This article won't be popular with most of your readers, but every point you make resonates with me.
We needed more business owners and private citizens to stand up to these mandates. The more prominent the business owner or citizen, the better.
Really, all citizens are not equal. Some have megaphones or followings that might nip injustices in the bud. For example, I always thought Rush Limbaugh had the platform to rail against the futility of starting and continuing "nation-building" wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He could (or might) have made a difference by speaking out and pushing back against W, but he didn't.
Similarly, Trump could have made a difference in this debate even when he was no longer president, but he didn't.
This said, maybe Trump is starting to belatedly see the light. Tucker Carlson is the American pundit/journalist who now has just as much influence as Rush did. It's interesting to me that Carlson has publicly, and repeatedly, admitted he was wrong in supporting these "Interventions." Instead of this hurting his popularity, he's more popular than he ever was.
Anyway, some kind of mea culpa - sincerely expressed - does not guarantee you will become unpopular or even lose support. The same would be true if Trump made some kind of public apology or admitted he was wrong on the lockdowns and non-vaccines ... but I doubt he will. Right now, this is just kind of implied or inferred.
Thanks, Bill. Popularity has never been my compass. :)
Regarding differential influence and responsibility, the idea from Luke 12:48 applies: "To whom much is given, much is required."
Rush and Trump both had/have large megaphones but I am somewhat resistant toward a direct comparison, as Rush never held the highest elected office in the land. When you're ex-POTUS (and will be called President for the rest of your life, no matter what) - and had National Security clearances - you are far above a talk show host not only in terms of position and status but obligation before citizens and God.
Bros with Shows don't take this oath: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
What "light" are you referring to Trump potentially seeing?
The reason Tucker is more popular than ever is similar to the reason people are giving DJT a pass: People are not willing to own their own failure to hold their leaders accountable and cannot yet come to terms psychologically or socially with what they themselves believed and condoned.
IMO Tucker has been very important and influential on numerous taboo topics. However, he needs to do another mea culpa regarding his secret meeting with President Trump where he apparently helped persuade him to lockdown society.
I take your point on the oaths of office that politicians take (oaths military officers also take - see my future story on whistleblower Lt. Col Theresa Long).
But I'm such a cynic I probably no longer have any expectation a politician with a wide following is going to right any major wrongs. It would probably be someone outside of politics with a huge megaphone and true courage.
The politicians will actually always yield to "public opinion." They'll fight the "narrative" of the moment if that narrative has been debunked. And, believe it or not, it's journalists who have the most ability to change bogus narratives. So capturing the Fourth Estate was the key to the entire operation.
Lockdowns were very disheartening in this regard. So many people seemed to not even privately gripe about how their lives had been made contingent on what some government staffers on video calls were going to let them do for the next week.
"We the people" might be our only hope, but I still put the guilt trip on the captured MSM journalism profession.
The mainstream media journalists are not 99.8 percent captured, they are 100-percent captured. I say this because I have not seen ONE journalist at a corporate or mainstream media news organization who ever challenged any of the Fauci/CDC/WHO Covid narratives or protocols.
By my estimate, there might be approximately 40,000 salaried journalists and editors working at these news organizations in America. Of these journalists, zero have written the stories you and I routinely write in the Substack "alternative media." 40,000 out of 40,000 captured = a 100 percent capture rate.
"We the People" would be much more likely to rise up and put pressure on our politicians if "we" simply received some definitive investigative journalism from these "authorized" news sources.
If we want real change here's how it might happen. Don't laugh: The NY Times goes apostate and breaks off from the Pack Journalism Club and exposes how deadly the vaccines are and gives credence to the all-caused mortality spikes we've seen since 2020-2021.
But this alone wouldn't be enough. Another "credible" MSM news organization would have to confirm this reporting with their own reporting ... and then another member of the club would need to do the same thing. (In other words, suddenly, the "pack" starts acting in a pack manner).
So you get, say, "Sixty Minutes," ABC News, The New York Times, Atlanta Chronicle, Chicago Tribune and Time magazine all agreeing this is the scandal of our times. They all break blockbuster stories and scandals that build on the reporting of their rival colleagues.
What would the politicians do if this happened? My answer: They'd rush to hold hearings and bring at least a few liars, key accomplices and criminals to justice (because their constituents would demand this and politicians would benefit from the perception that they "are on the case" ... siding with "we the people."
Ambitious prosecutors would get the green-light to bring cases and so would greedy trial lawyers, who now just sue people for 18-wheeler fatalities and cancers caused by asbestos. Now they would be representing vax injury patients and people who lost their jobs and incomes because they refused to get an experimental injection.
The authorized narrative would have changed ... But it wasn't because of some political rallies a few freedom groups held - it would be because the "watchdog" journalists actually performed their most-important job.
Now this, of course, isn't going to happen. (If it was going to happen, it would have already happened) ... but, still, this IS hypothetically possible.
It's not Trump who could change everything (although maybe he could). It would be a rogue publisher or editor at a big, influential mainstream media news organization.
That's a nice story, but this part is what you think the lede is - not what I think: "how deadly the vaccines are and gives credence to the all-caused mortality spikes we've seen since 2020-2021"
Trump could have taken a middle path of saying little to nothing publicly, but privately helping fund lawsuits, or simply funding billboards and ads that criticized vaccine mandates, etc. Of course, perhaps he did do that, and hasn't disclosed it, but that's not how he seems to be.
All I remember in 2020 in terms of emphatic criticism is a few tweets like "LIBERATE MICHIGAN."
Not a fan of Donald Trump but it's entirely unfair with the relentless swamp attacks he faced for his entire term to heap on NYC policy enacted at the heart of corp power by CIA legacy handmaiden DeBlasio expanded by impossibly dumber Eric Adams.
Hardly anyone stood up the revolutionary book stores & self defined defenders of freedom & rights for decades folded like cheap lawn chairs.. Peoples Forum booted me out of a Free Assange event so please don't lay this on POTUS when the entire ACLU lefty freedom cheerleaders went AWOL.
The article is not about who all is to blame for NYC vax passports. It's about Trump's failure to speak against vax passports (in NYC or anyplace else).
How does he feel about vax passports in general?
Does he think they are lawful/constitutional? Does he think businesses have the right to independently require customers to show vax status?
Trump did vote with his feet by moving his official residence to Florida. It's not relevant to the vaccine mandates, but it's possible that New York's lockdown helped push him out the door.
I think you need to differentiate a BUSINESS operating in NYC and compliance with current "laws" and cut them some slack for keeping their employees working.
The President at the time, had the correct Constitutional mindset that the STATES called the shots (oops, bad word) not the Federal Govt. and his company complied.
HOWEVER- The Elephant in Trump's Room will be recognized and interrogated by Nicole Shanahan. What is noticeably absent in a CTRL F of RFK jr's speech transcript is the word VACCINE.
This article won't be popular with most of your readers, but every point you make resonates with me.
We needed more business owners and private citizens to stand up to these mandates. The more prominent the business owner or citizen, the better.
Really, all citizens are not equal. Some have megaphones or followings that might nip injustices in the bud. For example, I always thought Rush Limbaugh had the platform to rail against the futility of starting and continuing "nation-building" wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He could (or might) have made a difference by speaking out and pushing back against W, but he didn't.
Similarly, Trump could have made a difference in this debate even when he was no longer president, but he didn't.
This said, maybe Trump is starting to belatedly see the light. Tucker Carlson is the American pundit/journalist who now has just as much influence as Rush did. It's interesting to me that Carlson has publicly, and repeatedly, admitted he was wrong in supporting these "Interventions." Instead of this hurting his popularity, he's more popular than he ever was.
Anyway, some kind of mea culpa - sincerely expressed - does not guarantee you will become unpopular or even lose support. The same would be true if Trump made some kind of public apology or admitted he was wrong on the lockdowns and non-vaccines ... but I doubt he will. Right now, this is just kind of implied or inferred.
Thanks, Bill. Popularity has never been my compass. :)
Regarding differential influence and responsibility, the idea from Luke 12:48 applies: "To whom much is given, much is required."
Rush and Trump both had/have large megaphones but I am somewhat resistant toward a direct comparison, as Rush never held the highest elected office in the land. When you're ex-POTUS (and will be called President for the rest of your life, no matter what) - and had National Security clearances - you are far above a talk show host not only in terms of position and status but obligation before citizens and God.
Bros with Shows don't take this oath: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
What "light" are you referring to Trump potentially seeing?
As for Tucker, he has a long way to go, and the part he played in the New York City Pandemic Show was not insignificant. https://x.com/Wood_House76/status/1740231251242647903
The reason Tucker is more popular than ever is similar to the reason people are giving DJT a pass: People are not willing to own their own failure to hold their leaders accountable and cannot yet come to terms psychologically or socially with what they themselves believed and condoned.
IMO Tucker has been very important and influential on numerous taboo topics. However, he needs to do another mea culpa regarding his secret meeting with President Trump where he apparently helped persuade him to lockdown society.
I take your point on the oaths of office that politicians take (oaths military officers also take - see my future story on whistleblower Lt. Col Theresa Long).
But I'm such a cynic I probably no longer have any expectation a politician with a wide following is going to right any major wrongs. It would probably be someone outside of politics with a huge megaphone and true courage.
The politicians will actually always yield to "public opinion." They'll fight the "narrative" of the moment if that narrative has been debunked. And, believe it or not, it's journalists who have the most ability to change bogus narratives. So capturing the Fourth Estate was the key to the entire operation.
I expect little to nothing from politicians and most journalists.
I expect much, much more from We the People.
Lockdowns were very disheartening in this regard. So many people seemed to not even privately gripe about how their lives had been made contingent on what some government staffers on video calls were going to let them do for the next week.
"We the people" might be our only hope, but I still put the guilt trip on the captured MSM journalism profession.
The mainstream media journalists are not 99.8 percent captured, they are 100-percent captured. I say this because I have not seen ONE journalist at a corporate or mainstream media news organization who ever challenged any of the Fauci/CDC/WHO Covid narratives or protocols.
By my estimate, there might be approximately 40,000 salaried journalists and editors working at these news organizations in America. Of these journalists, zero have written the stories you and I routinely write in the Substack "alternative media." 40,000 out of 40,000 captured = a 100 percent capture rate.
"We the People" would be much more likely to rise up and put pressure on our politicians if "we" simply received some definitive investigative journalism from these "authorized" news sources.
If we want real change here's how it might happen. Don't laugh: The NY Times goes apostate and breaks off from the Pack Journalism Club and exposes how deadly the vaccines are and gives credence to the all-caused mortality spikes we've seen since 2020-2021.
But this alone wouldn't be enough. Another "credible" MSM news organization would have to confirm this reporting with their own reporting ... and then another member of the club would need to do the same thing. (In other words, suddenly, the "pack" starts acting in a pack manner).
So you get, say, "Sixty Minutes," ABC News, The New York Times, Atlanta Chronicle, Chicago Tribune and Time magazine all agreeing this is the scandal of our times. They all break blockbuster stories and scandals that build on the reporting of their rival colleagues.
What would the politicians do if this happened? My answer: They'd rush to hold hearings and bring at least a few liars, key accomplices and criminals to justice (because their constituents would demand this and politicians would benefit from the perception that they "are on the case" ... siding with "we the people."
Ambitious prosecutors would get the green-light to bring cases and so would greedy trial lawyers, who now just sue people for 18-wheeler fatalities and cancers caused by asbestos. Now they would be representing vax injury patients and people who lost their jobs and incomes because they refused to get an experimental injection.
The authorized narrative would have changed ... But it wasn't because of some political rallies a few freedom groups held - it would be because the "watchdog" journalists actually performed their most-important job.
Now this, of course, isn't going to happen. (If it was going to happen, it would have already happened) ... but, still, this IS hypothetically possible.
It's not Trump who could change everything (although maybe he could). It would be a rogue publisher or editor at a big, influential mainstream media news organization.
That's a nice story, but this part is what you think the lede is - not what I think: "how deadly the vaccines are and gives credence to the all-caused mortality spikes we've seen since 2020-2021"
:)
But you do think excess all-cause mortality has dramatically spiked across the world since the "vaccines" were rolled out, right?
The "lede" IMO is what really caused this tremendous increase in deaths.
Trump could have taken a middle path of saying little to nothing publicly, but privately helping fund lawsuits, or simply funding billboards and ads that criticized vaccine mandates, etc. Of course, perhaps he did do that, and hasn't disclosed it, but that's not how he seems to be.
All I remember in 2020 in terms of emphatic criticism is a few tweets like "LIBERATE MICHIGAN."
Not a fan of Donald Trump but it's entirely unfair with the relentless swamp attacks he faced for his entire term to heap on NYC policy enacted at the heart of corp power by CIA legacy handmaiden DeBlasio expanded by impossibly dumber Eric Adams.
Hardly anyone stood up the revolutionary book stores & self defined defenders of freedom & rights for decades folded like cheap lawn chairs.. Peoples Forum booted me out of a Free Assange event so please don't lay this on POTUS when the entire ACLU lefty freedom cheerleaders went AWOL.
The article is not about who all is to blame for NYC vax passports. It's about Trump's failure to speak against vax passports (in NYC or anyplace else).
How does he feel about vax passports in general?
Does he think they are lawful/constitutional? Does he think businesses have the right to independently require customers to show vax status?
Trump did vote with his feet by moving his official residence to Florida. It's not relevant to the vaccine mandates, but it's possible that New York's lockdown helped push him out the door.
I think you need to differentiate a BUSINESS operating in NYC and compliance with current "laws" and cut them some slack for keeping their employees working.
The President at the time, had the correct Constitutional mindset that the STATES called the shots (oops, bad word) not the Federal Govt. and his company complied.
HOWEVER- The Elephant in Trump's Room will be recognized and interrogated by Nicole Shanahan. What is noticeably absent in a CTRL F of RFK jr's speech transcript is the word VACCINE.
Did you read the article - including the things I said about myself & family?
Which parts gave you the impression that I cannot empathize with the plight of small business owners?
"President" meaning DJT in 2021?
Do you think it is constitutional for a state to tell businesses they must deny admission to the premises based on vaccine statutus? How so?
A question: how many Republican legislators in Illinois, at the state or federal level, registered objections to vaccine mandates in 2021 and 2022?
In Washington, the only one I know of, without researching the topic, is state Rep. Jim Walsh, who's now chair of the state party.