Stranger things are at foot right here in River City folks. Monomakhos dropped off the map (Google) for a few days. Our traffic was such that we caused several engines to crash (or so I was told). In any event, we are working with the powers-that-be to address the problem. In the interim, we’re going to take Billy Jack’s advice and open another thread for Greatly Saddened.
There is much afoot and we don’t know (nor will know) the full extent of the shenanigans going on behind the scenes. Things seem to be spinning out of control, not only in the political sphere but in the ecclesiastical one as well. (Indeed, I can’t shake the belief that the Deep State is doing all it can to tie the President’s hands especially in regards to Russia.) As such, I wouldn’t be surprised if certain nefarious elements were doing whatever they could to silence dissident, anti-globalists websites.
I don’t know Greatly Saddened’s politics but he is a tremendous resource for news that would otherwise get lost in the shuffle, hence the decision to open up another thread.
In the meantime, I thank you all for your concern for our recent travails. Just so you know, we are looking at ways to harden our site and build some redundancies so that this won’t happen again. Thank you for your patience.
—Monomakhos
Good luck, George. We missed you.
Yes, indeed, you were truly missed and welcome back, George!
Thank you GS, Antonia. (GS, I hope to meet you someday)
George, I look forward to that someday. That would truly be an honor for me. As they say … from your lips to God’s ears. God bless and keep up the great work!
“Deep State” is the ultimate cold war accessory, essentially because it can neither be proven (no matter the number of shady anecdotes that are offered), nor can it be disproven (no matter the number of shady anecdotes offered). Should you even waste your time addressing such a logical impossibility, one half of the room – believers – slap your face for leftist-induced, media created “blindness” (“Snap out of it!”), while the others mock you for being led by the nose into mindless, mouth-breathing fantasy. And good heavens, how to classify the NY Times’ confidence in publishing a letter from anonymous members of the current White House who are, in effect, “running the gov’t” themselves, protecting us from the whims and dank aspirations of the current “boss.” What to call it, “Shallow State?” And none with Senate confirmation! Imagine…
Further, given that, in order to actually believein Deep State, one would necessarily need to first accept a prime-cut of cockamamie [note my effort to not say bull****, Mr. M.], it is striking to read the comments here that endorse & give free license to – in fact praise, support, and declare “heroes” of the perpetrators of outright lawlessness. In what is apparently being termed “patriotism,” this logic of lunacy, “ends justify the means,” allows espionage and procurement and distribution of classified gov’t documents justified by the concept of “Deep State.” Bradley Manning is the perfect example. Bradley Manning is listed in Wikipedia as “Chelsea Elizabeth Manning [an] American activist, whistleblower, politician, and former United States Army soldier.” I can only presume that Bradley Manning initially engaged in what he believed was an altruistic mission to stop war atrocity and cover-up. Unfortunately, he fell into the hands of Assange, whose only mission ever is to promote himself as celebrity. I suspect Assange told Manning he would be a “hero.” Instead, Manning, once realizing he had been hung out to dry, had a major psychotic episode that left him in a severe depression in which he attempted to take his own life. I believe Pres. Obama was quite frank in his pardon: “He has suffered enough.” Bradley Manning was relieved from the sentence imposed for his crimes, but not the responsibility for his crimes. I took Obama’s words to reflect the fact that – consistent with the rest of his life – Manning had fallen prey to yet another predator, and that pitiful realization alone was payment enough. It takes little to imagine Assange “soothing” Manning: “Don’t worry, my
petfriend, we’ve got your back! History will show you to have been a truesuckerpatriot (if you can live long enough to experience history)!”Mr. Assange is of the species R. norvegicus, the family Muridae, and the order Rodentia. He purposely & needlessly exposed members of the intelligence and military communities to great betrayal, even life-threatening harm, to bring celebrity to himself. I am of the opinion that a chess match not of his choosing awaits him. The Muridae family is characterized by their ceaseless “gnawing,” by which they literally destroy the environment around them. In this case, it most certainly applies to to the “gnawing” away at the truth and the principle that holds the truth to be essential. Shame on those who have glamorized and celebrate this creep’s complete disrespect for the rule of law, by which he is able to justify his criminality, his thug behaviour, and his perfection in preying upon the weakest to further his psychopathy.
And now, Mr. M., you see yourself as a “dissident, anti-globalists website” that has attracted the attention of the “Deep State?” I’ll tell you what I tell all my patients about the secret to recovery while on parole. It’s pretty straightforward: don’t use drugs/alcohol, go to meetings, and keep your head below the radar. That and “Let it roll, baby, roll.” Personally, I couldn’t tolerate the noise of all those little motorcycles without benzos… Seriously.
Dr. Stankovich,”
I have promised myself not to engage in personal attacks against you or any other poster. I don’t know if you were aware that Manning was strongly considered for the Nobel Peace Prize. In any event, you are talking about the rule of law. Have you seen any footage on YouTube about the lawless actions of the members of the caravan in Tijuana? They have really desecrated that poor city. Fortunately, the large majority of these illegal immigrants are self deporting, having realized they will not be granted asylum in the US. I would say there are literally billions of people who would love to come to the US; obviously, we can’t take them all in, `and we shouldn’t.
You talk about the “deep state,” a subject I don’t particularly care about. With all this historical revisionism, and hagiography of the late President Bush this week, I made the comment to someone that a man who was the head of the CIA can not be considered “a wonderful man,” not to mention the fact his late father, Prescott Bush, made a great deal of money helping the Third Reich build their war machine through slave labor.
In any event, I wasn’t going to comment on your post, but you raised some interesting, thoughtful points, particularly a the end in your advice to your patients. That’s good advice for everyone, especially about keeping one’s head below the radar. Thank you kindly. Don’t worry, I am going to make a serious effort to be courteous and polite to everyone.
Assange is a rat alright. He is just grinding and gnawing for Trump dirt now. He’ll probably find something before Mueller does. Then all the guys who were hooting and hollering when Podesta’s silly Hillary is a b email will be with you. Until then, they still fiddle while Assange gnaws.
Outing foreign agents is enough to get him killed; I said it. I wonder how that embassy living is working out for his mental state. Deep state and globalism. What a schmuck line. Wake up GM. Globalism is corporatism and it started in hyperdrive in the 90s. Your fearless leader improved on it giving corporations tax breaks so they could have even more power. Don’t believe me? Take a look at General Motors moving overseas or over borders.
Even you ought to find it interesting that Tesla isn’t sold in about 1/3 of US states. Know why? The entrenched power of the deep state car dealers won’t allow them to do it because they are afraid of losing service operations to these electric cars that have few replacement part needs. Oh, that isn’t the meaning of the deep state! Sure as hell is. The deep state is simply entrenched power. It doesn’t have to be a government guy sitting in an office.
Limbaugh’s lines get old in a hurry. Him attacking Mueller is better than snl comedy. What a jackass. The President learned from the best. I gotta go, but we’ll see if GM has the cajones to post my reply.
16 year old kid or so the hacker or leaker told you….
Do you dispute the existence of a vast federal bureaucracy in regulatory and executive agencies whose employees are not subject to election? The members of which may not have the same priorities as the Administration and may do what they can to work against it? Seriously?
This is the Deep State in a nutshell:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_agencies_in_the_United_States
Anytime power is absolute it can corrupt. AS, you are fooling yourself if you believe truly that only a guy sitting in an office in some Timbuktu state or Washington DC has all this power. Let’s assume for a minute, he is in charge of the EPA. Oh, wait, that changes with the President. Let’s assume he is a direct report of the EPA in charge guy. Oh, wait. Those guys are replaced with the President’s choice.
But corporations. Corporations can have in place structures and boards that rarely change, shift or move. Corporations with succession plans. Corporations with relationships in the government or lobbyists. Lobbyists probably have more entrenched power than any single government entity other than the President himself. Sure, it is influential, but the ‘deep state’ is better as a line than reality. Hmm, the guy in charge of the NRA. The Exec VP – been there for what, like 30 years now? That there is entrenched power buddy, but you won’t hear Alex Jones peeping about it.
Suck it up, buttercup. You guys repeating ‘deep state’ all done been had. Unless you think some low level guy in a Federal office making 80 grand a year is making your underwear itch because he is requiring it to be cleaned before it is sold. Alex Jones and Rush Bimbo make endless mileage on this stuff.
Don’t believe me. Just listen to their next shows. If they don’t say deep state at least once, pour yourself a brandy and tell me how wrong I was. Otherwise, a cool drink of water will bring some sense back into your head.
Have you ever read the book “Simple Sabotage”?
Here is a link:
https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2012-featured-story-archive/CleanedUOSSSimpleSabotage_sm.pdf
Thank God for some honest talking. Can any one justify this person’s behaviour and total gros behaviour and ignorance.? Lacking any Christian decency?
And watching him at bush funeral brought home his Christian qualifications. ?
For the record I detest Clintons et al but for God’s sake how can i criticise them if i stand up for this charabang of an outing and chief charlatan bringing your country to S H level. Oh yes tax and jobs, just wait for the snake oil to dry
Sir, I normally do not respond to political diatribes, seeing I am a uniformed officer. But you are clearly unaware of how bureaucracy operates. It is succinctly called entrenched power. The agenda of the president is clearly contrary to the progressive agenda and thus has for 2 years elicited the most subtle and not so subtle opposition from entrenched govt employees. I have witnessed it 1st hand. I will say no further. Greetings from Afghanistan. Vr, fr Christopher Moody.
Fr. Christopher,
May our Lord surround all of you with a legion of his angels to bring you home safely!
Like so many I’ve spoken to in my time, residents in major medical facilities in major cities inevitably ended up spending time at a Veteran’s Administration hospital in the course of their residency. It takes but a single episode of being sent out of a full code for a cardiac arrest to find out why we don’t have the emergency results of a blood gas, only to be told by the clerk responsible, “I’ll get it when I finish my sandwich; I’m on break.” WAT! Or you see how the smallest change in “protocol” would make things easier for everyone, only to be told, “Oh, you’re one of those guys who could fix the system for us. Well, you guys come and go, but long after you move on, here we are.” Or, “If your labs are so critical, you could go (down four floors, across the bridge to the next building, and down two more floors) and get them yourself (in the end, they were on the desk, under a magazine…). Sir, I was pretty much on the receiving end of “entrenched power” for a year. Nevertheless, this has no relationship to “Deep State,” “progressive agenda,” or “not so subtle opposition from entrenched govt employees” organized to further or impede governmental administration pursuant to a political agenda. It’s “organized crime,” Nuestra Familia; exceptionally “territorial,” but not political; selfish & shortsighted; summed up in the gangstas I met at SingSing, content “defending” a territory of about 8-square blocks, and never having stepped foot outside the Bronx since birth. I would suggest that “entrenched power” is endemic to “bureaucracy” and there simply will be no resolution.
Finally, I have to point out that this response has been an exercise in the precise depiction of “entrenched power” in bureaucracies. I did this because it is possible to produce a precise depiction. The same is not true of Deep State. In my estimation, your description of Mr. Carlson’s position – inept president, unsafe environment, helpless president – speaks of the significant deficiencies of the president. Perhaps you need to re-write Mr. Calson’s position? To date, I see fine arguments for the natural complexities of bureaucracies, but nothing compelling regarding Deep State. I believe the issue is only confused by following this tangent.
God bless you and your family, Father Christopher and thank you for your service to God and country! Wishing you a safe deployment in Afghanistan and a safe return home. My prayers are with you.
True but works other way round also. How to get a system to do what YOU want, is called having political nous. Err That could be current problem.
Poof, it vanished.
There are Orthodox fans of this web site who work in the national security sector; who have seen the horrific damage done by Manning, Assange, and especially Snowden; and who work every day giving their lives for the constitutional rights and safety of this nation and its allies. Just a reminder.
However, I can believe that something weird has been going on with your blog — but it sure isn’t because of any notional “deep state”. As an example, WordPress has recently started targeting and removing blogs (including far left blogs) that question gender ideology. Someone might be looking for a “Terms of Service” reason to mess with you. Thank you for the wide-ranging discussions and food for thought — and please keep up your defense of free speech — our precious right as Americans and one of the reasons I go to work every day.
Which constitutional rights? The ones protected by the fourth and tenth amendments?
Well, for one, his website is tracking IP addresses, but GM might be doing that himself.
For the record, I concluded a post with the words, “Props to Mrs.DK.” I realize, for whatever reason, the post never made the big leagues. I repeat myself: props to MrsDK. Sincerely.
Welcome back George. Looking forward to hearing great insight from Greatly Saddened.
Why some people think the Deep State is a group of conspirators is beyond me, although it isn’t impossible.
The word “deep” means “extending far down from the top or surface.”
It’s nothing more complicated than that.
From a surprising source, perhaps:
” …The deep state is no myth but a sodden, intertwined mass of bloated, self-replicating bureaucracy that constitutes the real power in Washington and that stubbornly outlasts every administration. As government programs have incrementally multiplied, so has their regulatory apparatus, with its intrusive byzantine minutiae. Recently tagged as a source of anti-Trump conspiracy among embedded Democrats, the deep state is probably equally populated by Republicans and apolitical functionaries of Bartleby the Scrivener blandness. Its spreading sclerotic mass is wasteful, redundant, and ultimately tyrannical.
“I have been trying for decades to get my fellow Democrats to realize how unchecked bureaucracy, in government or academe, is inherently authoritarian and illiberal.”
https://spectator.us/camille-paglia-hillary-trump/?fbclid=IwAR0Mvaem69eUbLYanAu8Ra49urJcWINZvLEsOsgz9LHcAtd4cqSIKRcFB-w
Here’s an example of the Deep State’s handiwork:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/black-sea-ukraine-russia-crimea-us-navy-warship-azov-kerch-strait-a8669606.html
The leaders of the military/intel branch of the Deep State are absolutely rogue at this point. How can the Navy just take it upon itself to engage in provocative actions like sailing into disputed waters? Did the President approve this?
Sadly, I’m coming around to Tucker Carlson’s recently expressed position. The President is simply not up to the job. He knows what needs to be done, but he doesn’t know how to do it, nor does he have anyone he can trust to help him. The most he can do is get on Twitter and have a rally and say it to the people, but he appears to be boxed in.
This is evidence for the Deep State. The President has virtually monarchical powers within the sphere of the Executive Branch. All executive authority flows from the President. Every bureaucrat in every executive agency is exercising the President’s authority. Yet the President can’t do anything, or even control his own Attorney General—who also exercises the President’s authority in his behalf.
Of the big mistakes in American history was the creation of the Federal Civil Service. Huge mistake. Near the level of Texas v White and the 17th Amendment.
I agree: the Pendleton Act was a terrible misstep (as were the other acts which you mentioned).
I disagree with Tucker however. Trump knows the depth of the depravity that he is up against. However he is giving them enough rope to hang themselves. Think of it: everybody who has gone against him (so far) has been ruined. Even Stormy Daniels; Trump is the only man in recorded history to get money back from a prostitute.
Levity aside, Trump is the only thing restraining the possibility of martial law being enacted. If he is removed, then the violence will get so bad that the Posse Comitatus act will have to be temporarily suspended and the military will have to impose order.
That was the contingency plan all along.
I hope you’re right!
Part of me thinks we may need some selective use of martial law to get things done. St. Abraham Lincoln created that precedent, so why not run with it?
Let’s start with California for openly defying so many federal laws. Arrest the governor and put a military governor in place for a little while. Force California to rewrite their constitution a-la Reconstruction, with all the trimmings: strong voter ID, strong immigration enforcement, and more. Make them re-apply for statehood—or cut them loose, all the better.
We need Trump to be Pinochet right now.
Trump ain’t going anywhere until 2020.. And then there will be a new sheriff who ain’t a loud mouth New York sob.
True in any state. After the 1917 Lenin coup the deep state, Banks, civil services, army either went on strike in formative Soviet union, disolved as army, or was on go slow as it were. The regime had to employ former Tsarist officers for army and specialist in engineeting etc as no body in regime or workers had any experience or knowledge. Took to 1930s and New generation and purges to get a bureaucratic regime that was communist but then workers started hating it as! The old system back ‘
Hi George,
During his sermon last Sunday, our priest mentioned his involvement with the Boy Scouts. That got me to thinking: the Boy Scouts in America were founded by a freemason, Daniel Beard, then I started thinking about the Orthodox Church’s proscription against freemasonry. Would you mind sharing with me your involvement in masonry, how you got involved, and why you left.
Now, why am I asking you this question? Because there are many highly esteemed Greek Orthodox laity who are freemasons. For example, many of the Archons are masons. A wealthy devout Greek Orthodox Christian was a thirty third degree mason, and was called the “Godfather” of his local Greek Orthodox Church because he was the single largest contributor. When he died, the Greek Orthodox Church had a lavish funeral for him in which his close friend, Metropolitan Methodios, presided. He was obviously aware of his involvement in freemasonry, and, yet, he really sang his praises for his “close friend.”
Metropolitan Bashir, head of the Antiochian Archdiocese before Metropolitan Saliba, was also a mason. If the penalty for involvement in freemasonry is excommunication, why is this never enforced? I understand the Catholic Church’s hatred of the masons because of the French Revolution, but not the Orthodox Church’s. We know that any honest researcher will find nothing wrong with the lodge, that it is most assuredly not a religion; it is a brotherhood, comprised of people of different religions. When a Christian mason is raised to the Third Degree,he is a given a King James Version of the Bible, and the concordance is 100% orthodox in explicating doctrine, belief in the divinity of Christ, His resurrection, plan of salvation, and the Holy Trinity. The Episcopal Church should be as orthodox, but they’re not because most of the priests have been infected by higher criticism. There are many Episcopal priests who deny all the major tenets of Christianity.
My own opinion after years of careful study is that the masons are a laudatory, noble group of men highly involved in their churches, and their communities. I find the Orthodox Church is very dishonest and disingenuous in their condemnation of the fraternity. A better mason makes a better Christian. You know that- and I know that. Obscurantism and religious intolerance are a blight on our holy faith. Your thoughts, sir?
Thank you Costa. In the archive, you should be able to dredge up my essay on Freemasonry and my involvement in it. If not, I will try and hyperlink it for you.
Long story short: the Masons aren’t evil per se but I couldn’t help shake the feeling that they really are a religion, despite all their protestations to the contrary.
Hi George,
Not to start any arguments, but I can prove to anyone in one second that freemasonry can’t be a religion- and that is the presence in every Blue Lodge, and Grand Lodge of the active participation of chaplains. Case closed!
https://rusjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Masons.pdf
The above link is an article replete with quotations from Masonic sources, including Albert Pike, who essentially wrote the ‘bible’ of Masonry, Morals and Dogmas. Christians cannot defend the indefensible.
If Peter Ray Millman didn’t learn this last time the subject was brought, I doubt if Constantinos will…
Trump raised expectations by promising to “drain the swamp”. No one could follow through on such a promise especially in just two years. The swamp things have been fighting back. Duh.
Texas vs White may be bad law but it did express the sentiment of Lincoln and other Unionists. It certainly furthered the centralization of Federal power and authority inherent in the US Constitution. A tendency recognized at the time or we would not have the bill of rights or Patrick Henry’s statement on the convening of the Constitutional Convention:. “I smell a rat.”
The Federal Civil Service and the 17th Amendment and the 19th BTW. Each reinforces the false ideology that the state is the source of all good and the rule of law requires a dominant federal government (see the 14th amendment and the expansive interpretation of the Commerce clause as well.)
Andrew Jackson’s famous toast: “Liberty and Union, one and inseparable” is an early example of the same sentiment.
I ought to have thrown Marbury v Madison in there. That was the mother of all errors.
Fortunately, misogynist Trump’s own Swamp is slowly being drained, thanks to the Mueller probe i.e. Cohen, Papadopoulos, Manafort and many more to come. He wanted the “best” and looks like the best are all headed to jail. All of Trump’s lies (what is he up to, maybe a 3,000 so far) ,more than any other President who all do fabricate, are all catching up to him. Even FOX News is seeing the true Trump and all his fakeness. I was surprised to hear Tucker Carlson come forth and say the truth for once.
Things in the news are too quiet. Calm before the storm?
That’s what I’m thinking, Dan.