderful Tenoch Huerta), approaches Queen Ramonda about the American’s interference with their source of energy. This opening leads to probably the best middle section of a Marvel film ever. Before going on, I want to make this observation. Our present-day United States is an empire. So understanding again that this film is a work of fiction, if a country like Wakanda existed which surpassed the United States technologically, our country would likely be on a war footing with it. The actions of the United States trying to clandestinely capture some vibranium is a very accurate description of a policy that we would practice. The one thing that is unbelievable is that if an American vessel was attacked and our citizens were killed (And the Americans blamed the attack on Wakanda), our country would be at war with them. The dovish response by our intelligence services does not make sense in comparison to the reality of the nation in which we live. So this leads directly into my main analysis of this film. THE VILLAIN NAMOR IS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING. Plus, Wakanda’s own actions against him is a pre-cursor to a tragedy that they deserve. After capturing Shuri, Namor explains to her the details of how a tribe of Mayans ended up living deep underwater in the ocean (HINT: It has to do with the vibranium they discover). His hostility towards the surface world is enforced when after his people come back onto the land to bury his mother, they are witnesses to the Spanish conquistador’s oppression of the Native Tribes of Central and South America during the 17th Century. Namor gets his revenge and wipes out the plantation but also makes a vow to his people that they will live in peace underwater separately from the humans on the surface. But once this vow of neutrality is broken, he would declare war on the surface world. So why would this philosophy lead to his antagonism towards Wakanda? First, Namor blames Wakanda for making the world aware of their technological paradise and the innovations it has created with vibranium which would naturally lead other countries to seek out solutions to obtain the mineral and balance the geo-political scales. This led to the discovery of vibranium in the ocean which violated the peace that the Talokans were trying to maintain. Second, after Shuri is captured, Queen Ramonda sends Nakia underwater to free her daughter and the MIT scientist from Namor’s captivity. At this point in the story, the two sides were still peaceful. During the captivity, Namor exposed Shuri to the culture that was thriving in his underwater paradise for the past 500 years. This clandestine action leads to two dead Talokan soldiers which leads to Namor swearing revenge against Wakanda. This leads to their attack on Wakanda where a good portion of the city is wiped out in a mass casualty event and Namor, who swore revenge against Queen Ramonda, ends up killing her. Every single one of his actions makes complete sense when contemplating human behavior and our psychologies when we feel under threat of attack. After this, the movie evolves into a full-scale battle film and a new Black Panther comes into existence. At the end when the Wakandans inevitably win, Namor makes a political decision with his life on the line that makes total sense and is consistent with the ideals that he has promoted throughout the movie. So as you can tell, this movie really caught me off guard with its intelligent storytelling and incredible character and world building. I highly recommend this movie. And if your kids want to learn more, teach them about the history of South America. Until next week when I publish the last section of my “conspiracy theory” posts.  Nicole Kidman on Stanley Kubrick back in 2019. “Stanley told me the world is run by pedophiles,” Nicole Kidman said while promoting HBO’s Big Little Lies, in Los Angeles. “He studied secret societies his whole life, he was fascinated by them, and he said the elite, the top secret societies, they are full of men with a certain predilection. They are tied together, sort of bonded, by pedophilia. “They all know each other’s dark secrets. There is no way out for any of them. It’s a lifetime bond. Even if one of them wanted to go straight, repent, so to speak, he can’t. His peers will bring him down. They are in it until death, driving the world to ruin. That’s kind of how Stanley explained it but it was all very complex. I’m probably not doing it justice.” I recently re-watched EYES WIDE SHUT. As an older and more intelligent, wiser individual, the movie's clarity impacted me more than it did when it was originally released in 1999. The movie has gained a following on Reddit among conspiracy theorists worldwide when it was discovered that over 20 minutes of the film was removed after Kubrick passed away. Plus, there have been questions about whether Kubrick was actually murdered for getting too close to revealing the truth about secret societies. But looking at that quote above and finding out that a person named Jeffrey Epstein would be arrested and exposed many years later, does that quote spoken by Kidman seem all that shocking anymore? Now, watch this Alex Jones clip from 2002. Sure sounds like he got some of these predictions right (Cashless society, Open Borders, Centralizing Health Care, Releasing Diseases and Viruses, Depopulation). Let’s look at these predictions about what Jones believes is being set up for humanity. Cashless society/CBDCs: Check Open Borders: Check Universal Health Care: Check Released Virus: Check Depopulation: Possible but Often Discussed by “Elites” and the UNITED NATIONS So why do I bring this up? As someone recently told me, “I NEED NEW CONSPIRACY THEORIES BECAUSE ALL MY OLD ONES HAVE COME TRUE.” But even using this term “conspiracy theorist” is questionable. Because if you believe the researchers featured in Ron Unz’s article, “conspiracy theorist” was a term created by our own intelligence agencies as one of many possible solutions of discrediting any individual who questions the government’s narrative. So keeping this in mind, this blog (Broken into two sections) will feature three things that seem so unbelievable, that most people would think they were conspiracy theories. But all three of these topics have been proven true (Or at least factual even if the underlying motive is unknown). The first will revolve around a recent Twitter Files release and an organization called Hamilton 68. The existence of this organization and what it accomplished is so incredible, it actually feels like bullshit. But internal emails and private conversations prove that everything this organization did actually happened. The second will be a Tucker Carlson segment about the egg shortages. Right-wing websites have been broadcasting the inevitability of food shortages since the COVID-19 lockdowns hit. Other than the occasional item going out of stock, this prediction seemed a little over-reactionary. Then, 2021/2022 happened and a rash of devastating fires has wiped out food processing plants all over the country. There have been so many in one year, it is hard to call the discussion around this topic a ‘conspiracy.’ Plus, a new bird flu conveniently emerges leading to the culling and slaughter of millions of chickens. So what is going on here? Finally, is it time for us to have a global debate about COVID-19? Many articles are starting to appear in the mainstream media about the mistakes made by public health officials and governments concerning masking, lockdowns, and mandates. If there is justice in the world, a new Nuremberg type trial will be initiated against these genocidal criminals who created a health crisis through lockdowns and then vaccines which have been proven to be ineffective and dangerous. Since this topic is complicated, evaluating this topic will likely be pushed back till next week. Back in 2017 and 2018, there were at least a dozen “liberal” leaning friends who showed incredulous behavior towards me when I expressed my doubt about Trump being a Russian agent. First of all, the narrative on the entire episode was a red flag from the beginning. You have to assume that Trump was this individual with genius intellect who put together this plan with the support of his buddy Vlad in Russia. Trump does not seem to have the capability of thinking five seconds ahead let alone planning to steal an election with foreign support months in advance. The whole thing seemed ridiculous from the Russian bots down to the “golden showers” being thrown at hookers in Russian hotels. This week, Matt Taibbi not only debunked this entire embarrassing history of media incompetence but showed that the whole episode was more complicated than anyone thought. For people who believed that proving Trump to be a Russian agent was an intelligence operation, you can pat yourself on the back. Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. The Final Addendum is here. Hamilton 68 finally responded to his reporting in the final addendum. Taibbi discovered that Hamilton 68 was a “computerized dashboard” of fake news stories that was easily accessible to all the major media organizations. A short list includes ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, PBS, MSNBC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST and websites like MOTHER JONES. Even fact checking sites SNOPES and POLITIFACT sited the stories as “truthful.” The stories that were created from this “dashboard” were also used in university research and government policy documents. Inside the Twitter Files, the company quickly came to realize that Hamilton 68 was a massive fraud. Because in their quest to prove the overwhelming number of “Russian” bots that existed online, the program seemed to arbitrarily pick random American citizens who opposed the narrative that the government had created. Many of the “Russian” bots were just average people with a Twitter account and an opinion. While Sputnik News and RT were included, an incredibly large majority of the “Russian” accounts were actually harmless. The geniuses behind this program are names that have haunted this country for decades (Neo-liberals and neo-conservatives alike). People like CIA Chief Michael Morell, Russian Ambassador and Intelligence Agent Michael McFaul, troublemaking government official John Podesta, and probably one of the worst people in the world, neo-conservative and WEEKLY STANDARD editor Bill Kristol. It is hard to believe that this is true. But this Hamilton 68 generated “fake news” story after “fake news” story which were quickly picked up by the mainstream media and dispersed worldwide. The entire operation was a gigantic con. As I have said multiple times on this blogs and have informed a few of my friends, “There is no better creator of “fake news” or “misinformation” in this country than our intelligence services and government.” Twitter understood the purpose of Hamilton 68 and actually opposed the actions of the government to defend the users under attack for false accusations. But like so many of these Twitter files have shown, they really did not force the government to change anything. Their behavior is kind of like bitching about the bully who continues to abuse you but doing nothing but whining about it to everyone you know. Like so many of these Twitter files, the company proved once again to be filled with weak-willed cowards. Since this blog is getting long, I want to point out another conspiracy that can not be disproven just by using basic common sense. 100 food processing plants have burned to the ground, half of them under suspicious circumstances, since the beginning of 2021. That data stops at the end of June 2022. Since then, there have been at least two dozen more including one in Connecticut this week that killed over 100,000 chickens. This segment two days ago by Tucker Carlson is incredible. He doesn’t have proof of any suspicious behavior (That is the scary thing about these fires). But he wants to let Americans know that these blazes are going to cause massive food shortages very soon. There are evil forces at work here and no one seems to understand what is occurring. Next week will be my conspiracy blog regarding COVID-19. I will also try to piece together what is going on inside the United States with our culture, politics, and economy. It is hard to ignore the fact that mysterious forces seem to be guiding us towards an unknown goal. What that is will be determined in time. Until then, have a good week! Last year during my playoff preview, I successfully predicted eight of the final 14 playoff teams. This season, I took a step back. Since I predicted seven of 14 (50%) playoff teams this year, my prognostication skills continue to be slightly better than a coin flip (If there were 16 playoff teams, than it would be just as accurate as “heads” or “tails”.) I was able to nail all six winners during Super Wild Card Weekend last year but missed on all the teams playing in the Conference Championship except for one (LA Rams). The LA Rams ended up winning Super Bowl LVI (My prediction was the Green Bay Packers) and sent me into a temporary state of delirium as I came around to enjoying the 2nd Super Bowl championship of my lifetime, the first in Los Angeles. With the LA Rams collapsing due to injury and becoming the inheritor of the worst NFL defending champion of all-time record (5-12), the playoff field changed significantly this year. There were a large number of surprises (the rise of the Eagles and the NFC East, the combined AFC and NFC South divisions only having one team with a winning record (Jacksonville 9-8), and the collapse of the Los Angeles Rams, the Arizona Cardinals, and the Green Bay Packers) and a few events that went according to plan (Buffalo and Miami’s records were exactly as predicted, San Francisco dominated the west, and the AFC West has two Super Bowl contenders). Now that the playoffs are here, I am giving you my uninformed picks on who will hold the Lombardi Trophy in February. In 2023, I am going with the teams that have the hot hand. And please, don’t bet on anything that I say.
AFC Wild Card Games #2 Buffalo over #7 Miami This game is not as clear cut of a victory for the Bills as many would perceive. With Tua Tagovailoa starting at QB, the Dolphins defeated the Bills and lost by 3 points in their other matchup. Plus, divisional games are always unpredictable. If Tua plays, expect the Dolphins to hang in there. If not, the Bills win going away. #3 Cincinnati over #6 Baltimore Cincinnati is red hot. Since losing and falling to 4-4, they have won 8 consecutive games. Baltimore’s defense has been the primary reason for their playoff appearance as they have had to win close games due to injuries to their star quarterback Lamar Jackson. With Jackson’s status unknown, the defense is going to be the primary reason that the Ravens advance. But since Cincinnati is playing well, I don’t think the Ravens can win this game unless Lamar Jackson goes “Super Saiyan.” This isn’t going to happen. #4 Jacksonville over #5 LA Chargers The Jaguars have won five straight to become the only team from either Southern division to post a winning record. This division title allows them to host the Chargers, a team that went 10-7 and lost to the Jaguars 38-10 earlier in the season. The betting money will likely lean heavily towards the Chargers due to their talent. But it feels like Jacksonville has turned the corner as a franchise as Trevor Lawrence has become a respectable quarterback and the defense continues to get better. I expect a close game that the Jaguars will win at the end. AFC Divisional Round #1 Kansas City over #4 Jacksonville This game feels like a potential upset. I will even say that the Jaguars could very well jump out to a 14-0 lead in the first half. But as he has done in multiple postseasons since 2018, Patrick Mahomes will figure out the Jaguars and win this game going away in the second half. #3 Cincinnati over #2 Buffalo This was the game that was canceled during the regular season due to Damar Hamlin’s tragic heart attack. Cincinnati had a 7-3 lead and was at midfield driving when the game was halted. Before the season, I would have said that Buffalo had the superior talent and would win this game easily. Now, I am reversing my prediction. Cincinnati will go into frigid Buffalo and pull off the upset of the postseason. Cincinnati felt jilted for how the NFL handled the postseason after the earlier game cancellation (Think about this. If Cincinnati had beaten Buffalo, they would have gotten the #2 seed over Buffalo). So this game will provide the revenge they have been seeking. AFC Championship #3 Cincinnati over #1 Kansas City In a repeat of the 2021 Season AFC Championship game which Cincinnati came back from a 21-3 deficit just before halftime to score 4 times and 21 points to take a 24-21 lead late. Kansas City tied the game to send it to OT where Mahomes threw an interception and Cincinnati drove 42 yards to win the game on a field goal. Expect another close game. But this time, Joe Burrow (Reinforcing his Joe Cool label) will outduel Mahomes and win this game late. This will give Cincinnati its 2nd consecutive AFC Championship and another appearance in the Super Bowl Now, lets move to the NFC. NFC Wild Card Games #2 San Francisco over #7 Seattle Seattle maybe the worst wild card team to make the playoffs in awhile (Comparable to the 8-8 Chicago Bears in 2020). The 49ers beat the Seahawks 48-20 in an easy season sweep in 2022. This game will likely be much worse. Of all the wild card games, this one could very well be over by halftime. 49ers roll. #3 Minnesota over #6 NY Giants If there is one upset to pick, this is the game. The Vikings beat the Giants earlier in the season on a 60+ yard field goal as time expired. Expect another close game. The Vikings are 11-0 in close games this year. They won 12 games total. So winning a close game has been in their nature all year. I expect the Giants to actually control this game. But I feel the Vikings good fortune (Clutch passes from Cousins, Justin Jefferson doing something amazing, a key turnover) will pull them through in the end. The Vikings’ season will continue for at least one more week. #5 Dallas over #4 Tampa Bay Dak Prescott has not been great this year. But the Dallas defense and the running game has been excellent. Tampa Bay is in decline and due to a couple of miracle comeback wins against Carolina, the LA Rams, and New Orleans, the Buccaneers are stumbling into the playoffs with a pathetic 8-9 record as NFC South champions. The Cowboys are the much better team. Even if they make a few mistakes, they should still win this game by multiple scores. Tom Brady’s season will end during wild card weekend this year. NFC Divisional Round #5 Dallas over #1 Philadelphia The Eagles have been the best team in the NFC all year. But for some reason, due to Jalen Hurts injury and a defense that has not been as effective at the end of the season, the Eagles look vulnerable. This week, the Cowboys will put it together and shock the Eagles and eliminate them from the playoffs. Dak will play his best playoff game to date and the duo of Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard will control the clock and the defense will do just enough to win this game. #2 San Francisco over #3 Minnesota Like the Seahawks game the week earlier, the 49ers should roll easily in this one. Minnesota’s losses have all been ugly this year. It will not surprise me if San Francisco leads by 4 scores at halftime and easily moves into the NFC title game. NFC Championship #2 San Francisco over #5 Dallas After playing well the previous two weeks, Dak Prescott will start having some of the problems he had during the regular season. This game could also spiral out of control badly very early. Whatever the case, the red-hot 49ers will roll into the Super Bowl hardly having been challenged during this postseason run. Super Bowl LVII Cincinnati Bengals wins their first Super Bowl over the San Francisco 49ers. They will become the 21st team (Out of 32) to win a Super Bowl championship. This game will probably be a tight defensive battle, but two things stand out to me. First, I believe Joe Burrow will figure out the 49ers defense in the 2nd half. Second, the 49ers were not really tested in tight games during the postseason. They are also starting a rookie QB Brock Purdy due to injuries to Trey Lance and Jimmy Garappolo during the regular season. The pressure will finally get to the kid as he delivers a bad pass into the hands of a Cincinnati defensive back during the last drive of the game which is runback for a touchdown in a 27-17 victory. This will also be revenge for Cincinnati’s two previous Super Bowl losses to the 49ers (Super Bowl XVI when San Francisco beat Cincinnati 26-21 and Super Bowl XXIII when “THE DRIVE” led to a 20-16 San Francisco win on a Joe Montana pass to John Taylor with 34 seconds left). Enjoy the postseason! Feel free to criticize me at will as my predictions begin to fall apart during Wild Card weekend! Recently, I have taken an interest in Eastern European and Russian literature. During my youth, Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky were sometimes discussed in the academic world (Usually in a comical tone spoken by sophisticated “cultural enthusiasts” that mocked the encyclopedic length of their most famous novels). But the only interest I ever had during my youth was a fear of having to absorb them. Discovering Soviet films over the last decade was an eye opening but satisfying experience. Watching a film style that is completely unique and original relating to a specific region of the world was fascinating and got me interested in Russian culture and history. This lit that fire of curiosity in my soul that got me pursuing Russian novels. A few months ago, I started my first, the historical novel THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. For a good majority of my life, I was told that this novel would help me understand what the Soviet Union was. After reading this 616-page classic of literature, I have to admit that my understanding was severely lacking. But it also had an influence on my thought process that was unexpected.
Solzhenitsyn weaves the dark reality of living in the Soviet Union during this time with his own experience of surviving the Gulag for over a decade. The book is broken down into three main parts: An opening section that explains the history of the Communist uprising from the author’s perspective, the chaos of rule under Lenin, and the creation of the prison industry including the Soviet bluecaps who ran them. The second part is an attempt to explain ever-changing Soviet law and the dozens of non-defined reasons that led to the imprisonment, torture, and death of millions of citizens. Finally, the last part is an analysis of the constant movement and synchronicity that this expanded prison system eventually had on the Soviet landscape. The book has moments of pure hilarity especially when Solzhenitsyn explains the history of Communism and his memories of the people who ran this “sewage disposal system.” But he also dives into philosophical thinking often with religious overtones when it comes time for the reader to understand his mindset during this evil time. The second chapter, THE SEWAGE DISPOSAL SYSTEM is truly heartbreaking. As the Communists became more authoritarian and started cracking down on the people of Russia, he comes to the realization that a lack of understanding about how evil human beings can become and the systems of oppression that they create could have been stopped with acts of resistance. “How we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?...Or what about the Black Maria sitting out there on the street with one lonely chauffeur — what if it had been driven off or its tires spiked. The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt!” He also describes the lack of understanding about the miserable circumstances that were about to engulf the Russian people, “We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.” While contemplating why some of his Russian brethren could torture, and in the worst cases, murder their fellow countrymen, he contemplates the idea of good versus evil, “If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.” As I thought when reading this quote, the world would be a lot easier to enjoy if every villain was as easy to recognize as they are in Hollywood movies or the novel THE LORD OF THE RINGS. But in our own reality, the world is much more complicated than that. In Communist Russia, the legal rules were this, “If the state accuses you of a crime, then you are a criminal.” Nowhere was a jury of your peers or an appearance in front of a non-partisan judge ever possible. The administrative state already had determined your punishment even before the trial had begun. Many were sentenced to death. Then, a general amnesty was given before death sentences became part of the Gulag again. Jail terms were often handed out indiscriminately. Two people who got charged with the same crime would get different sentences, one for only five years, the other twenty-five. Political prisoners would often get ten to fifteen and treated better than the common criminal. Even then, they often faced execution at a higher rate. The” educated” would get the worst treatment of all. Engineers, professors, authors, electricians, and civil servants would often be blamed and imprisoned for the mistakes or impossible production expectations of the government. When questioning the government on meeting quotas, this would automatically lead to a long prison sentence. Because as the Communists leaders always believed about themselves, they were never wrong. You are just a spoiled bourgeois traitor. When reading about the horror of the Gulag which was enforced on anywhere between ten to twenty million Soviet citizens (According to various opinions) and led to millions of unnecessary deaths and the starvation of millions more, there is only one thought that comes to mind. How could the people of the Soviet Union allow this to happen? These two quotes put this whole historical experience into perspective. It is the inherent flaws which every human being carries with them. “It was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart — and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains … a small corner of evil.” And about the purpose of religion, “Since then I have come to understand the truth of all the religions of the world: They struggle with the evil inside a human being (inside every human being). It is impossible to expel evil from the world in its entirety, but it is possible to constrict it within each person.” The impact this book had on me was unexpected. As an individual who is quickly approaching the half century mark on this planet, a clear understanding of our present-day circumstances overwhelmed me. Over the past two years, and nine months of my life, authoritarianism has made its way into my own life in ways that were unforeseen just a short time ago. Every single thing that has been enforced on us by the government, our jobs, or the medical pharmaceutical industry can be explained by Solzhenitsyn’s past experiences. But here is the real kicker of my analysis. I no longer consider the politicians that govern in California or in DC as anything other than a threat to my way of life. These people are criminals, vandals, and arsonists. As the FTX scandal clearly showed, we have reached the point in our empire where the elitists and wealthy loot the country before its collapse. It is bi-partisan and if the American people don’t wake up soon and fight back, our wealth will be gone, and we will be living under an authoritarian surveillance state. Politicians throughout history have always been out-of-touch with the people. This was also the case in the Soviet Union as Solzhenitsyn explains, “The old proverb does not lie: Look for the brave in prison (Lock downed in their homes), and the stupid among the political leaders!” Not to mention, the most dangerous men/women on this planet are the true believers. The people that are doing this for the good of humanity (Bill Gates, Dr. Anthony Fauci). Why was Adolf Hitler more dangerous than Benito Mussolini? Because Hitler truly believed in his vision of fascism while Mussolini only did it to accumulate power. There is a significant difference between these type of people. “To do evil a human being must first of all believe that what he’s doing is good, or else that it’s a well-considered act in conformity with natural law. Fortunately, it is in the nature of the human being to seek a justification for his actions.” When an alternative viewpoint became the popular narrative, our leaders would not accept it. The default option was to censor any information that they personally did not support. This basic lack of human intelligence when it comes to actual tolerance and accepting differing viewpoints is the norm for most politicians. This is why governments are the worst tools of oppression in the world. “It’s a universal law– intolerance is the first sign of an inadequate education. An ill-educated person behaves with arrogant impatience, whereas truly profound education breeds humility.” The mainstream narratives involving every aspect of the pandemic (COVID-19, biolabs, masking, hospitalization, deaths, and vaccines) were all lies masquerading as political opinions in a propagandistic push for more control over our lives. Unlike Russia though, U.S. citizens have defeated this power grab by our politicians and governmental agencies for the time being. There is a quote from THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO that explains why, “You can resolve to live your life with integrity. Let your credo be this: Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.” Thank God we have so many Americans with integrity. Even though the lies have been exposed and a sense of “freedom” has returned for now, the damage that our politicians, corporate leaders, and the globalists have done to this country maybe irreparable. Who knows if they are going to make another attempt at enforcing the technocratic state they crave? And if this is the case, what are we going to do about it? Well, the best way to win is through two effective means. First, ignore the government and the media. Live your life the way you want. Do not let fear or intimidation take away from the beauty of this world. Enjoy the short amount of time that you have. If a law seems ridiculous, ignore it especially if it leads to no consequences. Second, accounting for his long prison term, the beauty of life can always be found in little things. Solzhenitsyn found plenty of it in his locked cage, “The rule of your life is this: Do not rejoice when you have found, do not weep when you have lost.” Gain different perspectives and wisdom and travel as much as possible, “Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.” Rulers and prison wardens believe they can control it all. But this is in contradiction to human nature. Anyone with nothing to lose can regain their freedom no matter the circumstances, “You only have power over people as long as you don’t take everything away from them. But when you’ve robbed a man of everything, he’s no longer in your power—he’s free again.” Learn to appreciate everything and everyone in your present-day life who have personal importance to you. Don’t let the need to accumulate goods ruin your happiness. “Our envy of others devours us most of all. Rub your eyes and purify your heart -and prize above all else in the world those who love you and who wish you well. Do not hurt them or scold them, and never part from any of them in anger; after all, you simply do not know. It may be your last act before your arrest, and that will be how you are imprinted on their memory.” And finally, some great philosophical advice, “Live with a steady superiority over life -don’t be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn for happiness; it is, after all, all the same: the bitter doesn’t last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing.” As you can probably surmise, I recommend this book to everyone. It should be required reading in colleges across the country (It currently is in Russia). To compare this to a film, THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO is THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION of prison novels. Read about the stupidity and pure evil of Lenin and Stalin and the crimes they committed against their populations and see how it compares to many of our present-day problems. Appreciate the fact that as a free citizen (For now), you did not have to suffer the horrors that were inflicted on so many undeserved people in a time not too far removed from our present. Personally, reading about terrifying incidents throughout history has always given me positive vibes. Not because I am a sick masochist. Because it makes me appreciate everything I have and everyone who loves me. There is nothing better that that. No matter whether you agree with me or not about my personal media choices, I hope that your mind has at least been opened to these alternative possibilities. The mainstream media currently is dying a slow and painful death and as the Twitter Files continue to be released and CNN, ABC, NBC, etc. continue to be exposed as propaganda outlets for big corporations and the government, the media that most people became familiar with during their lifetimes has begun to fade away. A new generation of media outlets is taking over. And who knows what is going to happen with these new platforms? They may become just as corrupted and pointless as CNN is currently. But until that day arrives, I will continue to put faith into the information that they provide over anything that the mainstream outlets try to promote.
The last alternative media outlet is Antenna Pod. My current version is downloaded thru an alternative app store called F-Droid, which only provides downloads for open source, Linux based applications. Antenna Pod can also be found on the Google Play Store (It is not available on Apple). So instead of subscribing to Audible or using the hellish advertising and tracking platforms posing as podcast players like Podcast Republic, Stitcher, Podcast Addict or Apple Podcast, Antenna Pod is open source and has access to over a million podcasts free of charge. I highly recommend this service (Even the Google Play one is better despite the tracking) for listening to your favorite podcasts. Below is my current selection of podcasts that are in my Antenna Pod application. NOTE: This list changes constantly. It really depends on my mood and interests at any particular time. ANYTHING BETTER? – Podcast hosted by Paul Virzi and Bill Burr, friends, and comedians. Bill Burr started the ALL-THINGS COMEDY NETWORK and hosts multiple podcasts with his close friends. This is my favorite one of the bunch. I used to listen to his twice weekly published MONDAY MORNING PODCAST, but the episodes started getting too long. Under two hours is the sweet spot for my attention span (This is why I DO NOT LISTEN to Joe Rogan). CONAN O’BRIEN NEEDS A FRIEND – Will continue to promote this podcast on EarWolf. It is still the funniest thing in the podcast universe. The show is based around Conan interviewing a celebrity weekly in a long form interview. FATMAN BEYOND – Another Podcast from another independent company, Smodcast. Owned by film director Kevin Smith, this is one of the half dozen podcasts that he hosts. Topics revolve around our present-day movie culture obsession with comic books and updated information on upcoming films. GOLD, GOATS, N GUNS – Speculative geo-political podcast from Lew Rockwell veteran, crypto enthusiast, and quasi-libertarian Tom Luongo. There is an independent podcast network with 20 to 30 minute long, four to five times a week podcasts based around every professional sports team in the NFL, MLB, NHL, College Sports, and the NBA. It is called the Locked On Network. I limit myself to three podcasts about my three favorite professional sports teams. LOCKED ON RAMS LOCKED ON KINGS LOCKED ON PADRES LORE – From the independent podcast company Grim & Mild comes a 30-minute podcast based on historical folklore with a few ghost stories thrown in for good measure. RAMS ICONIC – My first podcast owned by a billion-dollar business. In this case, it would be the Los Angeles Rams. This revolves around conversations with classic Rams players from their long and storied history and hosted by ex-Ram D’Marco Farr. THE COUNTERJAB – Brand new podcast hosted by Dr. Peter McCullough and John Leake that focues on COVID-19 misinformation. This can also be found on Dr. McCullough’s COURAGEOUS DISCOURSE Substack page. But it can be listened to for free on Antenna Pod. DANGEROUS HISTORY PODCAST – My favorite history podcast hosted by CJ Killmer, a now-retired history professor. This discusses alternative histories and stories not known by the majority of Americans. His recent focus on war propaganda has made this podcast a mandatory listen. JIM ROME PODCAST – Another podcast owned by a large corporation (Audacy); these are long form interviews by sports journalist Jim Rome with some of the most famous athletes of the current and previous generations. Jim has always been a fantastic interviewer, so these podcasts are always fascinating. TOM WOODS SHOW– Five times a week podcast about liberty and individuals fighting back against the government. TULSI GABBARD SHOW – Another new podcast focusing on long-form interviews related to topics close to Tulsi’s heart, stopping the military-industrial complex, the protection of female rights, media corruption, and more. And finally, YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS – A history podcast about 20th Century Hollywood that airs a handful of times a year in a seasonal format. This podcast is one of my favorites and the show will often analyze interesting film actors from the last Century. Finally, during this final part of my five-part series on Alternative Media, I want to make an announcement. Starting in 2023, Expert of Some will be creating a Twitter account. Due to monetizing this website, my future book, and classes that I want to start releasing on my website (More information on the latter two in 2023), I am going to start a Twitter account for promotional purposes only. It will be some version of my name, Expert of Some. When the account becomes active, I will send an email and post it permanently at www.expertofsome.com. In terms of the podcasts, feel free to reach out with your own personal favorites. Next week, I will provide a review for a historical book that I just recently finished. After that, there is going to be a deeper dive into history related to a topic that has become incredibly fascinating to me. Until then, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2023! Facebook is evil!
Facebook is run by an alien posing as a human being. Facebook is bad for everyone psychologically. What other reason is necessary to not use one of the worst inventions of the 21st Century? I decided to use Facebook for a short period of time in the mid-2010s under an alias. My account lasted a little over a year before it was suspended. Since I refuse to send a tech company my driver’s license and Social Security Number (Through their request to keep my account open), I decided to abandon my account. Something about Facebook has never felt “morally ethical”. Why does a company need so much personal information to use their services? What guarantee do I have that my privacy will be protected? As we have come to understand, Facebook cannot give you this guarantee. During the rise of social media website MySpace, I enjoyed the anonymity that it provided. You could get into interesting group conversations with people, dive deep into topics of personal interest, and debate with people interested in the same bizarre subjects without revealing anything personal about yourself. When Facebook rose from the ashes and began the destruction of MySpace back in the late 2000s, something about this felt like it was being forced onto our culture with an “invisible hand.” The website had minimal content and felt sterile like walking into a room with bright white walls, floors, and doors. There was no character with Facebook. But my opinion did not matter. Facebook was on its way to a hundred-billion-dollar valuation and would soon become the owner of Instagram, WhatsApp and would dominate the chat and social media categories. Skip ahead to 2020 and the creation of my https://www.expertofsome.com website. One of my goals in creating this website was to promote my blogs, future novels, and any other creative activity without using the marketing power and prestige of the evil Big Tech companies. While Substack is used to support independent journalists, and Rumble is used to support my favorite independent video creators, I needed to find a Facebook and Twitter clone to help build my audience. This is when I discovered MeWe. Like Telegram, MeWe is not a perfect defender of Constitutional Values. MeWe succeeds because it protects your privacy, does not bombard you with advertisements, nor track you with insidious cookies (I was able to confirm this through my own privacy evaluation of the website on Linux). MeWe has no problem with individuals using aliases for communication on their social media website. Under my alias, Expert of Some, I have become very active on MeWe (Especially in Sports chats). Listed below are the groups in which my participation is active. Anarchy: To discuss the philosophy of rule by “no government.” This group is often filled with unhinged people as well as a tremendous amount of spam. College Basketball: College basketball fans are more interesting to talk with than the NBA. NFL Chat: A discussion about the most popular sport in the United States. NHL Fans for Life: A group discussion about the NHL. MLB: The best MeWe chat with the most educated baseball fans I have ever encountered. Minor League Hockey: I am a big fan of AHL minor league hockey. I have three teams that play within an hour of my house and two of those teams are affiliated with my two favorite teams, the Los Angeles Kings, and Anaheim Ducks. Parrots USA: A fun chat about my favorite pet, the parrot. Hiking and Outdoors: A chat group of people mostly posting beautiful images from their hikes or camping trips. Linux and Open Source: As a Linux user, I am still fascinated with this topic. But this group is a very unsavory and obnoxious group. Here are the publications I follow on MeWe (Many of these were moved over from Telegram). Babylon Bee: Best online satirical website that focuses on religion and conservative/libertarian humor. The Epoch Times: Independent news source covering topics outside of the mainstream hive mind. American Thinker: Complex stories written about complex issues. Schiff Gold: Goldbug investor Peter Schiff and stories about economics from his unique point of view. Gateway Pundit: Often covers conservative and contrary opinions that the mainstream media will not talk about or ignores. Slashdot: Covers tech industry breaking news. Sports Illustrated: Breaking sports news and interesting long form stories about sports-related topics. Here are the charities and institutions I follow on MeWe (Many of these I support financially). Children’s Health Defense: RFK Jr.’s charitable organization that focuses on chemicals, vaccines, and medical malpractice that can be linked to the rise in childhood diseases and medical issues throughout the United States. Tenth Amendment Center: An organization that focuses on states’ rights and the need to swing the power structure back to the states and away from the Federal government. Free Thought Project: Has a libertarian perspective and focuses on the abuses of state power in the United States. Californians for Vaccine Choices: Also known as Stand-Up California. An organization to fight back against the oppressive vaccine mandates and masking imposed on the state. So there you go. Four different alternative websites, four complete lists of news organizations, individuals, and charities that have become my primary topics of research. Since 2020, my interests have changed dramatically. There are no film or television history, cryptocurrency, or music websites to be found. The overwhelming change in our culture towards authoritarianism that was brought about by these COVID-19 lockdowns, masking, and vaccine mandates really focuses your brain on what is important not only for yourself but your family. Next week will be my final post on this topic. I use an open-source podcast application called Antenna Pod. I highly recommend this program over the advertising infested garbage provided by Amazon, Apple, and Google. Until then! So with Part 1 of this “alternative media option” series, I discussed the rise of Substack, a new subscription-based journalism platform where the best writers of our era that have been “dismissed” from their jobs for ‘wrongthink’ have found a home to engage in investigative reporting which included a short list of some of my preferred writers. Part 2 was a short discussion about Locals and Rumble, the alternative video streaming platforms that are in direct competition with Google’s YouTube and have found success as free speech alternatives for creators who have been removed by Google for speech violations usually related to COVID-19 lockdowns or Hunter Biden’s laptop. In that article, I also listed a few more video creators that are my personal preference. With Part 3, we will be looking at another alternative platform that is in direct competition with other mainstream chat services like Discord, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp. Telegram, which started on August 14, 2013, is an end-to-end encryption app that has expanded onto desktop and other OS’s like Linux and has over 100 million users. From a security aspect, Telegram is not without controversy. Of the applications I have recommended, this is the one that still does not inspire 100% confidence. There are a couple of reasons for this. Unlike Rumble, Telegram buckled and began censoring Sputnik and RT News, two Russian-based news services that have direct ties to the Russian government, after the invasion of Ukraine. This is unacceptable and is the company’s first strike (As a baseball analogy, you get three strikes and then you are out!). Telegram has had some confirmed security issues which to the company’s credit, they usually resolve quickly. But if this has happened once before, how sure can anyone be that this won’t become a problem again? Third, they recently disclosed user data to a government that requested the information. This is the second strike. Finally, the founder of Telegram has big plans for the platform. It appears he wants to turn Telegram into a decentralized marketplace (CBDCs anyone?) for crypto wallets while creating a marketplace for exchange. This goes along with my recent discovery that he is a member of the World Economic Forum, the organization mainly responsible for “The Great Reset”, the political push by the elitists for global governance and a fascist public-private partnership that will obliterate individual freedom for every person on the planet.
My only defense for continuing to use Telegram is that my extended and immediate families use this application as our main communication tool through encrypted group chats. I can also send encrypted “chats” to any of my family and friends (If permission is given) on my contact list. This is the main reason for my continued usage of this application. In addition, there is a better messaging application that is more secure than Telegram called Signal which has better encryption and security. But, teaching your uneducated family how to use this application with keys and passwords is a difficult concept. So until this problem is resolved, Telegram is my default option for messaging. As I discover new dependable applications, I will update this post to a different chat service once I become comfortable with its usage capabilities and security details. Due to Telegram’s increasingly “shady” history, I have moved most of my trusted news-gathering services over to MeWe, the alternative social media application that is the free speech alternative to Facebook (More on this in Part 4). As a messaging service, Telegram has the ability to create groups with hundreds of thousands of members able to follow every post. Because of this, many news gathering organizations, celebrities, and corporations use Telegram as another tool for promotion. Since I default to prioritizing Substack and MeWe before using Telegram, here are the groups I follow on this application that do not have an option available on those alternatives. Dr. Peter McCullough: Probably the most important doctor in regard to the COVID-19 lockdowns, masking mandates, and vaccines. He is one of the first doctors who learned how to treat COVID-19 with medication on his patients and saved dozens of lives. Dr. McCullough has begun a divine calling in bringing attention to the evils of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and the broken and corrupt medical system. If you have Telegram, this is a mandatory “follow.” LifeSite News: A Canadian based Catholic website that has been an incredible news source for two specific topics that have become important to me. First, they have been at the forefront of news about the freedoms being destroyed by the COVID-19 masking requirements and lockdowns. Second, they have published multiple in-depth articles on the corruption of the Catholic Church. CounterPunch: An independent, well-researched, journalistic website that posts articles that often focus on the behaviors, deeds, and corruptions of corporations and governments throughout the world. Strategic Culture Foundation: In-depth analysis, research, and policy opinions about geopolitical issues in the Eurasian region. An interesting alternative viewpoint to the American one when it comes to world affairs. Mintpress News: Covers global imperialism, corporatocracy, and the loss of civil liberties of individuals all over the globe. James Delingpole: A unique British perspective on the events and global problems of the past two years. Antiwar.com: Best geopolitical news source that takes a strong libertarian, anti-war perspective to global events. Glenn Greenwald: Mentioned in Part 1 and Part 2. His Telegram chat is more of a Twitter summation of a thought or topic of interest that he is tracking on a particular day. Whitney Webb: Independent researcher and journalist that often focuses on the globalists/elitists and their plans for the world. Armstrong Economics: Economist and geopolitical analyst who makes often successful predictions about present-day issues with a focus on investing for the future. Next week, our 4th and final post about MeWe will conclude this series. At the end, I will be announcing a potential bonus 5th post with some updates on my personal life. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and spent some valuable time with their families. Until then! After explaining the long-term grievances against the media last week, our post this week will be shorter. For Part 2, we are going to focus on Rumble. Back on October 30, 2013, Chris Pavlovski launched Rumble, the alternative to the largest video sharing platform on the internet, YouTube. Like many up-and-coming websites competing against the tech giants, Rumble had a difficult task ahead of it. YouTube is the dominant force in video streaming. It was purchased by Google on October 9, 2006, for 1.65 billion dollars. YouTube makes its parent company 20 billion dollars in advertising money every year. Other streaming video sites like DailyMotion and Vimeo exist but pale in comparison to the market domination that YouTube has achieved. Part of the appeal of YouTube is that it shared advertising dollars with its content creators, a form of monetization that Rumble has copied.
Like many people, YouTube was my favorite online video streaming site. I went there for a handful of content creators (If you have not discovered VideoGameDunkey, please go there now), movie trailers, sports highlights, and political debates. I was not a cat or bird video guy. I actually tried to learn something on YouTube. My trust in YouTube all started falling apart during the COVID lockdowns. It did not take very long to discover that YouTube from a political perspective was a propaganda operation. All content that contradicted the statements of our “health” officials or the US government were quickly removed and after a certain number of warnings, were actually eliminated. If you had an opinion outside of the acceptable mainstream one, it was not long before YouTube brought the ban hammer to your content. This became an issue across multiple social media websites (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) especially after the recent discovery that the DHS was leading this “disinformation” campaign online. So, I decided to close my YouTube account in December of 2020. Thankfully, the switch to Rumble was almost seamless. Of the 20 subscriptions I had on YouTube, Rumble already had 12 of them. I have whittled YouTube down to 3 channels now, Dunkey, Screen Junkies, and Team Coco. Here is my list of subscriptions on Rumble. All of these were discovered on YouTube and were moved over to Rumble for different reasons. THE HODGE TWINS: The very funny conservative leaning, African American twins who perform comedy shows throughout the country and make hilarious videos in the Jon Stewart tradition by skewering cultural icons and politicians in our present day. PAUL JOSEPH WATSON: Founder of SUMMIT NEWS and collaborator with Alex Jones. He is highly opinionated but can often be very funny with his analysis on our culture. THE HISTORY GUY: A short collection of videos on certain aspects of history that most people do not know about. He keeps it informative and non-political. AWAKEN WITH JP: Comedy sketches from JP Sears who has undergone a transition from liberal technocrat to a libertarian defender of freedom since the COVID-19 lockdowns. THE TULSI GABBARD SHOW: Defender of freedom who focuses on personal rights and an anti-war message. Used to belong to the Democratic Party until they lost their minds in pursuit of power. I also follow her Substack where her written articles are published. RAND PAUL: My favorite son of my all-time favorite politician. His attacks on Dr. Fauci have been an inspiring light in the tunnel of darkness that is the US Congress. RT News: News presented with a Russian bias. Understanding this bias is important. Think of RT as the opposite of MSNBC and CNN that often counters their narratives. I follow it because understanding the Russian perspective when our two nations are sliding into war is important despite disagreeing with much of their content. But I also do not agree with the United States’ censorship of the channel. The opinions on RT should be heard by everyone. Ron Paul Liberty Report: A channel that I supported financially in the past. It is a short, daily broadcast by Ron Paul and Daniel McAdams on the important issues of the day with a strong freedom and libertarian perspective. Glenn Greenwald: This channel airs Glenn’s video recordings that are separate topics of discussion from his Substack writing. This channel may disappear due to a new venture that Greenwald is undertaking (More on this in a moment). Academy of Ideas: MY FAVORITE YOUTUBE and now RUMBLE CHANNEL. A channel I also support financially. Videos presented in a research format that analyze many elements of our present-day culture, philosophies, religion, and politics by analyzing the great thinkers of our past and comparing that to our modern times. Russell Brand: Actor and ex-YouTube content creator. Brand is an open-minded chap from England who is just looking for truth and reason in a world going mad. His open-mindedness has gotten him in trouble with the YouTube censors. So Rumble is his home! Epimetheus: An analyzer of historical civilizations and ancient cultures. As you can see, the content I consume on Rumble has a few carryovers from Substack but it differs in a few significant ways (Especially when it comes to history). Before closing this post, I have to mention LOCALS, the new live feed broadcasting application that was recently launched by RUMBLE. LOCALS differs from RUMBLE in one significant way. RUMBLE pays out money to the content creator based on their overall views. This system is similar to YouTube’s monetary compensation. LOCALS also has streaming videos, but they can be watched via subscription. So far, I only follow three people on LOCALS and two of those names you already know. GLENN GREENWALD: Because of my Substack subscription, his LOCALS feed is complimentary. Glenn is launching an hourly newscast in November which will air five nights a week and discuss political issues from a civil liberties perspective. TULSI GABBARD: Since I watch her Rumble videos, read her Substack, and listen to her podcast, I am not sure how LOCALS will differentiate from her other content. So this channel is a wait and see. PETER SCHIFF: My favorite metal investor who has been screaming about inflation for years. Peter has his own podcast and YouTube channels also. But, his best content is his writing on SchiffGold. There you go. Don’t let the censorship tactics of the gigantic internet companies slide you into depression. Even if you are not interested in the same channels (And who would be), there is something to enjoy on RUMBLE. So move your membership to RUMBLE and make the strongest political statement you can make towards Google about their views on censorship. If you continue to violate the Constitutional laws and traditions of this country, you will end up in the dustbin of history. RUMBLE is the future! |
AuthorEXPERT OF SOME Archives
February 2023
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