Pwn3d by Twitter, Not

The Big Algorithm at Twitter recently flagged a tweet for "violating our rules for hateful conduct."  It went on to impose a 12-hour "countdown" after which my social media privileges would be restored. Well, almost.  Actually, the clock wouldn't begin to run until after I'd satisfactorily met certain conditions. Specifically, The Algorithm demanded that I 1) divulge my telephone number and 2) delete the offending tweet.  Simply comply with these demands and my "privileges" would be restored, after that 12 hour wait.

Much about this doesn't seem right. I don't recall being forbidden to say "Eminem is a corporate whore" as a condition of opening the account in the first place, so this late change in terms and conditions seems to me to be the sort of thing that contract law was developed to contest: smarmy, unpredictable, and coercive behavior by one of the parties.  And this being imposed by a machine which not only demands strict, non-negotiable compliance but then insults the injury by applying kindergarten-level behavior modification techniques?

Forcing ourselves to leave that aside, this bit about requiring my telephone number is a non-sequitur, a naked grab at my personal data. In fact, it is so lacking in any logical connection to the charge of "failing to not be hateful," one is not to be faulted for wondering if the entire episode is just a pretext for snooping.

If it were true that Social Media (and Twitter in particular) were engaging in creative or even coercive strategies to convince users to give up what is known as "PID" ("personally identifiable data", and you can tell it's "a thing" because it has a 3-letter acronym), it would support one of my occasional pet-theories, namely that Twitter is, and perhaps was and always has been, nothing more than a fancy data-gathering apparatus.

And a very effective one.  Long before The Donald ran for POTUS, "Twitter" was a household word, frequently mentioned, even cited, by all the traditional media. To the casual user (those who are in the crosshairs of the pro user), it's cool and it's fun and its accessible on your phone so you can instantly see your published thoughts appear in fancy type and full color on the little screen. It has become part of the mainstream social habit - witness to which we call to your attention the comments by the founder of Facebook comparing "likes" to "dopamine hits."

Despite consistently losing large sums of money, maybe even for longer than Amazon did, Twitter persists. Something has kept it afloat long enough for it to become a fixture, a social media staple. As such, Twitter can apparently dictate certain behaviors of its users and punish them for non-compliance. In doing so, it shows us something of what its sponsors are really after.  Today, they will find a reason to demand a telephone number.  What will they demand from us tomorrow, a photograph?  And the next day, will it be a DNA sample?

Whitewashed Tombs

This is the day on which the Church, and much of the civilized world, stops to contemplate and celebrate the historical fact of the virgin birth, in fulfillment of ancient Jewish prophecy, of the One man who is God and would later rise from the dead.  In between, He would also save mankind from its doom of eternal separation from its Creator.

And on this day without peer in all of eternity, this day on which there is no end of expression of wonder, awe and gratitude by all kindred, tribe and tongue the world over, what does Fr. Madigan subject his parish to at the noon Mass?  An excerpt from John McCain's book.

That's right. It is the Gospel of John (McCain), the notoriously duplicitous, partisan political operator, that the pilgrim Church is "nourished" with on this most Holy of days.  And because Modernists are nothing if not predictable, Fr. Madigan continued with a lecture on "commercialism" at Christmas (nothing about politicization, though), wrapping up with some boilerplate screed about how Jesus came to build a "better world", a world more inclusive of "people of all colors, faiths and sexual orientations."  No, he really did this. There was even a guy in the pews with a turban on his head.  And to top it off, this occurred at St. Thomas More Parish, which would certainly have the Saint spinning in his grave if he weren't in Glory.

I suppose a saint's body could be spinning in its grave even if his soul is in Glory. I tried to imagine if he could cringe or wince at what he saw taking place on earth, in a house dedicated to his name. I thought of praying, "St. Thomas More, when is enough, enough?" And then I imagined him looking back at me, in a silent reminder that he was the King's friend, but he was God's friend first, and for that the King had him beheaded.

Christmas

Imagine learning that the young lady you are about to marry - toward whom you have been steadfastly chaste - is pregnant.  You're an older man who must face that, apparently, youthful intemperance has destroyed your dreams.  Youthful intemperance expressed as betrayal. Being practical, and not the least bit of a vindictive nature, you decide to move on without fanfare.

Imagine you are that young lady.  You did not ask to have an angel sent to you with the notification that you are well regarded in Heaven and will, if you agree, carry and be mother to a baby whose Father is God himself, whose means of conception will not be physical - you are to remain a virgin - but spiritual. Being devout, but not entirely unmindful of the seeming unreality of the situation, you muster your will and reason - and faith - to acknowledge and agree.  "Let God's will be done."

But the angelic presence departs, and there you are alone with your thoughts. "What will my husband-to-be think of me?"

"Mary, it's OK.  I'm very sorry, but in light of this, and despite the fact that it breaks my heart, I must call off our plans to be wedded.  I do not wish to cause you any shame or embarrassment; no one will have to know."

Fr. Malachi Martin and The Deep State

Listen to the interview, taped in 1993, of famed Catholic insider and best-selling author Fr. Malachi Martin recorded by Bernard Janzen.

At a little past the 1:00:00 mark, the conversation turns to the (then recent) breakup of the Soviet Union.  Fr. Martin reminds listeners of how mysteriously efficient the breakup was, and the question of what became of the enormous KGB apparatus (with operatives numbering in the millions, Stalin's 10 "supercities", its military infrastructure); how curious it was that there was never any pursuit of justice against the murderous communist regime.

In this regard, Fr. Martin questions why no meaningful disclosure of such information was ever forthcoming from the media, and asks who decides what information the media does and does not disseminate; why questions pertinent to these events were never asked.  This "why" introduces the concept of something quite radical in the public lexicon of the time: "The New World Order," recently announced by then-president George H. W. Bush.

In this new millennium, in a world of NSA leaks and the Internet, we take the idea of the New World Order quite for granted.  In 1993, however, Martin's detailed expose of the program and structure of the NWO qualifies as revelation.  He discusses the economic mechanisms that force a coordinated transnational government into being, its necessarily anti-Christian nature and the types of people who participate in it, people who determine the fate of nations by their activities and plans -- "it has slipped into the control of kingpins", he states. An oligarch is a bit like a kingpin, isn't it?

At this point in the discussion things get very interesting, especially in retrospect.  Fr. Martin mentions the mysterious deaths of Dag Hammerskjold and Patrice Lamumba in the Congo, and connects their deaths to illegal trade in uranium in Katanga.  "We are being kept from knowing the details," he says, "but one day we'll know it all... we don't know the cause, but you can be darn sure that somebody is making money off of it. Somewhere!"

"Who tells [the media] not to talk about it?!" Fr. Martin asks.  "Whoever runs the money," he reminds us, "runs the entire show."  

Let us consider these observations in light of recent events in our own history, 24 years after the interview.  We have been forced to acknowledge that we live under something we call "The Deep State," and are faced with evidence  this entity is embedded in our Intelligence community. We likewise acknowledge that our mass media institutions have a clear agenda and cannot be trusted to report anything of consequence accurately or impartially. We are faced with evidence that both of these institutions are demonstrably anti-American and anti-Christian in essence.

Can we trace the growth of our Deep State to the "breakup" of the Soviet Union and the mysterious disappearance of its formidable intelligence apparatus?  Let us note as an aside the nearly perfect coincidence of that program of events with the advent of the "Information Superhighway," launched commercially upon civilization during the Clinton administration.  Imagine, a medium of instant global communication coming into existence - never before in history - just in time to initiate a "New World Order," and the ubiquitous surveillance state such a global government would require. What luck!

In previous interviews, Fr. Martin traces the influence of decidedly non-Catholic ideas, introduced by overt infiltration, on the Catholic church, its administration and teaching functions, and how these ideas are disseminated through the Church into the culture at large.  It cannot be ignored that the major players in the Deep State drama unfolding before us today are our society's elites. Many were educated in Catholic universities.  It is of note that the initials "CIA" are said by some to stand for "Catholics in Action."

It is not entirely unlikely, then, that it would take an expert on the Church such as Fr. Martin to also be an expert on the Deep State and the New World Order. Quite the opposite, in fact, if the premises hold up.  In fact, Fr. Martin's accounts of the way the Church establishment is able to nullify the authority of a Pope reads like a playbook of the way the current POTUS is being hindered by the secular establishment in Washington DC and everything connected with it.  A playbook on the overthrow of a government.

The very ingredients that Fr. Martin cited as being essential to the implementation of a New World Order have been on everyone's minds since Edward Snowden leaked documents he stole from the NSA:  A ubiquitous surveillance state, the re-emergence of an intelligence apparatus to support a universal government, an agenda driven media designed to enable it, the dissemination of bad theology in the Church producing bad Catholics in places of power and, just for color, an international money-making conspiracy involving the illegal trade of uranium, completely covered up by the mass media. Collusion, indeed.

Keep digging, kids!

Score One for The Mediocracy

After being summarily and historically spanked by Donald Trump and his supporters in 2016, The Mediocracy has proven its resiliency and its absolute will to dominate every one of us.

It has dominated the 2017 Alabama Senate seat election by promoting credulous, staged and spurious accusations of "sexual misconduct" against Republican candidate Roy Moore the issue in the race so effectively that he was kept from winning, thereby paving the way for a virtual political extra to be the puppet-installee of the Democrat Party there.

Just for perspective, let us recall that, back in 1992, The Mediocracy buried numerous, credible and persistent accusations of sexual misconduct and even rape against then-governor Bill Clinton so that he could be elected president of the United States.

In a way, the contestants in the Alabama Senate race were figureheads - certainly the Democrat is. Demonstrating the intellect of an unripened grape, his most noteworthy position was his opinion that human life begins at birth and his intention to govern accordingly.

Roy Moore, on the other hand, has made a career of taking principled, sometimes unpopular (read: pro-life, pro-Constitution) positions, and until last night has enjoyed the support of the people of Alabama for decades, rising from a DA to Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, to a highly favored candidate for Senate.  But opposition within his own party, especially a belated and half-hearted endorsement by President Trump, hamstrung Moore's campaign, rendering him something of a political orphan. In a mediocracy, to be so marginalized is to be wounded and left for dead. 

The Mediocracy deserves much the credit for Moore's loss. Its organs and outlets and mouthpieces and video screens were overflowing with non-stop echoes of "sexual misconduct", "#metoo" and other all-purpose innuendo floating on an ocean of boiling hypocrisy which it would not acknowledge. The Mediocracy obfuscated the one thing voters should care about: fitness for office, instead waging an epic offense of lies, half-truths, and even doctored images - nothing new under the sun, alas. This is how The Mediocracy wins, when it wins.

The Mediocracy has manipulated people effectively enough, bludgeoned them, really, with its childish and incessant spectacles and lies, that the people of Alabama -- perhaps we should be cautious here and say, "the ballots in Alabama," because one can't be too sure who actually cast those ballots or how correctly they were counted -- have chosen as a Senator just who the Mediocracy endorsed.

Now that Moore's been defeated, The Mediocracy will retire the whole tired, disgusting "sexual harassment" meme, right?

Wrong.  They've just perfected a weapon.  Guess who they're gunning for, now?

File under "Know Your Enemy."

Robert Mueller and the Conspiracy Theorists

At least one "conspiracy theorist" had his attention captured by Robert Mueller as far back as 2013.  What's fascinating is that the author of the blog cited at the link uses the term "Cryptocracy" to name what we now call the "Deep State."

File under, "Smoke:Fire?"

FBI "Had Interviewed" New Mexico School Shooter

How many notorious mass shooters over the last 3 years or so hasn't the FBI "interviewed" prior to their killing sprees?

Are they recruiting?

Edit 12/12/17: (Here's a case we didn't include because we just learned of it today,  nearly a week after first publishing this post).

Again, we ask, Is Christmas (really) Too Commercial?

And again, we hope to unambiguously imply, "No."  Is it a sin to shower the ones I love with goodies? Is it a sin to think of others, for a change?   Please.

State of the Deep State

It's marvelous,  isn't it, to witness, to experience, the overturning of the social order that began in earnest right about the time that Edward Snowden leaked a bunch of documents that he stole from his employer and fled the country? While neither attributing nor denying causality, it does seem like the Closets of Power were thrown open with that event and that the Skeletons of Abuse have been parading around ever since.

When the Snowden story broke, we opined thus: whatever happens from this time forward, the undeniable, inevitable and irreversible reality of the Surveillance State will have been announced and understood. "Cleared" was the term we used, as in a check being "cleared": transaction recorded and settled.  Perhaps we should thank those in power for finally being frank with us, albeit in spite of themselves.

Today we offer a similar take on the thing that was announced to us, some time during the 2016 US presidential campaign, as "The Deep State."  We are not concerned with defining it at this point.  We only wish to offer the opinion that, having allowed itself to be named, it is declaring its sense of invincibility.  By this act of sheer projection of power, the Deep State seems to be confident that it can get away with anything, and therefore no longer seeks to deny its own existence, cloaked by "conspiracy theories."  

It seems to be declaring, as one of its radical front groups was famous for, that it's here, it's queer, and it's not going anywhere.