Ladies and gentlemen, Theona Donther back from the front lines in Brazil and Turkey. I'm still splashing huge amounts of water in my eyes to get the tear gas out and soothing rubber bullet caused bruises with massive amounts of painkillers, so bare with me, it's been a wild ride.
Let me begin with a not so reassuring gesture by the President of the United States of Surveillance, in which he said that the NSA program is overseen by Congress and the Intelligence Community; which is an oxymoron in and of itself; those are two words that shouldn't or aren't likely to be paired together in the same sentence, ever; intelligence and Congress? According to our ever-evolving dictator of a President of the United States of Surveillance, there is nothing to fear; there are "unprecedented series of measures.........checks and balances.......and let's quadruple check it," requirements in place in the surveillance program. Yep, nothing to worry about; we just want to ask you some questions. Please, there is nothing to fear. There is no reason to get upset. Just come with us immediately, and no one gets hurt.
The man of the hour, Edward Snowden has bounced from Hawaii to Hong Kong to Russia and possibly on his way to Ecuador via Cuba, but Vladimir Putin is not letting him go, just yet. What does Mr. Snowden know? Is he giving it to any one? What are the implications for diplomatic ties? The plot thickens and one thing remains clear...................................................................................
"They only have this one picture of me?!"
Run Mr. Snowden run!
China now has the world's fastest supercomputer and they love to hack, so lookout Silicon Valley, because the Asian-Tiger is still mighty hungry, if they can see their way through all of the pollution.
Then there is the question of security and freedom; where do you put the NSA? How do you balance the two? It is a slippery slope when living with an older Bigger Brother.
There are checkpoints for drunk driving and most agree that's okay, but that is the tip-toe to future checkpoints for anything. Hell, let us stop Green Bay Packer fans on the way back to Wisconsin after a game at the Metrodome? I have to imagine you could generate some tax-revenue there, wouldn't you agree? But that would make too much sense, and there's nothing common about common sense, is there?
Hopefully Coming to a Town Near You
Protests are raging throughout Brazil and that is much to my liking, despite the tear gas and rubber bullets. It's encouraging to see more people waking up to the fact that the tiny minority that holds the keys to power do not have their best interests at heart; they only have their bottom line, profits for themselves and their shareholders, nothing more. These protests are being sparked and fueled by the lack of spending on social services on the part of the government throughout Brazil. What the major media is saying that triggered these massive rounds of protests is the hike in bus fare throughout the country of 10% that started in Sao Paolo and spread like a zombie Apocalypse. There is a significant lack in spending on health care and education, and instead, ever-increasingly greater portions of spending are being placed upon the readiness for the country's upcoming participation as host to the world's largest sporting events; the World Cup of Futball and the Olympic Summer Games. As if you didn't already know the Illuminati brothers and sisters were behind this; I guarantee each and everyone of you still able to read this blog without being bound or gagged, and if you're into that sort of thing, it's your prerogative; prostitutes and drugs from throughout the world will be shipped in preparation for the orgiastic duration, for hedonism knows no bounds. It will be Carnival but with bullets, bombs, booty and blood lust. You can already hear the maracas in the distance, the snorting of cocaine and the banging of drums drowning out the cries for help.
All of this slides nicely into the fact that the G-8 Summit was happening in Northern Ireland last week, where once again, outside of the U.S., President Obama was still very well received; they haven't had their phones tapped yet. The word on every one's tongue was Syria. What to do in Syria? What do we do about Syria? According to President Obama and much of the world's media, "people are being slaughtered." According to mysteriously documented evidence from the U.N and other nefarious organizations, President Assad is using chemical weapons on his own people and this will not stand. These are words not used unless something is on the verge of happening that will escalate the spread of war, and the drums continue to pound. All participating countries except Russia believe that the Assad regime must leave. Is the world going to use Syria as a means to implementing a more broadening war in the Middle-East; is the U.S. going to use the Edward Snowden case as another justification for cutting diplomatic ties with Russia? Stay tuned to find out.
The simple fact ladies and gentlemen, is that it has been a long time since a cathartic World War. Gog and Magog people. Book of Revelation. Get ready because it's going to get messy.
News that Iran has a new, relatively moderate President in Hassan Rouhani is hopeful. Also is the shocking fact that he was heckled during a press conference; a sign that the times are changing or they're putting up a good front in Tehran; the Revolutionary Guard must have had the day off.According to President Obama it is clear, "the Iranian people want to move in a different direction." If it only were that simple it would also be happening here in the United States of Surveillance in the shape of rising median incomes.
Mr. President, do you hear the common people of the United States wanting to move in a different direction? Oh wait, it's not an election year. Don't bother.
Finally, on a somber note. RIP James Gandolfini (aka Tony Soprano), and author and Minnesota native, Vince Flynn. RIP.
Ladies and gentlemen, keep fighting against tyranny; keep watching for signs of the inevitable; stay educated, remain vigilant and never give up, and please do whatever you can to keep prospering in the new global economy.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is Thelonius Ronscpiacy back from the front lines in the war against stupidity and the corporate takeover of our once free-society that has been turned into a free-for-all-market global economized government, where anyone can be paid for in cash. Anything can be bought. And better yet, place it in an offshore Cayman Island account and pay no taxes. Hell, have your CEO as the Economic Advisor to the White House. Why not? You deserve it. Ladies and gentlemen, it has been a long time since there was some true "Outrage" worthy of this addled mind, so I shall wait no longer.
In the past couple of weeks, we have found out that the IRS was targeting conservative groups and Tea-Party splinter factions for years, the way once proud members of a small-knit group of bored teenagers targeted "trailer-people" on late Friday and Saturday evenings after finishing shifts at a local Chinese restaurant; there wasn't a lobby big enough to hold them back, their time had come. Knowledge of these shockingly brazen acts were quickly followed up by the news that the Justice Dept. had subpoenas out for A.P. reporters phone records, in search of a leak worthy of Nixon's plumbers post-Watergate. The dominoes kept on falling as word then came out that the NSA has been wiretapping phone users for years; thank you 9/11, thank you Patriot Act, thank you the never-ending War on Terror. Then, it has recently come to our attention that Internet users throughout the U.S. and probably the world have been blanketed as well in the mass surveillance state that once was the United States. Let us not forget that we shut down an entire city for three days to search for a 19 year old teenager in the city of Boston. That was weak, that wasn't "Boston strong." Ladies and gentlemen, you don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to realize that Obama is just one step closer to further metamorphosing the presidency into an revolving door corporate sponsored plutocracy with a puppet held together by the strings of the Citizens United ruling of the Supreme Court. Obama is just Richard Nixon with better technology. Obama is George W. with a better college degree. Ladies and gentlemen, it's a slippery slope. So hang on tight, it's going to be a bumpy ride.
Bilderberg Meetings 61st Bilderberg conference to take place on 6-9 June 2013 in Hertfordshire, UK
Hertfordshire, 3 June 2013 - The 61st Bilderberg meeting is set to take place from 6 until 9 June 2013 in Hertfordshire, UK. A total of around 140 participants from 21 European and North American countries have confirmed their attendance. As ever, a diverse group of political leaders and experts from industry, finance, academia and the media have been invited. The list of participants is available on www.bilderbergmeetings.org
The key topics for discussion this year include: • Can the US and Europe grow faster and create jobs? • Jobs, entitlement and debt • How big data is changing almost everything • Nationalism and populism • US foreign policy • Africa’s challenges • Cyber warfare and the proliferation of asymmetric threats • Major trends in medical research • Online education: promise and impacts • Politics of the European Union • Developments in the Middle East • Current affairs
Founded in 1954, Bilderberg is an annual conference designed to foster dialogue between Europe and North America.
Every year, between 120-150 political leaders and experts from industry, finance, academia and the media are invited to take part in the conference. About two thirds of the participants come from Europe and the rest from North America; one third from politics and government and the rest from other fields.
The conference has always been a forum for informal, off-the-record discussions about megatrends and the major issues facing the world. Thanks to the private nature of the conference, the participants are not bound by the conventions of office or by pre-agreed positions. As such, they can take time to listen, reflect and gather insights.There is no detailed agenda, no resolutions are proposed, no votes are taken, and no policy statements are issued.
All the while, the average citizen has no clue or care as to what is being done behind closed doors in a predominantly old age, all-white male millionaire scene.
Meanwhile, Shadow People have been infiltrating the corners of my peripheral vision. These multi-dimensional beings brought about during altered states of consciousness may be behind the paranoia inducing amplification of my thoughts. These Shadow People are the Incubus/Succubus of ancient folklore with red round eyes; some where hats, others have shaggy long hair, but glimpses can be caught in the state between R.E.M sleep and full consciousness. You will think you have witnessed a shadow on the wall move before your very eyes, but you may be wrong. Ladies and gentlemen, watch your six, because they might be coming for you; hell, the NSA and United States Government Security Apparatus is already watching and listening to you, why not the Shadow People?
To counteract the inevitable and to keep my frantic mind from the despair that is this fascist state we live in, I have been viewing some long delayed films in the midst of pulling my brainwaves from the cliffs of the abyss. Films and television shows I never had the time for, but thought, now is better than never; I may be dead tomorrow or better yet, placed in Guantanamo.
(Karen Allen)
(Amy Irving)
A couple of weeks ago I partook in the viewing pleasure of Philip Kaufman's creepy 1978 film version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The film is set in San Francisco, starring Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, a brief cameo by Robert Duvall, the always subtly annoying Jeff Goldblum and the rarely seen cinematically other than for Star Trek films, Leonard Nimoy. The movie is centered on the thesis that biological micro organisms have somehow travelled through the vortexes of space to populate our planet. The Dept of Public Health quietly becomes involved and before you know it, pod-people are popping up all over town. Watching the film I wondered, if the scenario didn't actually take place in the mid-70's when actresses Brooke Adams, Karen Allen and Amy Irving all seemed to be the same identical looking person. In the film, the real people were disposed of in garbage cans and this was all lost in a bureaucratic maze of phone calls. The only way you could prolong the inevitable was by staying awake; prophetic, we find our highly-caffeinated society where 5-hour energy drinks and lattes' are peddled with the veracity of inner-city crack hustlers.
(Brooke Adams) "Someone call my son, we need Jack Bauer!"
In order to escape notice by the pod-people you had to hide your emotions and keep popping speed. Today, we've traded in the Pods for I-Pods, I-Pads and I-Phones. We are addicted to all things fast; we are going through what Art Bell termed, "The Quickening."
I then finally got around to viewing 2006's extremely well-done prescient film United 93. With no recognizable actor working in the film, the artistic achievement of making a film with all of the "unknowns-known," to borrow a Rumsfeldism, about the terrorist-attacks that changed our world for the worse, was jaw-dropping cinematically as the real life events were to those personally affected. Paul Greengrass's direction was flawless. He would go on to direct the first couple of supremely executed Bourne Identity films. In United 93, the incredible intricacies of everyday minutiae were under the microscope. The terrorists maniacal coordination of having everyone in the air, along with the attention given to military exercises being performed that horrific day by multiple government agencies was well documented. Director Greengrass did a marvelous job depicting the nervousness and panic of not only the doomed passengers but also of the cowardly hi-jackers as well. The chaos that surrounded that day, the many different bureaucratic organizations trying to coordinate responses was mind-melting. NORAD, FAA, ATC, FBI, CIA and NSA. The black swan of the event is still mind boggling. The simple fact of the amazing number of planes in the air at any one time is enough to reach for a strong drink and cigarettes. The film was a sad, brilliant portrayal of the car-crash voyeuristic horror of reliving that nightmare of a morning. To quote a line from the film and the simple truth of today's terror-filled world where anyone could be a terrorist or the next mall visit could be a mass shooting, "Anything is suspect now." Is it any wonder that anti-depressants and anti-anxiety pills are prescribed in massive doses throughout the United States? I haven't read the 9/11 Commission report and should do so immediately, in order to wrap my head around the fact that could all of the dialogue and scenario portrayed in the film be made up? Do we really know what happened in Shanksville? Did they ever find a flight recorder black-box? I forget. The film's action rose steadily until the bleak ending. Sadly, the events of that horrible day were the stars of the excellent film.
Another film worth watching is the documentary, Knuckleball. In an era where everyone wants certainty and 100 mph speed, the knuckleball is anything but. Throughout the history of Major League Baseball, there have been roughly only 70 to 80 pitchers that have effectively thrown the mysterious pitch. That is an extremely small percentage. They are the outcasts, the nonconformists. The loner on the edge of town. The knuckle-baller sits waiting in the bullpen for his chance to pitch. To fill in. Doing and throwing anything to give his team a chance to win.
The film centers around the careers of Tim Wakefield, who in 1992 became a rookie sensation for the Pittsburgh Pirates as they made their run to the National League Championship series against the Atlanta Braves; the film also focuses upon R.A. Dickey, the knuckle-balling journeyman who had 37 moves in 14 years. It is a pitch that makes their chosen profession the terrifying realization where every start is the first start of their career and could be their last. It takes guts, courage and resilience to follow your dreams. The pitch is like making a deal with the Devil in order to continue playing baseball. Just one more chance, just one more opportunity to remain a kid and keep playing a game.
Finally, in a revelry of nostalgia, I watched the first episode of the television show credited with reviving the drama in the early to mid 1980's. Through the roll call warning of adolescent street punks out picking-pockets, to pimps and whores being dragged into the station, psychos rampaging through the office, and tall brunette breathtakingly beautiful defense attorneys sidestepping the carnival freak show, and all happening within the first ten minutes; there are references to biters, gunshots and hostage takers. The viewer is witness to the inner workings of Hill Street Station, home of the blues; Hill Street Blues. The subliminal message throughout the show's 6 tumultuous seasons' is "learn to love your law enforcers." In Hill Street Blues, every minority is presented in gross stereotype, hustlers and addicts litter the streets; the far right would like you to believe it's representative of our public school system. There are heroin junkies shooting up and shooting cops, stranded in the bad part of town, because someone stole their police car; just everyday occurrences in Hill Street. Swat Teams shoot up the convenience store run by immigrants only to make a statement, and that statement is the underlying racism that pervaded the show; the racism was the blues. Ladies and gentlemen, the best thing to come from the series was the theme song. In the era of Reagan you would have been wise to best get in line and hum along.
