Watching Official Narratives Die in Real Time

I realize that it’s a bit premature to celebrate the existence of the Internet. Don’t get me wrong, it’s been a boon of gigantic proportions. It’s every bit as revolutionary as Johann Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press way over half a millennium ago.

But like all inventions, there’s always a downside. As Wikileaks just proved with its release of Vault 7, our electronic gadgets can (and often are) used against us. Smartphones, smart TVs and our web-browsers can be turned on at whim and used to spy on us.

Computers can be hacked by a clandestine operator who can leave the digital fingerprints of another operator at the scene of the crime, thereby blaming an innocent party for the hack. Worst of all, our cars can be hijacked remotely; they can be made to accelerate or the brakes can mysteriously malfunction.

So it’s not all great news.

That being said (and more will be said in the future by Your’s Truly), the Internet and all its concatenations (i.e. social media) have given more than a few sucker punches to the official media (i.e. the Corporate Media). Their control of the Narrative is pretty much over with now, and has been for some time.

The first such example of Internet guerrillas taking down a corporate giant was back in 2004, when Dan Rather of CBS news promoted an obviously fake letter intending to embarrass Bush 43 right before the election. Ordinary bloggers who essentially work for free, were able to expose its fraudulence within 36 hours.

We are seeing another such example today with the “Russian hacking” narrative. Originally, the Obama White House wanted to spy on the Trump campaign. To do so, they went to the FISA court and made up a story out of whole cloth, that Trump or his operatives were colluding with Russian banks on one thing or another. It was so obviously specious that FISA rejected it (something they almost never do).

Long story short, they went back just a month before the election and asked a second time. This time, they got it. In the meantime, we were told by President Obama and others that there was no way that the Russians could hack our election.

Then the unimaginable happened. Trump won.

After a period of internal chaos, someone decided that Obama’s assurance was “no longer operative”. A new meme –Fake News–was created out of thin air and we were told that Russia did indeed hack our election. This illusion did two things: 1) try to delegitimze Trump’s win and 2) reassure the Democrat donor class that their money was not ill-spent.

Now of course, everybody with more than two active brain cells is running away from the Russian Hacking Narrative faster than you can say Jackie Robinson. But the second reason is still very much alive.

Think of it: Hillary Rodham Clinton spent $1.2 billion to run for President. Donald J Trump spent half that –$600 million. Not only that but she had a fawning press coverage that approached North Korea-like levels of public adulation.

And yet she lost.

The fact that she had everything going for her portends evil for the Democratic Party. Not only do they not control the Executive and the Congress, but they’ve lost control of the Federal Judiciary. On the state level, the Democrats are essentially wiped out; under Obama they’ve lost over a thousand legislative seats and a dozen State Houses. Worse, they have no message. “Trump=Hitler” is no longer resonating.

The Russian Hacking Narrative (RHN) was therefore repurposed. While its initial purpose was to give Obama spying power over the Trump campaign (and let us interject here that nothing was found), it could now be used to explain to the mega-donors who lost millions that in reality, Hillary actually won. If nothing else, it could keep the illusion of the Democratic Party as a viable option in 2020 alive.

Unfortunately, the RHN is now collapsing like a souffle. Oh well, I’m sure they’ll come up with another excuse in due time.

The question is, will we believe it?

Comments

  1. Very nice, George.

    Yes, they will come up with more crap. But if Trump coopts a large number of Democrats behind spending bills, they will have less and less ground to stand on and recede to third party status.

    • Michael Bauman says

      If the health care bill turns out as bad as it seems, Trump will be toast as far as I concerned.

      • George Michalopulos says

        True that. The big mistake the GOP made was in placing Paul Ryan as Speaker. That cuck is so full of himself and his silly neocon pieties that he can’t see what’s at stake. He very much is the Deep State’s man in the Congress. The sooner the Freedom Caucus gets rid of him, the better.

        • Yes, George,

          I am no fan of Paul Ryan. He seems to portray himself as a conservative Catholic, somewhat like Santorum. However, he is less agile, not as smart and, frankly, nothing good can come from Rome a this point.

  2. At some point arrests need to be made, for treason. Political party over country cannot be tolerated. Make an example of the traitors!

    While I enjoy watching the left twist, and squeal. We have a country to run and protect. The left is doing all they can to destroy President Trump, in doing so, their actions might in fact help our enemies, destroy us. Nor can we allow ourselves to be destroyed from within. We are Americans first.

    • Well, the left has a pretty good track record in boosting our enemies
      for partisan gain. California has been floating idea of seceding that
      could then become America’s “Crimea” I’m sure Washington DC wouldn’t
      want Russia weighing in calling for protest against “annexation.” So the moral
      of the story is US should conserve its military force for the benefit of the people.

      • What some don’t realize is California’s economy is larger, than Russia’s economy. If fact, only Japan, China, United Kingdom, and Germany are larger. U.S. of course is number one. Apples for Apples, does not even come close to Crimea.

        If we don’t begin to reverse our nearly 20 trillion dollar debt, we are going to really need that military force, in more ways than one. God help our children!

        • George Michalopulos says

          True that, Dino. But look at the trajectory:

          http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/the-exodus-of-people-moving-away-from-california-is-becoming-an-avalanche

          Unless there are radical –and I mean really radical changes and soon–California will no longer be the Golden State.

          My takeaway from all these stats is that whereas the problems of many countries (such as Russia) are exogenous, often beyond their control. For example, the Arctic permafrost that makes much of Siberia uninhabitable and their resources untapped, or the destruction unleashed by the Germans during WWII, etc.

          The difference with California is that the policies that are put in place there are intended, the problems are very often invited in as well (illegal immigration). They have the highest income tax rates in the nation. And yet the Assembly still keeps on voting for goodies to be distributed.

          That’s a recipe for disaster, not in the future but now. Hence the massive exodus of productive people to Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Texas, etc.

          • Nate Trost says

            It’s amusing reading a typical garbage George Michalopulos link associating people migrating from California with it turning into a hellhole, which is rather at odds with the phenomenon of people fleeing California because they literally can’t afford to live there anymore because housing is too expensive.

            And affordable housing is actually a big problem for California, but a rather different one than ‘out of control illegal immigration’ or ‘out of control crime’ or ‘high taxes on the rich’.

            And, really Mr Michalopulos, this is your go-to guy for discussing California (from your link)?

            In the end, I believe that the great shaking that will come to the state of California will be just part of the great shaking that is coming to the United States as a whole. This great shaking is something that I discuss in my new book entitled “The Rapture Verdict” which is all about Bible prophecy and the last days. I am fully convinced that the judgment of God is coming to America, and that everything that can be shaken will be shaken.

            There are many people out there that are concerned that the state of California will fall into the ocean someday, but scientists tell us that is probably not likely to happen.

            Of course, I guess linking to end-times loony tunes is less exciting than state government reports:
            http://www.lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/212
            http://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2015/finance/housing-costs/housing-costs.aspx

            Or non-crackpot reportage:
            http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/06/20/californias-skyrocketing-housing-costs-taxes-prompt-exodus-of-residents/
            http://la.curbed.com/2016/3/4/11161626/california-housing-costs-migration

            George Michalopulos: why link to ‘corporate media’ when you can link to a guy hawking a book about the Rapture!

            And stop it people, there is no meaningful California secession movement. Just because certain Russian linked news sources try to make it a thing does not make it a thing.

            • George Michalopulos says

              Or you can just ask people why they’re leaving California in droves. Please refer to Dino’s analysis above.

              You know Nate, you remind me of all those Castro apologists who rave on about how wonderful things are in Cuba. Yet studiously ignoring the fact that people are willing to swim alongside sharks to leave that –yes–hellhole.

              • Nate Trost says

                Shameful, Mr. Michalopulos. Comparing California to Cuba is utterly ludicrous. And utterly disrespectful to equate people who risked their lives to escape a dictatorship with a family loading a U-Haul and moving to another state because $100,000+/year household income was still not enough to buy a house.

                Refer to Dino’s analysis? He both stated the same thing I did, housing costs are a major driver of migration from California (due to restricted supply), and repeated a lot of the same BS you do in your posts. There is no skyrocketing crime in California, if you look at the trend for the past 15 years, quite the opposite (along with the rest of the country). And while one can critique dysfunction in some of California’s larger school districts (I’m looking at you LA), positing that people are leaving because illegal immigrants are ruining public education is just nonsense.

                I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, George Michalopulos view of the Golden State being less golden seems entirely untethered from reality and seems more based in a presumed perception of how it must be becoming as a consequence of being more diverse and less white.

                Here is a simple exercise for you, take the current market value of your house in your local market. From that, estimate a 20% downpayment and then the monthly mortgage cost for a 30 year mortgage at market rates. Then, choose some town from both northern and southern California that is not too close, but not super far from SF and LA respectively. Figure what your home is worth in those areas, rerun the numbers. Then figure out how much your monthly income would have to change to afford your own home if it were transported to California.

                • George Michalopulos says

                  Curious: do you live in California? Have you talked to people who’ve left?

                • Nate,

                  Google research only scratches California’s transformation. My parents, relatives, friends, schoolmates, and myself lived, and some still are living through it. If you haven’t, please read my personal family story of my California exodus. March 16, 9:16am, it did not show on the recent posts, postings, perhaps lack of space.

                  1. Agreed Cuba and California are not the same. The point is you just don’t want to accept the fact that the middle class is/has left California in droves, for thirty years now. Just like many leftist meatheads tout how great Cuba’s medical and social systems are from afar never experiencing it for themselves from their cozy homes here.

                  2. My BS, does not come from Google as yours. Crime is horrible in California, your stats are flawed, because most people do not even report most crimes, especially illegal immigrants. Most are not even arrested for shoplifting.

                  3. Again stats are only as good as their source. If your using CTA sources, guess what? the standards are so low, so of course they might look ok. Rocket Science not needed to figure out that when a school has to feed, teach a second language, and slow down the pace so that illegals can catch up, standards fall. Mexicans are very family oriented, and generally good people, but poverty will set traps for crime, such as drug dealing, and usage, and the domino affect that follows, which will affect citizen students. Again I know, because I lived through it, and that was over 30 years. Now I can’t even imagine how bad the school culture is when you throw in San Francisco’s Political lunacy Correctness in the mix as well.

                  4. Hinting that George is a racist is typical leftist last straw effort to save a losing argument. That ship has past. American citizens are tired of that label, just because we love the traditional American culture that made us the greatest nation in the world. Politicians and the corporations that fed said politicians, looked the other way for decades, and now the middle class is half what it’s living standard was 35-45 years ago. Dems wanted votes, Repubs wanted money from corps, corps wanted cheap labor, and thus now we got President Trump , not another “keep the money train rolling for me” politician who understood the middle class pain and anger.

                  5. Your numbers mean nil, as California is the future of America, if things don’t change. That’s not even touching the near 20 trillion dollar debt Gorilla in the room!

                  • George Michalopulos says

                    Thank you Dino for defending me against the ray-ciss libel. For what it’s worth, the race card has been maxed out so it doesn’t bother. Still, I appreciate your kind words.

                    Regarding California and it’s present sorry trajectory, I imagine you know more about it than any ten of us put together. I myself only came to these insights by reading Victor Davis Hanson, a seventh-generation Central Valley Farmer and scholar. Profoundly depressing.

                    • Nate Trost says

                      Dino’s response is basically “statistics are lies, trust my anecdotes”. In which case I will strenuously object both based on the validity of the statistics and my own personal experience living in California. No true Scotsman, er, Californian indeed!

                      As far as hinting Mr. Michalopulos is racist, I don’t need to hint, his words, essays, language and what he republishes speaks for itself. However, given the demographic of this blog as predominantly old white folks, it’s shouting into the wind, really. Of course there is a double standard, Mr. Michalopulos can use the coded language and vocabulary of white supremacists and the xenophobe crowd all he wants, but if I make note of it, I’m ‘playing the race card’!

                      Dino wrote
                      Your numbers mean nil, as California is the future of America

                      A bunch of red states should be so fortunate! Because numbers do, in fact, matter.

                    • George Michalopulos says

                      So, let me get this straight: rather than listen to Dino, a native of California, who has seen his family’s economic prospects dwindle and was forced to leave, you’ll listen to –who? Some paper written by an academic?

                    • Nate Trost says

                      George Michalopulos wrote
                      So, let me get this straight:

                      So let us get this straight: George Michalopulos would rather base his opinion on a state of almost 40,000,000 people on anecdotes of some anonymous internal randos family and their supposed circumstances, rather than comprehensive statistical data.

                      Like always, whether or not a source of information is accurate is less important to Mr. Michalopulos than whether it is telling him what he wants to hear.

                    • George Michalopulos says

                      Nate, I live in the real world. In that world, I come across Californians decamping for other places almost on a regular basis. And I live in Oklahoma. In Texas, it’s daily. It’s thanks to them that property values in the metro areas of Dallas, Houston, etc. were propped up during the Housing Collapse.

                    • Nate

                      Yes numbers matter very much! Exactly why the Demoncrats want to flood America with legal and illegal immigrants and refugees. Votes baby votes, to hell with our nation so long as we get votes. Right Nate?

                    • One more thing Nate, never said your stats were lies, I said they only scratch the truth, and will also add generally biased, when one considers the source, for example the California Teachers Association(CTA).

                      I know in your mind this will make me a racist as well, but who cares, I know what I am!

                      Democrats, for decades have always wanted poor immigrants, who eventually become citizens to secure votes, they give them freebies for votes. Well now their hard work has come to fruition. California is now officially nearly forty percent Hispanic, because California politicians have no respect for the law in regards to illegal immigration. I would argue it’s probably closer to fifty percent, since most illegals are not counted. Basically if you make it over the border, it’s welcome friend, and how may we help you. Don’t Forgot how to vote when you become a citizen(sometimes even before), if you want all the goodies we give out. So now, not even counting the uncounted illegals, Hispanics have surpassed whites in California, and now by ignoring immigration laws, for decades, California will now always be a Democrat state. Southwest states are next, and of course the rest will follow, If the progressive left has it’s way. Racist no, just don’t want my country turning into the country, these immigrants fled from.

                • Comparing California to Cuba is ridiculous. Cuba has a much better health care system and better schools than California.

              • Unfortunately, as people are fleeing California in droves, they then turn their new homes into hellholes like unto the one from whence they came.

                • Michael Bauman says

                  Yes, Ages, like jihadists they are revolutionary cells who bring their failed ideology with them like a virus. Unable to see the mess they are fleeing is the result of the failed ideology.

              • CA’s population has grown by 5.4% since 2010 relative to a nationwide growth in population of 4.7%. While the historical rate of high growth has slowed in recent years, it is still growth. I don’t believe it is accurate to state that people are “leaving California in droves”, therefore, unless one might be referring to very specific demographics within CA or something other than people.

                https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/RHI125215/06,00
                http://www.sacbee.com/site-services/databases/article69054977.html
                http://journal.firsttuesday.us/golden-state-population-trends/9007/

                Cost of living is also a measure of demand. Lots of people want to live in CA, which is why it’s expensive. TX has seen higher rates of migration in recent years, and a lot of this has been due to the lower cost of living. Perhaps TX is cheap because people have historically not wanted to live there. As more people do want to live there and as cheap land with no zoning is taken up, it too will become more expensive – and hopefully less stereotypically “Texan” with all those transplants, cf. Northern Virginia, and the metro Charlotte and Atlanta areas. 🙂

                • George Michalopulos says

                  That “growth” has been because of illegal aliens primarily and oversees, wealthy Chinese who are coming to California to birth anchor babies for the citizenship. They then go back to China after having bought real estate against the day when things go south in China and they have to leave.

                  • Nate Trost says

                    Wrong. California population has continued to grow even while the undocumented population has declined. And wealthy Chinese would have to be a couple orders of magnitude greater to make a dent in population statistics. Chinese real estate holdings on the west coast of the US aren’t necessarily correlated with actual residence. Similar deal to wealthy Russians buying real estate in London.

                  • If we want to back out illegal immigrants in CA we need to do so in the other major states with illegal immigrant populations, too, e.g., TX. The illegal immigrant population in CA actually dropped while the state population still grew, so this explanation of continued population in CA is not valid.

                    Unless we are also talking about CA attracting other “non-American” talent from around the world to its major industries (e.g., Silicon Valley, Hollywood), in which case the objection isn’t really about illegal immigrants as it is about immigrants in general over and against “real Americans” (i.e., nativism) and how quickly they acculturate (note: acculturation is happening faster today than it did at the height of the immigration boom around the turn of the 20th Century – and which led to “real Americans'” deeming undesirable peoples like the Italians, Greeks, and Slavs illegal for the first time in our nation’s history. The fact we have “illegal” immigrants at all is due to bigotry – a great deal of which was focused on Orthodox Christian immigrants.

                    Besides, the argument regarding illegal immigration is really beside the point when the real question is about proportionality. Speeding isn’t all that big a deal but it is illegal, too, and we don’t confiscate people’s cars for doing it. Same with jaywalking, same with adultery. Why punish poor people fleeing their countries for the American Dream when we don’t punish the American business owners who wink at hiring those can then exploit for cheap labor? Sensationalist Breitbart/InfoWars anecdotes aside, immigrants – especially illegal immigrants – are statistically less likely to commit crimes than ‘real Americans’; this is confirmed by a variety of studies across the country, as well as by a detective friend in a major U.S. city working in a heavily Mexican neighborhood. Punishing poor immigrants looking for a better life for them and their kids is basically another species of putting the hungry in prison for stealing bread, cf. Jean Valjean.

                    • Michael Bauman says

                      123, Bigotry is the only reason for illegal immigrants? Wow. That is an extreme reductionism so that any one who disagrees is automatically a bigot.
                      Cute. A built in ad hominem.

                      Surely you can come up with actually rational arguments. That would be refreshing. Just as refreshing as a rational argument other than a desire to destroy “America” from the other side.

                      America is an artificial concept as much as is racism. Both false promises of freedom and purity outside of Christ.

                      Nation states as the illegitimate successor to Christian Monarchy have no call on us but neither does anarchy.

                      Tough decisions as any one we make will be wrong and flawed to the tragedy of many.

                      Ideological battles only make it worse.

                • unless one might be referring to very specific demographics within CA

                  Yes, the population is mostly foreigners and fake Americans, many of which need to go back. Americans are fleeing the state in droves.

                  As more people do want to live there and as cheap land with no zoning is taken up, it too will become more expensive – and hopefully less stereotypically “Texan” with all those transplants

                  And people say certain kinds of genocide is a myth.

          • One million dollars will buy you small bungalow, outside of San Francisco, in not a very good neighborhood, or you can pay half of that and drive 2.5 hours each way to commute. Rents start at $3000. So unless you like roommates, or three families in one small home it’s simply no longer affordable or desirable for new middle class families. Not to mention, illegal immigration has truly dumbed down the education system in California, and raised crime. That is why people are leaving the big cities in California. The author you linked was a bit over the top,(most likely because he has books to sell)but not too far off the truth.

            Truth is California is turning into South America, where there will be only rich and poor. All the government programs only serve the poor, thus the middle class continues to leave. Very sad, California was the best place to live between 1950-1980!

            • P.S. George,

              Russia’s problems are not entirely exogenous. Let’s not forget communism lack of modern industry, other than military, during the 20th century. The destruction of Orthodox churches for sure a curse,then, through the 20th, and into the 21st-century. Intended by the Russian Government, to their detriment. Never mess with the human spirit to create and never mess with our Lord, The Creator of all!

              • George Michalopulos says

                Dino, I used the word “exogenous” with complete aforethought. Bolshevism was imported onto Russian soil by evil Christophobes and forced onto a pious and suffering people.

            • George Michalopulos says

              Dino, when I was young, California beckoned as a nirvana to any and all. What a waste! The Golden State no longer.

              • My parents left Greece, in the late 1950’s. They only had high school diplomas, yet after they met and wed in the mid 1960’s they were able to buy a house and two cars. No one helped them no government handouts. They worked saved their money and provided for their family, in San Francisco.

                For myself the public schools were great, public parks were safe and clean and a young child could stay outside till dark and play.

                After the hangover of the hippie movement the change began. Drunks and drug addicts in the streets and parks, and of course crime began to rise.

                Next homosexual pride and power brought San Francisco a new identity. Of course left liberals loved their new gay friends a perfect partnership.

                San Francisco was no longer family friendly, unless one was dirt poor, then one would qualify for government freebies galore. The experience of city wide school busing dumbed down all schools, not just the ones in the ghettos. Immigration illegal or not, receives endless handouts, and taxes rose.

                My parents and most in our family and friends circle saw the writing on the wall and all moved south to the suburbs.

                Things were good again, but like a disease the cancers that over took San Francisco came down to the suburbs.

                Most of my generation saw home prices continue to rise, and the dream of home ownership was but a dream. Most of us had to use our relatives addresses to escape horrible school zoning, and illegals continued to take jobs that we as teenagers, and young men worked, or worse carpenters like my father had and could provide a living, went to illegals for lowered wages.Mexicans are now building all our homes, and I guarantee they’re not livable wages, especially in San Francisco. Don’t get me wrong a house could be bought but who wants to live in bungalow in a terrible neighborhood. That’s twenty years ago, it’s much worse now!

                Yes the California dream is gone for the middle class. Twenty years ago I left California and doing quite well, thank God. The only thing I miss are relatives and the Pacific Ocean.

              • Jim of Olym says

                California native since I was born there in 1935. Left forWashington State in 1991. Never been happier. I hope we close our southern border soon before others start trying to get in.

                • George Michalopulos says

                  And that’s a shame, Jim. California ca 1950-1970 was the epicenter of an American golden age.

            • We’re sick of hearing how unaffordable, not to mention overcrowded, silly California has become.

  3. http://trelogiannis.blogspot.gr/2017/03/blog-post_524.html?spref=fb

    Fr. Peter Heers caught this in his web. It is Bp. Longin of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (MP). He is chanting anathemas for the Sunday of Orthodoxy in Romanian in Western Ukraine (where there is a significant Romanian speaking population). Notice that anathema number 28 is directed against the Council of Crete (2016):

    28) – Τῇ ληστρικῇ, αἱρετικῇ καί οἰκουμενιστικῇ ψευδοσυνόδῳ τῆς Κρήτης τοῦ Ἰουνίου 2016, τῇ λεγομένῃ «Ἁγίᾳ καί Μεγάλῃ Συνόδῳ τῆς Ὀρθοδόξου Ἐκκλησίας», τοῖς κακοδόξοις αὐτῆς κειμένοις, ἅτινα θεσμοθετοῦσιν
    α) τήν διεξαγωγήν τοῦ διαλόγου μεταξύ Ὀρθοδόξου Ἐκκλησίας καί αἱρέσεων μέ κριτήριον τάς προτεσταντικάς πλατφόρμας καί οὐχί τήν Ὀρθόδοξον Ὁμολογίαν,
    β) τήν λεγομένην «ἀποκατάστασιν τῆς ἑνότητος τῶν Χριστιανῶν» καί τήν ἱστορικήν ὀνομασίαν τοῦ ὅρου «ἐκκλησία» διά τούς αἱρετικούς,
    γ) τόν Καταστατικόν Χάρτην τοῦ προτεσταντικοῦ λεγομένου «Παγκοσμίου Συμβουλίου Ἐκκλησιῶν»-αἱρέσεων καί τόν δογματικόν μινιμαλισμόν ὡς βάσιν τοῦ διαλόγου τῆς Ὀρθοδόξου Ἐκκλησίας μετά τῶν αἱρέσεων,
    δ) τήν «Δήλωσιν τοῦ Τορόντο» τοῦ 1950, σύμφωνα μέ τήν ὁποίαν i) ὑπάρχουσιν μέλη τῆς Ἐκκλησίας καί ἐκτός τῶν τειχῶν Αὐτῆς, ii) ὑπάρχει Ἐκκλησία ἐκτός τῆς Ὀρθοδόξου Ἐκκλησίας καί iii) τό ἀποτελεῖν μέλος τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τοῦ Χριστοῦ περιεκτικώτερον ἔστιν ἤ τό ἀποτελεῖν μέλος τῆς ἰδίας Ἐκκλησίας,
    ε) τούς μεικτούς γάμους μέ πρόσχημα μίαν ψευδήν οἰκονομίαν, καί στ) τήν αἱρετικήν ζηζιούλιαν θεωρίαν περί ἀνθρωπίνου προσώπου, καί τοῖς ἀποδεχομένοις καί ἐφαρμόζουσι τάς αἱρετικάς αὐτῆς ἀποφάσεις, ἀνάθεμα (γ΄).

    If this is indeed what he said, it is significant. I do not speak Romanian so I can’t say.

    Bp. Longin ceased commemorating Pat. Kirill after the Pope-Patriarch meeting and seems to have suffered no ill effects from it. I believe he is close to Met Onufry.

    • George Michalopulos says

      Nothing wrong with a few hearty anathemas to start the day!

      BTW, here’s the translation of the first anathema: “The thieving, heretical and ecumenistic pseudo-synod of Crete, June 2016, the so-called ‘Great and Holy Council of the Orthodox Church’, whose kakodoxy thereof…”

      I just love the ecclesiastical Greek cadences of this this condemnation. No mincer of words, Fr Peter he. (If anybody would like to translate the rest of the Greek text as well as the original Romanian, please feel free to do so.)

      • With the anathemas its like draining the swamp. You have to clear
        your sinuses and get back to basics. Follow the Gospel, Bible. Go back
        and re-read. This was a “good one” for me recently. Christ did a healing
        of a blind man, believe in Mark, but it was in two stages. First Christ spat in
        palm a mud cake salve of mud dirt and placed it on the sufferer’s eyes, and he
        saw “men as like trees and their arms like branches” then Christ completed the healing
        and all sight was restored. Moral of the story is that “sight” spiritual sight perhaps
        happens in stages. That”’s reaffirming. Check back with me in 2052 just joking.

      • http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/101874.htm

        Fr. Zisis has ceased commemoration and has been defrocked and excommunicated.

        http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/101912.htm

    • Fr Patrick B O'Grady says

      my rapid-fire, full translation:
      Anathema to the robber [evokes the 5th century latrocinium, Ephesus 449, of ill-fame], heretical, ecumenistic, false-synod of Crete (June 2016), the so-called ‘Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church, (anathema) to its kakodox texts which affirm (the following):
      a. the maintenance of the dialogue between the Orthodox Church and heresies with protestant positions as a criterion and not the Orthodox Confession (of faith),
      b. the so-called “restoration of the unity of Christians” and the historical naming of heretics with the name of “church.”
      c. the status paper of the protestant, so-called, “World Council of Churches”–the dogmatic minimalism of heresies as a basis for the dialogue of the Orthodox Church with heresies,
      d. the “Toronto Declaration” of 1950, agreeing with which 1.) members of the Church exists also outside Her walls, 2.) Church exists outside of the Orthodox Church, and 3.) the constitution of a member of the Church of Christ is more substantial than the constitution of a member in the Church herself,
      e. mixed marriages under the pretext of a false assignment of name, and
      f. the heretical theory of Zizioulas concerning the human person, and to those who accept and agree with its heretical decrees,
      ANATHEMA, ANATHEMA, ANATHEMA!!!
      (my capitals and exclamation points!)

      • Anonymouse says

        Thanks, Father!

        And by the way, bravo on the new Baptism service book. I happened to get hold of a copy and I was pleased with how thorough it is. I think Antiochians oftentimes get a reputation for cutting corners, but the same cannot be said here. I look forward to seeing the other services get the same treatment.

  4. Christopher Keller says

    I don’t think anyone is claiming Trump did not legitimately win (after all, *he’s* the one claiming millions of actual fraudulent votes, without evidence), and the FISA request is public knowledge, but the concern about Russia is whether there was collusion prior to the Inauguration between Russian officials and the Trump team. Trump himself has said he believes Russia was involved in the DNC hack. He promised to reveal more information about it several times, and simply did not.

    Things like refusing to release the cause of death of Vitaly Churkin, Lindsey Graham saying the investigation is finding things that “would get people killed“, the Flynn scandal, the refusal to cut ties with his businesses (which have ties to Russia), his open support of torture, etc; all of this is concerning. Somehow thousands of public servants became viewed as incompetent and corrupt, and this man alone is considered to be capable and honest, despite his repeated lies.

    I agree with Trump that Russia was involved in the DNC hack, and I agree with those who saw his election coming over a year out (Prof. Allan Lichtman, John Medaille, Johan Galtung) that he is unfit for the job, and will cripple America unless removed.

    • Michael Bauman says

      Christopher, many folks said Trump is an illegitimate President so you are wrong there.

      If so called public servants are acting outside the law and leaking classified information they need to be removed from there jobs and prosecuted. That has no connection logically or otherwise so that part of what you say is irrelevant.

      The President cannot be removed from office except for “high crimes and misdemeanors”. Mere incompetence is neither. Otherwise, roughly 20 of men elected to the office would have been removed including his predecessor. So that part of your statement is simply a non sequitur.

      The rest of your statement is simply ideological disagreement so those don’t count either.

      Overall score on content-zero

      Presentation and style-5

      Usefulness and relevance to the conversation-1

    • If the US intel Deep State can spoof attacks to make them appear to come from other countries, how can we be sure of anything?

      The whole Russian connection just seems like a forced meme. From the beginning, untrustworthy elements have just been way too insistent for it to be believable.

      • Jim of Olym says

        Pay no attention to those zombies behind the curtain. Just keep your eyes on the prise, eternal life.

  5. Re: Judiciary

    I’m glad we’re getting such an excellent SC Justice, but there are a great many lower court vacancies that are just as important, and I hope Trump’s people are working on short lists for those positions.

    • Michael Bauman says

      Ages, indeed that is the swamp that needs to be drained including the entire 9th circuit.

  6. Nate Trost says

    I find it endlessly entertaining how George Michalopulos view of the credibility of the US government is directly proportional to whether or not it is telling him something he wants to hear.

    When the Obama Administration was stressing that there was no evidence of Russia engaging in attempts to directly manipulate voting totals or hack election machines, George Michalopulos was more that happy to accept that at face value. Indeed, he can’t stop talking about it! One problem, of course, is that wasn’t the entirety of what Obama Administration had to say on the subject of Russian hacking and interference in the US elections, although George Michalopulos acts like it was.

    George Michalopulos while being more than happy to repeat the government claim that there was no voting machine hacking, becomes curiously deaf and dumb when the government (and private sector, for that matter) starts talking about Russian involvements in espionage and hacking of political entities, strategic dissemination of hacked materials for targeted goals, and targeted propaganda drives through paid entities and automated tools like twitter bot swarms. All of a sudden, this becomes a fictional, created ‘Russian Hacking Narrative’, all evidence to the contrary.

    For someone who likes to yap about ‘official narratives’, it’s pretty impressing how George Michalopulos has his own internal narrative which is utterly impervious to facts, reason, or critical thinking.

    George Michalopulos wrote
    As Wikileaks just proved with its release of Vault 7, our electronic gadgets can (and often are) used against us.

    This is not a revelation. Literally nothing in the Vault 7 release was remotely surprising, novel or interesting from a technical standpoint. The most interesting thing about the Vault 7 release is it appears that, once again, the leak route of government IC tools runs through external private contractors. It’s been sensationalized to a nauseating degree (yes, if someone breaks into your house, they can plant bugs, the capability of turning certain models of Samsung TVs into bugs if you have physical access is not terribly scary when in the old days you might just be hiding the bug in the tv cabinet).

    Speaking of losing security over electronic devices due to physical access, one can’t help but wonder if George Michalopulos took any personal electronic devices on his trip to Russia that weren’t one-trip burners.

    George Michalopulos wrote
    Computers can be hacked by a clandestine operator who can leave the digital fingerprints of another operator at the scene of the crime, thereby blaming an innocent party for the hack

    Actually, no, it’s not really that simple. Attribution can be hard, but faking attribution can be even harder. Especially when you have to try and explain away an attack profile including significant C2 infrastructure linked to a specific actor. Of course, George Michalopulos has no idea how any of this works, so when he writes a sentence like that after being led by the nose by disingenuous Wikileaks comments, the proper response is a hearty eyeroll.

    https://theintercept.com/2017/03/08/wikileaks-files-show-the-cia-repurposing-foreign-hacking-code-to-save-time-not-to-frame-russia/

    George Michalopulos wrote
    Originally, the Obama White House wanted to spy on the Trump campaign. To do so, they went to the FISA court and made up a story out of whole cloth,

    No, that allegation you just made is what is made up out of whole cloth. There is no supporting evidence for it, and the Trump White House is never going to be able to produce any evidence, because said evidence doesn’t exist, and isn’t something that can be manufactured.

    George Michalopulos is never going to be able to admit that Trump made the wiretapping claims without possessing any evidence, or even a plan of how to handle the fallout from such an allegation. No, he tweeted after getting riled up by a purely speculative Breitbart write up of a Levin radio show. And then tweeted about the reality TV series he remains an Executive Producer on while being President. And then played some golf. Because that is how a rational person behaves when they feel like they’ve uncovered the biggest American executive branch political scandal since Watergate.

    No, there is no limit to how far George Michalopulos is willing to pretend or bend the truth to protect the image of Glorious Leader. Trump never has to actually prove any of his claims or provide evidence for George Michalopulos to declare them as canon worthy.

    George Michalopulos wrote
    A new meme –Fake News–was created out of thin air

    It was hardly thin air, it was largely a giant commercial scam! There was also a Russian propaganda effort, but amusingly that was dwarfed by the scammers. Although there was some symbosis even there, with twitter bot armies boosting visibility of nonsense stories.

    https://www.wired.com/2017/02/veles-macedonia-fake-news/
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/11/17/facebook-fake-news-writer-i-think-donald-trump-is-in-the-white-house-because-of-me/

    I think it is highly probable that at some point during the campaign, in some essay or comment, George Michalopulos regurgitated some of the fake news ‘factoids’ created by scammers for ad dollars. And his conscience is just fine with that. Now me, falling for that without correction or atonement would haunt me to my grave. But we are clearly very different people.

    • George Michalopulos says

      Really Nate, you presume too much. I for one was completely unaware that the govt has such electronic omniscience. I told my family this last Wed and they were shocked as well. And my son is way more tech-savvy than I’ll ever be. I remember hearing about a year ago that our smartphones could track us but a lot of this information came from conspiracy websites.

      But now we know that they can control our cars? Or that our smart-TVs can spy on us? And all without a warrant? And your okay with this? Seriously, man, have you no pride or belief in honor? Are you so given over to the spirit of servitude that all you care about is if your rice bowl is going to be filled at the end of the day?

      Now I know what Aristotle meant when he said “some men are born slaves”.

      • Nate Trost says

        George Michalopulos wrote
        Really Nate, you presume too much. I for one was completely unaware that the govt has such electronic omniscience.

        Then maybe you should stop sneering at ‘corporate’ or ‘mainstream media’ so much, and start say, reading WIRED magazine, or VICE’s Motherboard section, or Ars Technica, or something. Because none of this stuff is obscure, especially on the government side, and especially in the post-Snowden years. In the realm of electronic surveillance, the government simultaneously has both more power than you comprehend, and much less. And in your reply, you not only confess your previous ignorance, but it is clear you still do not understand what is fact and what is fantasy.

        George Michalopulos wrote
        I remember hearing about a year ago that our smartphones could track us but a lot of this information came from conspiracy websites

        Why are you reading conspiracy websites? There are no shortage of articles from mainstream sources on potential privacy breaches of location data originating from mobile phones, without even involving government agencies. In general it boils down to:
        * Using an app that stores location data collected by the app which gets uploaded to a server, which gets hacked
        * Running apps that leak location data (through poor design)
        * Malware running on phones that transmits location data

        None of this is new. See stuff like:
        http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30880534
        https://www.wired.com/2010/09/data-collection-android/

        Law enforcement doesn’t need to touch your phone to track it, because with the appropriate warrant, the phone company will supply the location data generated due to…your phone having to talk to towers. I mean, Hollywood and TV get a LOT wrong, but people doing clandestine stuff turning off their phones and taking the battery out/putting them in a EM-shielded bag? Yeah, that’s for a reason.

        George Michalopulos wrote
        But now we know that they can control our cars?

        Control is a strong word. Again, there’s fact and there’s fantasy. LEO having access to Onstar/Lojack is far more mundane than exotic car hacking. Frankly, I’m not sure what you’re confused by here, there’s no secret program that lets the CIA turn your car into K.I.T.T. Cybersecurity of modern autos is an area of concern, but it’s a large and complicated arena because of the complexity of modern cars, see stuff like:

        https://arstechnica.com/security/2015/08/highway-to-hack-why-were-just-at-the-beginning-of-the-auto-hacking-era/

        George Michalopulos wrote
        Or that our smart-TVs can spy on us?

        For commercial purposes, yup that’s a given, no government agencies involved:
        http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/7/14527360/vizio-smart-tv-tracking-settlement-disable-settings

        But it isn’t really smart-tvs that are a particular problem, but the ‘Internet of Things’ in general, see this recent story:
        https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/internet-of-things-teddy-bear-leaked-2-million-parent-and-kids-message-recordings

        Heck, the CIA Samsung smart TV hack is actually much much less impressive than it sounds, it required physical access to older models that hadn’t had software updates. It’s not like Jonny Q CIA Analyst could just tap a button in a cubicle, remotely pwn your Samsung and listen to you through your TV.

        Modern botnets aren’t even necessarily comprised of personal computers anymore, but hacked internet enabled web/security cameras, DVRs, even printers.

        https://www.cnet.com/how-to/shodan-dyn-botnet-searches-all-your-iot-devices/

        George Michalopulos wrote
        And all without a warrant?

        Wrong! That isn’t how it works!

        George Michalopulos wrote
        Are you so given over to the spirit of servitude that all you care about is if your rice bowl is going to be filled at the end of the day?

        Step away from the InfoWars, it rots the brain, seriously. Your lack of technical knowledge makes you extremely suggestible and exploitable. In all seriousness, if you have questions about what is or isn’t technically possible, in general, or by the government, or even how the government functions in regards to this stuff, just ask. I can point you at quality explainers by people who don’t make a living selling ad time targeted at fans wearing tin-foil hats.

      • Peter A. Papoutsis says

        Don’t you hate when conspiracy theories become conspiracy facts. The public is now red pilled. Next the pedophile scandal will be exposed. Get ready many in government and the church will go down over this.

        Peter

      • Phony Christians Reek Bigly says

        Mr. Michalopulos, you’re a deeply disgusting simulation of a human. Fake Christians like you are fast-tracking it straight into hell. Enjoy the ride down creep!

        • Peter A. Papoutsis says

          Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha…whoooooooo…hahahahahahahahahah!

          OK now back to business.

          Peter

      • http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2017/03/14/tales_from_the_health_care_swamp_133332.html

        Which brings us to the dangers of the totalitarian Left. The real problem with the Left is that they take moral responsibility for everything. This article from Bill Murchison outlines the perils of this stance. Government can’t be morally responsible for everything. We have finite resources, finite production and finite amounts of funds to tax. We dare not slaughter the golden geese who create wealth. Bolshevism should have taught us that.

        Deprivation happens in an imperfect world. We make efforts to alleviate it but it is simply not our role to cure deprivation, to fix it. It is not our role because in trying to do so, we ruin society. Divorcing production from private gain hurts production, enslaves man, and benefits the man on the street much less than a controlled mixed-market redistribution. But that controlled, mixed-market (public/private sectors) has limits. It is not God. That is the ultimate fallacy of Left wing totalitarianism and the thing which we narrowly escaped in the last election.

        The Left rejects the ultimate Providence of God, placing Man in that position. The masses, obviously being as they are, must be led by a vanguard. That is the nature of the Left: a Godless, totalitarian junta hell bent on micromanaging society according to the imperatives of their pet passions.

        Thank God He intervenes to save us from such minions.

        • This gets us to the difference between Cuban Socialism and California’s social democracy.

          Socialism is a system where all people are slaves of the state, and like all slaves, they can count on three hots and cot, plus medical care from the slave master. [The American confederacy was just privatized socialism.] Cuba is a socialist country.

          In contrast, social democracy is a system where the leaders promise socialism, claim to govern “democratically” yet if you check the pudding, you find it is neither socialism nor democracy. [The three card monte games which used to proliferate on the streets of NYC was just privatized “social democracy”.]

  7. George Osborne says

    PS – Gutenberg was the first western developer of movable type. He didn’t invent the printing press itself. Movable type had been used in China before Gutenberg. Just in the interest of accuracy!

  8. After reading this, I have to assume that most of the bluster about the evil GOP health plan is just boo-boo:

    http://www.investors.com/politics/columnists/what-the-repeal-bill-actually-says/

    http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/dont-trust-those-cbo-health-care-numbers/

  9. Unfunded liabilities is the elephant in the room of business as usual. An act of God, could bring the Wall Street panic we averted,just narrowly back with a thunderous roar. God may act as He choses.The Holy God can do it when He pleases. Don’t be surprised, be forewarned.,

  10. cynthia curran says

    Well, George it can happen in Texas too. I just looked at a map of school kids in Texas and just not Latinos or some poorer Asian groups but some immigrants from Africa and Europe like countries like Sweden. This explains the big movement in the large cities and counties in Texas going Republican in 2,004 and voting heavily for Hilary Clinton in places like Houston, Dallas, Austin, El Paso, San Antonio. All the places with big populations Its immigration period, It doesn’t matter if the state is red or blue, its going to become blue with lots of immigration. This was on the Center for immigration studies website..

  11. It is clear to me that the enemies of the Orthodox Church did not count on some recent developments:

    1. The resurgence of Orthodox Christianity in the Russian Federation and a champion guardian of the Russian state in which the Church thrives, Vladimir Putin.

    2. That “sovereign democracy” could serve to assist in the re-Christianization of Russian society.

    and

    3. That the blueprint for sovereign democracy, a strong executive, democratically elected, supporting traditional values and sound economic policies, could morph America into the type of Christian government, tolerant of religious minorities, that prevails in Russia.

    If that dynamic continues, then it is very likely that Christian civilization will survive in Russia and America, that Progressive Liberalism will inevitably recede and that Islam will also recede and be contained.

    And we may thank God for that.

    • Misha,

      I hope you’re right. Fact is Russia’s track record seems only to let us down and break our hearts. Let’s pray that their cycle of heartache, blood, and tears is broken forever!

      • Dino,

        I think their cycle has been broken in that they have recommitted to the Orthodox faith, and firmly this time. They’ve tried, literally, everything else and Orthodoxy is all that is left. The Church is the pillar and ground of truth. There is also hope for America because there is Orthodoxy here. We need to persist here as long as we can to share the faith.

        • Jim of Olym says

          There just have to be many more of us, Misha and Dino! I’m with you in the fray.