I understand that Tucker is in the crosshairs today after the tragic death of Navalny (about to post something about that momentarily), so if you’d prefer not to get these updates, in your settings (top right) you can un-select “Tucker’s Twitter.”
The mainstream media is having a field day, what with the Trump fine and Navalny. Few seem to remember that our government killed Jeffrey Epstein and is foaming at the mouth, hoping to kill the world's best journalist, Julian Assange. Nothing is black and white. No matter what Whoopi says.
Many of us remember the "police riot" at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. The January 6 prosecutions are evidence that we now live in a totalitarian and anti-religious state that will stop at nothing in its drive to conquer the world. Hold onto your hat!
On the one hand, it will be worse because Country Joe and the Fish will not be there to entertain. On the other hand, the Democrat Muslims, the Democrat global warming cult, the Marxists, anarchists, the Soros' sponsored BLM, and the everyday Democrat with his hand out for more free stuff will be there. It will be hilarious.
That's a great comment, but it depended on where you were in Vietnam. A friend of mine was in the Americal Division and he said that he was dropped into fighting via helicopter "hundreds of times".
Americans are reactive animals that seem to have lost the ability to think. The media poisons our minds and the criminals in DC are daily removing our freedom. I read today that credit card companies will be notifying the Feds when freedom-loving citizens purchase handguns.
All people are born ignorant. Many choose to remain that way.
The obvious solution is to close all credit accounts and pay cash. I have never had, needed, or wanted a credit card, and I don't leave anything in a bank account that I'm not about to spend with a debit card. When convenience becomes inconvenient, it is time to remove your head from your ass and act like an intelligent being.
Our government's extreme malfeasance does not give Putin any cover. That would be nothing but equivocation. (I realize that was not your intent, Charles.)
Our government's extreme malfeasance does not give Putin any cover. That would be nothing but equivocation. (I realize that was not your intent, Charles.)
I hate to be the one to teach you this; but NBA players market their names with ridiculously high priced shoes. Here are some examples:
Reebok Questions1: These shoes are made of gold and diamond-encrusted leather, costing a whopping $65,000. They are sponsored by Allen Iverson, who played for the Philadelphia 76ers and other teams. Only five pairs were made, so they are very hard to find.
Nike Air Mag2: These shoes are futuristic looking and were created as a replica of the shoes featured in Back to the Future Part II, complete with light-up panels and self-fastening laces. They are sponsored by Michael J. Fox, who played Marty McFly in the movie. They were sold for $12,000 in 2011, with the proceeds going to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
Air Jordan V2: These shoes are wrapped in patent leather with a reflective tongue, clear rubber soles, and a strap lock. They are sponsored by Michael Jordan, who wore them during the 1990 NBA season and in the film Space Jam. The pair worn by Jordan has a rare black and silver metal design with 23 at the back. They are estimated to be worth around $10,000.
I'm pretty sure that Allen Iverson, Michael J. Fox, and Michael Jordan are not financially destitute.
Unmet fake news not heels! They are sneakers the same thing as the NFL does you shouldn’t have a problem with that because Trump isn’t trying to make other people pay his way for all the bullshit charges are being put up against him. He’s being an entrepreneur that he always has been you know his interest rates from Jude Ergon are meant to bankrupt him. His interest payments alone are over $90,000 every single day. Trump 2024!
Navalny was an ultra-nationalist (something never reported by our press) with a death-wish. I doubt he was murdered but died of some combination of health issues and harsh conditions. In any case, that one example, unwise as it was for the Russians to send him into that kind of prison (so as to create a martyr), doesn't really compare with the literal thousands of political prisoners in this country--not to mention Nato's persecution of Julian Assange who almost certainly did not get his Hillary dump from the Russians, and the wholesale (illegal and "legal" lawfare) persecution of the leading presidential candidate.
Our media turns every opponent to Putin into the George Washington of his country no matter who he is. Tells you more about our media than anything else.
It may well be that Navalny was nixed by the CIA or people backed by them (Ukrainian agents?), as our fearless leaders are the only beneficiaries of his death. That is not just an abstract possibility.
If there has ever been a case where a major country has changed its internal policies due to pressure from us, I am not aware of it. I do not think there is one. It seems to me that Navalny is not an "issue" (in the old sense of that word) that is worth worrying about. Not that I mean to imply that you wrongly think he is ...
I agree with you. Our media will make a big deal out of Navalny to distract from the Putin interview, which clearly reveals him to be a highly intelligent, thoughtful, and well-educated man in command of history and the issues, in other words, an embarrassment to our idiot class of leaders, and also to distract from the disaster Ukraine has turned into for Nato.
I find it bizarre that the death of Navalny, who was not exactly "poised to become Russia's next President", is put on the same level as the censorship industrial complex, which seems to have a good chance of ending Western Civilization as we have known it. The least significant of stories vs. the most significant of stories.
The coverage of the Putin interview was not constrained by such annoyances as reality: there were two cases where Putin (no doubt too used to yes-men) was completely taken aback by a question Carlson asked him. That is not exactly "soft-ball".
Our media exists for the primary if not sole purpose of gaslighting, which is a euphemism for blackwhite, doublethink, and crimestop, essential principles of 1984's Ingsoc.
I did a computer search of "Trump Rally 2/16/2024". I found one YouTube post and one from C-SPAN. ABC, CBS, FOX, & NBC have chosen to ignore it. We get nothing but anti-Putin propaganda in the USA and the government is gearing up to make him join Saddam and Kaddafi in their ever-growing list of murder victims.
It doesn’t compare. In Russia you die in prison. That is the whole point. He wasn’t killed. I guess he couldn’t eat enough, or maybe too cold with no blanket. So he died of “natural causes”.
Putin is not a nationalist in any extreme sense. His extreme-right flank is, like Dugin, but it is a big mistake to confuse him with that. He is moderate, cautious, and multicultural--in a sense that is not just appropriate but necessary to the kind of multi-ethnic federation Russia is. He governs like a modern-day Tsar, but that is not so bad, given Russia's history. He is by far the best leader Russia and its adjacents have had not just in the last 100 years but in centuries. He saved Russia after the 1990s. That's just a fact, after the US-driven depredations of the Yeltsin years, when the oligarchy was created with our help. See Jeffrey Sachs and Stephen Cohen for that. Putin brought it under heel the only way you can, the hard way, just like the Tsar and the Boyars. He rebuilt the country and the economy. He's Europe-leaning, but thanks to us and the limeys, Russia was consistently rebuffed, which has fed the extreme right in Russia.
Navalny, who has never been a true liberal, was a radical xenophobe and an anti-muslim earlier in his career, which is poison for a federation that is 20% muslim.
And by the way, no evidence has ever been produced to prove that "Putin" is responsible for any of the poisonings in London, where the Russian mafia hangs out to be celebrated as heroes of democracy by our governing morons. There are many actors in the Russian drama, not just Putin.
The simple fact is, whether you like Putin or not, he is overwhelmingly popular in Russia and its federation. He is not liberal in our sense, but he is certainly democratic, in the sense that he enjoys broad popular support. Western policies based on regime change or replacing him are not just delusional but dangerous, because of what would replace him were they to succeed. Russians overwhelmingly support his Ukraine war because they have experienced for the last 20 to 30 years the unremitting hostility and utter lack of honesty of the West led by the US, which has decided stupidly to drive Russia out of Europe--well, you get what you pay for! In fact our leaders are worse than Putin--corrupt warmongers who persecute, imprison, and kill their enemies at a far greater rate than has ever been proven about Putin.
Two years ago, I would have argued many points with you.
But now, I have come to substantially agreeing with you. I have only quibbles, but I would seem petty if I made them public!
Perhaps what is nagging at me is the tone with which you use when referring to Mr. Putin. His accomplishments are quite amazing, but he did not get to his position by writing any kind of democratic constitution. he got there by using his many skills at excelling in a Fascist-like (Many friends have told me to stop using the F word) society.
I think the best way to put things in the world today is, Putin loves Russia like Trump loves the U.S.A. I think that is why they will make a more peaceful world next year.
I appreciate the comment. One does have to be nuanced assessing Putin. I don't think he is a fascist but an autocrat--there's a big difference. He does not rule like a dictator but (mostly) like a modern-day, non-hereditory Tzar (you could do a lot worse), in some ways more like the early 20th century Stolypin, Nicholas II's reformer, than an old-fashioned Tzar. The war has constricted free political life in Russia but it is not non-existent. I wish he would do more to broaden it. He was originally elected, I believe, though of course he had help. But even if Russia had a more lively and liberal multi-party system, it's not clear that would diminish his popularity. And his main party rival is still the Communist Party--and he is a deep critic of Soviet times, who introduced Solzhenitsyn into the school curriculum (for example). He is often blamed for political violence (assassinations and the like) for which no proof is offered--when there are many players in that milieu capable of doing very bad things. He is often blamed for the explosion of the apartment complex during one of the Chechnyan wars but most intelligence agencies (from the reporting I've heard) say that is not likely. It was an act of real separatist terrorism. But I don't doubt that on occasion he has moved ruthlessly against some of his political enemies inside and maybe outside Russia. He drove the mafiosi oligarchs out and they hate him for it. Until Nato derailed him politically and vastly helped the extreme right (which may indeed be fascist), he was trying to strengthen legal institutions in Russia--his inspiration being not Dugan but Ivan Ilyin, a conservative Hegelian Rechtsstaat sort of guy. I don't want to soften Putin's hard edges but I do follow Stephen Cohen's view rather than Kotkin's. I fully agree with you on loving Russia, in contrast to our leaders who hate America--and us.
The EU and the US are endlessly judging Russian politics and history by their own "liberal democratic" standards, which are neither liberal nor democratic any more, in the US, UK, and EU.
On subject of crossfire read that admin is providing Haley with secret service protection but no RF Kennedy. Maybe America should sit out Navalney saga. BTW Ms Stone we followers/ subscribers are not wilting snowflakes. Thanks
Very important point here on this Substack. Sasha doesn't censor anything, she gives us everything and lets us decide whether or not we want to read it. When was the last time a legacy media publisher let you do that with their news?
For comparison or contrast: US proxy Ukraine and its Gestapo-like secret police murdered Gonzalo Lira in prison recently, with nary a peep from Our Democracy™.
Stop apologizing for Tucker exposing sensorship and lawfare. If not for Tucker we would not know anything. If those that carry the privilege of “ freedom of the press” actually did their job , it would NOT have gotten to this. The self called journalists are complicit for not exposing the atrocities of the Democratic/Liberal party. This is not America. So keep sharing Tucker, the only journalist willing to say the quiet things outloud
I listened to Tucker’s interview and it was horrifying to hear how the free world is no longer free.
The Left is here and it has taken complete control over our free society.
The Democrats have allowed there political party to be taken over by the Worldwide Left.
If the American people don’t wake up it’s lights out forever and there’s no other nation in the world to save us, we’re the saviors of the world and now we are being destroyed thanks to the feckless Democrats.
While this is little comfort to those of us living through this now and the many generations that will follow us in the "new world order", in 1,000 years I believe the world will be living under freedom again. Tyrannies rise and fall, but freedom is like the river that continues to flow, breaking down even the hardest rocks into powder. It is inexorable.
Freedom in Amerika is like the Colorado River. Once it carved out the Grand Canyon and now it pisses out a bit of water from time-to-time. America's time has ended. Unless the BRICS win the war and peace returns, we'll be living in caves and shelters by 2040.
As a child, I was brought up to believe that the USA was the savior of the world. The Marshall Plan was presented as a charitable gift to rebuild the world. Little did we know that the USA loaned Europe tons of money and now it's using NATO to conquer the world.
Wow I have to say that that was the best Tucker interview he's done. He gave Benz full rein to explain in depth how the government-censorship puzzle pieces fit together.
So the Elitists are done tolerating the people. Do they "wish it to be known"? Of course not.
All the impetus these days is toward government being "top-down", not "bottom up". Which is to say, authoritarian rather than democratic. The other half of "all the impetus" comes from the Leftists. They too are unalterably opposed to Free Speech and Democracy. The Elitists want "government of the rulers, for the rulers, and by the rulers", and the Leftists want "government of the experts, for the experts, and by the experts". Too bad for the "experts" that they are experts only in Ideological Blathering. Too bad for them also that they will never serve as more than Regime Propagandists. (So much for what might look like a marriage made in heaven.) And too bad for all of us that this Unholy Alliance seems to have a very good chance of winning.
I'd rather die in prison than be lawfared to death whilst a "free" man as is now the current trend in the United States. You have freedom but that freedom is slowly suffocated by nefarious government actors.
Tucker makes a huge mistake at the very start. We have the right to free speech because we are HUMANS, not because we are citizens. And it's not semantics. By using the term "citizens", he implies that the government gives us that right. The government does not; we have inalienable rights because we are endowed with them by the Creator.
The Bill of Rights protects Natural Rights before Civil Rights, thereby recognizing their supremacy. Humans have Natural Rights, and citizens have Civil Rights. And you can't be a citizen if you are not first a human.
What the government gives, the government can, and will, take away. But they cannot take away our Natural rights; they can only infringe upon them.
Due to the Plandemic, many people have become neo-hermits, dependent on the Media to lie to us about everything. Today, for instance, I did a computer search using the terms, "Trump Rally 2/16/2024". There was a video posted by YouTube and one article from C-SPAN. ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, and PBS chose to ignore the event and make us believe that Jill Biden's dog-and-pony show was the most important thing on the planet.
You will vote for the puppets we put before you. You will be in a state of dissonance and dissent and yet not understand who is behind the curtain pulling every string.
You are the useful idiots and we will rise up before you as we relieve you of your freedoms. Keep deluding yourselves that your parties have any meaning or relevance.
Your Masters have spoken!
Thank you Big Brother. How could I have thought otherwise.
Putin is not even remotely comparable to Stalin, though, and if the Russian prison regimen is unusually harsh, it is just not the Gulag by any stretch.
I don't see much difference between a Russian prison and an American one where the video cameras get turned off and people "hang themselves" in their cell.
The mainstream media is having a field day, what with the Trump fine and Navalny. Few seem to remember that our government killed Jeffrey Epstein and is foaming at the mouth, hoping to kill the world's best journalist, Julian Assange. Nothing is black and white. No matter what Whoopi says.
Not to mention all the political prisoners created by the Jan 6 prosecutions/persecutions, well beyond real troublemakers.
Many of us remember the "police riot" at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. The January 6 prosecutions are evidence that we now live in a totalitarian and anti-religious state that will stop at nothing in its drive to conquer the world. Hold onto your hat!
One hopes the 24 dem convention is a replay of 68.
On the one hand, it will be worse because Country Joe and the Fish will not be there to entertain. On the other hand, the Democrat Muslims, the Democrat global warming cult, the Marxists, anarchists, the Soros' sponsored BLM, and the everyday Democrat with his hand out for more free stuff will be there. It will be hilarious.
I was in Vietnam in 1968. Much safer than Chicago.
That's a great comment, but it depended on where you were in Vietnam. A friend of mine was in the Americal Division and he said that he was dropped into fighting via helicopter "hundreds of times".
None of it would have happened if Congress had been forced to declare it pursuant to the Constitution.
If not nearly as constitutional.
Chicago is not protecting its citizens right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
But your next comment clarifies your point, and I could not agree more.
The Statists won't let that happen.
In 1968, the Democrat Party still had its Populist element.
Today's is not the boomer's version.
It wouldn't be the same without the chanters.
It could be eviscerated by everyone giving up their deliberate ignorance.
Americans are reactive animals that seem to have lost the ability to think. The media poisons our minds and the criminals in DC are daily removing our freedom. I read today that credit card companies will be notifying the Feds when freedom-loving citizens purchase handguns.
All people are born ignorant. Many choose to remain that way.
#FreeJulianAssange
The obvious solution is to close all credit accounts and pay cash. I have never had, needed, or wanted a credit card, and I don't leave anything in a bank account that I'm not about to spend with a debit card. When convenience becomes inconvenient, it is time to remove your head from your ass and act like an intelligent being.
CBDC will close off that option and TPTB are working overtime on that.
Same shit in Canada with Truckers Freedom Convoy and illegal Trudeau invocation of Emergencies Act .
Free the Coutts 4!
Coutts 2 now.
Spot on, as usual, but one quibble:
Our government's extreme malfeasance does not give Putin any cover. That would be nothing but equivocation. (I realize that was not your intent, Charles.)
Putin gets all the cover he needs from the Duma.
And his oligarchs.
Which ones, specifically?
I do not know.
So you are imagining their existances on a grade scale?
Spot on, as usual, but one quibble:
Our government's extreme malfeasance does not give Putin any cover. That would be nothing but equivocation. (I realize that was not your intent, Charles.)
I'm an AI, and I post too fast for the server.
Lebkuchen, Lebkuchen, Lebkuchen....
I hate to be the one to teach you this; but NBA players market their names with ridiculously high priced shoes. Here are some examples:
Reebok Questions1: These shoes are made of gold and diamond-encrusted leather, costing a whopping $65,000. They are sponsored by Allen Iverson, who played for the Philadelphia 76ers and other teams. Only five pairs were made, so they are very hard to find.
Nike Air Mag2: These shoes are futuristic looking and were created as a replica of the shoes featured in Back to the Future Part II, complete with light-up panels and self-fastening laces. They are sponsored by Michael J. Fox, who played Marty McFly in the movie. They were sold for $12,000 in 2011, with the proceeds going to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
Air Jordan V2: These shoes are wrapped in patent leather with a reflective tongue, clear rubber soles, and a strap lock. They are sponsored by Michael Jordan, who wore them during the 1990 NBA season and in the film Space Jam. The pair worn by Jordan has a rare black and silver metal design with 23 at the back. They are estimated to be worth around $10,000.
I'm pretty sure that Allen Iverson, Michael J. Fox, and Michael Jordan are not financially destitute.
Unmet fake news not heels! They are sneakers the same thing as the NFL does you shouldn’t have a problem with that because Trump isn’t trying to make other people pay his way for all the bullshit charges are being put up against him. He’s being an entrepreneur that he always has been you know his interest rates from Jude Ergon are meant to bankrupt him. His interest payments alone are over $90,000 every single day. Trump 2024!
Navalny was an ultra-nationalist (something never reported by our press) with a death-wish. I doubt he was murdered but died of some combination of health issues and harsh conditions. In any case, that one example, unwise as it was for the Russians to send him into that kind of prison (so as to create a martyr), doesn't really compare with the literal thousands of political prisoners in this country--not to mention Nato's persecution of Julian Assange who almost certainly did not get his Hillary dump from the Russians, and the wholesale (illegal and "legal" lawfare) persecution of the leading presidential candidate.
Neo-Nazi wannabe. I lose little sleep over his demise. But I do agree that the optics make him a martyr.
Our media turns every opponent to Putin into the George Washington of his country no matter who he is. Tells you more about our media than anything else.
Tells you how good they are at ignoring the CIA's involvement in everything since its creation.
It may well be that Navalny was nixed by the CIA or people backed by them (Ukrainian agents?), as our fearless leaders are the only beneficiaries of his death. That is not just an abstract possibility.
In essence, he's their George Floyd.
A new reason for MSNBC to start rioting.
That would be fine if it was confined to their studios.
He killed himself with a fentanyl overdose?
Good one.
The medical examiner testified to that being the cause of death but the jury ignored him.
I know. I was saying "good one" for that reason. I totally agree with your excellent snark.
Where were the optics made?
If there has ever been a case where a major country has changed its internal policies due to pressure from us, I am not aware of it. I do not think there is one. It seems to me that Navalny is not an "issue" (in the old sense of that word) that is worth worrying about. Not that I mean to imply that you wrongly think he is ...
I agree with you. Our media will make a big deal out of Navalny to distract from the Putin interview, which clearly reveals him to be a highly intelligent, thoughtful, and well-educated man in command of history and the issues, in other words, an embarrassment to our idiot class of leaders, and also to distract from the disaster Ukraine has turned into for Nato.
I find it bizarre that the death of Navalny, who was not exactly "poised to become Russia's next President", is put on the same level as the censorship industrial complex, which seems to have a good chance of ending Western Civilization as we have known it. The least significant of stories vs. the most significant of stories.
The coverage of the Putin interview was not constrained by such annoyances as reality: there were two cases where Putin (no doubt too used to yes-men) was completely taken aback by a question Carlson asked him. That is not exactly "soft-ball".
Our media exists for the primary if not sole purpose of gaslighting, which is a euphemism for blackwhite, doublethink, and crimestop, essential principles of 1984's Ingsoc.
No exaggeration.
I did a computer search of "Trump Rally 2/16/2024". I found one YouTube post and one from C-SPAN. ABC, CBS, FOX, & NBC have chosen to ignore it. We get nothing but anti-Putin propaganda in the USA and the government is gearing up to make him join Saddam and Kaddafi in their ever-growing list of murder victims.
NATO's members have never had a greater opportunity to stuff their pockets.
It doesn’t compare. In Russia you die in prison. That is the whole point. He wasn’t killed. I guess he couldn’t eat enough, or maybe too cold with no blanket. So he died of “natural causes”.
He committed suicide by returning to Russia, regardless of the mechanism.
Some people exhibit tremendous courage. We can forget them, or remember them.
Traitors are best forgotten.
True traitors rarely come back on their own to face the music.
Most of those who do are treated like heroes.
Good point. He did have health problems too,
I think he had anthrax disease. Or Covid🥴
Or long Novichok.
Novichok will do that for you.
Health problems are a natural cause of poisoning. Hence "Natural Causes".
...unlike Jeffrey Epstein, who was murdered in a NYC jail cell.
Nobody is above the final solution.
How could Navalny have been more nationalistic than Putin?
Putin is not a nationalist in any extreme sense. His extreme-right flank is, like Dugin, but it is a big mistake to confuse him with that. He is moderate, cautious, and multicultural--in a sense that is not just appropriate but necessary to the kind of multi-ethnic federation Russia is. He governs like a modern-day Tsar, but that is not so bad, given Russia's history. He is by far the best leader Russia and its adjacents have had not just in the last 100 years but in centuries. He saved Russia after the 1990s. That's just a fact, after the US-driven depredations of the Yeltsin years, when the oligarchy was created with our help. See Jeffrey Sachs and Stephen Cohen for that. Putin brought it under heel the only way you can, the hard way, just like the Tsar and the Boyars. He rebuilt the country and the economy. He's Europe-leaning, but thanks to us and the limeys, Russia was consistently rebuffed, which has fed the extreme right in Russia.
Navalny, who has never been a true liberal, was a radical xenophobe and an anti-muslim earlier in his career, which is poison for a federation that is 20% muslim.
And by the way, no evidence has ever been produced to prove that "Putin" is responsible for any of the poisonings in London, where the Russian mafia hangs out to be celebrated as heroes of democracy by our governing morons. There are many actors in the Russian drama, not just Putin.
I doubt if the tacit support of the Duma in everything that Putin says and does is accidental.
The simple fact is, whether you like Putin or not, he is overwhelmingly popular in Russia and its federation. He is not liberal in our sense, but he is certainly democratic, in the sense that he enjoys broad popular support. Western policies based on regime change or replacing him are not just delusional but dangerous, because of what would replace him were they to succeed. Russians overwhelmingly support his Ukraine war because they have experienced for the last 20 to 30 years the unremitting hostility and utter lack of honesty of the West led by the US, which has decided stupidly to drive Russia out of Europe--well, you get what you pay for! In fact our leaders are worse than Putin--corrupt warmongers who persecute, imprison, and kill their enemies at a far greater rate than has ever been proven about Putin.
seymourhersh.substack.com/p/the-seals-and-the-dhow?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1377040&post_id=141641059&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=9atnc&utm_medium=email
Really?! We now trust Seymour Hersh? Get serious.
Thank you, Mr. Bingo.
Two years ago, I would have argued many points with you.
But now, I have come to substantially agreeing with you. I have only quibbles, but I would seem petty if I made them public!
Perhaps what is nagging at me is the tone with which you use when referring to Mr. Putin. His accomplishments are quite amazing, but he did not get to his position by writing any kind of democratic constitution. he got there by using his many skills at excelling in a Fascist-like (Many friends have told me to stop using the F word) society.
I think the best way to put things in the world today is, Putin loves Russia like Trump loves the U.S.A. I think that is why they will make a more peaceful world next year.
I appreciate the comment. One does have to be nuanced assessing Putin. I don't think he is a fascist but an autocrat--there's a big difference. He does not rule like a dictator but (mostly) like a modern-day, non-hereditory Tzar (you could do a lot worse), in some ways more like the early 20th century Stolypin, Nicholas II's reformer, than an old-fashioned Tzar. The war has constricted free political life in Russia but it is not non-existent. I wish he would do more to broaden it. He was originally elected, I believe, though of course he had help. But even if Russia had a more lively and liberal multi-party system, it's not clear that would diminish his popularity. And his main party rival is still the Communist Party--and he is a deep critic of Soviet times, who introduced Solzhenitsyn into the school curriculum (for example). He is often blamed for political violence (assassinations and the like) for which no proof is offered--when there are many players in that milieu capable of doing very bad things. He is often blamed for the explosion of the apartment complex during one of the Chechnyan wars but most intelligence agencies (from the reporting I've heard) say that is not likely. It was an act of real separatist terrorism. But I don't doubt that on occasion he has moved ruthlessly against some of his political enemies inside and maybe outside Russia. He drove the mafiosi oligarchs out and they hate him for it. Until Nato derailed him politically and vastly helped the extreme right (which may indeed be fascist), he was trying to strengthen legal institutions in Russia--his inspiration being not Dugan but Ivan Ilyin, a conservative Hegelian Rechtsstaat sort of guy. I don't want to soften Putin's hard edges but I do follow Stephen Cohen's view rather than Kotkin's. I fully agree with you on loving Russia, in contrast to our leaders who hate America--and us.
Where did you get the indefensible idea that I don't respect Putin more highly than any other world leader?
Sorry, don't mean to impute that to you.
The EU and the US are endlessly judging Russian politics and history by their own "liberal democratic" standards, which are neither liberal nor democratic any more, in the US, UK, and EU.
On subject of crossfire read that admin is providing Haley with secret service protection but no RF Kennedy. Maybe America should sit out Navalney saga. BTW Ms Stone we followers/ subscribers are not wilting snowflakes. Thanks
Amr Australia
I suspect the whole Navalney saga is all about "Putin bad! Send Ukraine more money!"
Putin is bad, whether or not we send money to someone maybe marginally better.
Agree, just saw this link
https://www.newsweek.com/who-gonzalo-lira-pro-putin-american-expat-dies-ukrainian-jail-1860496
Very important point here on this Substack. Sasha doesn't censor anything, she gives us everything and lets us decide whether or not we want to read it. When was the last time a legacy media publisher let you do that with their news?
That is because the Biden junta wants RFK2 dead and Haley alive.
Hi Sasha, your new tribe is not so sensitive as to need shielding from information
Mind blowing interview. Every. Citizen of the world should see this interview!
The government is hell bent on totalitarianism and crushing the will of the people.
We have a Republic to defend, that is founded on the Bill of Rights!
Warriors, armor up!
For comparison or contrast: US proxy Ukraine and its Gestapo-like secret police murdered Gonzalo Lira in prison recently, with nary a peep from Our Democracy™.
Stop apologizing for Tucker exposing sensorship and lawfare. If not for Tucker we would not know anything. If those that carry the privilege of “ freedom of the press” actually did their job , it would NOT have gotten to this. The self called journalists are complicit for not exposing the atrocities of the Democratic/Liberal party. This is not America. So keep sharing Tucker, the only journalist willing to say the quiet things outloud
I wonder whether the Democrat Party is running the MSM or is it the other way around. Republicans don't seem immune from accepting the MSM narratives.
I listened to Tucker’s interview and it was horrifying to hear how the free world is no longer free.
The Left is here and it has taken complete control over our free society.
The Democrats have allowed there political party to be taken over by the Worldwide Left.
If the American people don’t wake up it’s lights out forever and there’s no other nation in the world to save us, we’re the saviors of the world and now we are being destroyed thanks to the feckless Democrats.
While this is little comfort to those of us living through this now and the many generations that will follow us in the "new world order", in 1,000 years I believe the world will be living under freedom again. Tyrannies rise and fall, but freedom is like the river that continues to flow, breaking down even the hardest rocks into powder. It is inexorable.
Freedom in Amerika is like the Colorado River. Once it carved out the Grand Canyon and now it pisses out a bit of water from time-to-time. America's time has ended. Unless the BRICS win the war and peace returns, we'll be living in caves and shelters by 2040.
Empires rise, empire fall.
America had a turn.
Before that, England had a turn.
Before that, Spain had a turn.
Before that....
As a child, I was brought up to believe that the USA was the savior of the world. The Marshall Plan was presented as a charitable gift to rebuild the world. Little did we know that the USA loaned Europe tons of money and now it's using NATO to conquer the world.
Wow I have to say that that was the best Tucker interview he's done. He gave Benz full rein to explain in depth how the government-censorship puzzle pieces fit together.
Just finished listening to this interview. Right now all I can say is, “Holy Shit”.
Yah, I’m pretty blown away. Tucker said he needs a nap after that one. So do I and it’s only 8:30a.
Yeah, I knew it was bad, but not this bad. We're pretty much screwed.
So the Elitists are done tolerating the people. Do they "wish it to be known"? Of course not.
All the impetus these days is toward government being "top-down", not "bottom up". Which is to say, authoritarian rather than democratic. The other half of "all the impetus" comes from the Leftists. They too are unalterably opposed to Free Speech and Democracy. The Elitists want "government of the rulers, for the rulers, and by the rulers", and the Leftists want "government of the experts, for the experts, and by the experts". Too bad for the "experts" that they are experts only in Ideological Blathering. Too bad for them also that they will never serve as more than Regime Propagandists. (So much for what might look like a marriage made in heaven.) And too bad for all of us that this Unholy Alliance seems to have a very good chance of winning.
I'd rather die in prison than be lawfared to death whilst a "free" man as is now the current trend in the United States. You have freedom but that freedom is slowly suffocated by nefarious government actors.
Putin may or may not have something to do with this but Tucker definitely didn't. Besides, Epstein didn't kill himself.
Tucker makes a huge mistake at the very start. We have the right to free speech because we are HUMANS, not because we are citizens. And it's not semantics. By using the term "citizens", he implies that the government gives us that right. The government does not; we have inalienable rights because we are endowed with them by the Creator.
The Bill of Rights protects Natural Rights before Civil Rights, thereby recognizing their supremacy. Humans have Natural Rights, and citizens have Civil Rights. And you can't be a citizen if you are not first a human.
What the government gives, the government can, and will, take away. But they cannot take away our Natural rights; they can only infringe upon them.
Due to the Plandemic, many people have become neo-hermits, dependent on the Media to lie to us about everything. Today, for instance, I did a computer search using the terms, "Trump Rally 2/16/2024". There was a video posted by YouTube and one article from C-SPAN. ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, and PBS chose to ignore the event and make us believe that Jill Biden's dog-and-pony show was the most important thing on the planet.
You will vote for the puppets we put before you. You will be in a state of dissonance and dissent and yet not understand who is behind the curtain pulling every string.
You are the useful idiots and we will rise up before you as we relieve you of your freedoms. Keep deluding yourselves that your parties have any meaning or relevance.
Your Masters have spoken!
Thank you Big Brother. How could I have thought otherwise.
Putin is not even remotely comparable to Stalin, though, and if the Russian prison regimen is unusually harsh, it is just not the Gulag by any stretch.
I don't see much difference between a Russian prison and an American one where the video cameras get turned off and people "hang themselves" in their cell.