I was once asked by journalist Lee Smith to stand back, look at the total landscape, give my honest evaluation of the state of things, while defining the largest problem. My answer was immediate and deliberate….
We are living in an era of “Great Pretending.” That’s it. That’s the #1 issue that creates the angst, anxiety and suffering we all encounter. Perhaps a self-defense mechanism, but certainly, a psychological need to pretend things are something other than what they truly are. It’s everywhere, all around us, and it is almost painful to be one of the people amid the chaos who refuses to pretend.
Long after we are gone there will be people, perhaps not yet born, who will look upon this era and define it as this mysterious time when billions of people found it easier to pretend than face the reality of the precipice. It has been said that “ignorance is bliss,” but this is not that. This state of pretending is something far more insidious, far more dangerous, and yet acceptance of this pretending reality provides the stable non-pretending psyche with enhanced predictive insight for what comes next.
You might say those paragraphs sound awfully esoteric in value, somewhat difficult to fully contextualize without a solid frame of reference or example. Well, here’s an example of intentional pretending via CBS today. Catherine Herridge (EoS) knows the truth of the thing, yet she cannot share the truth of the thing; so, she pretends not to know the truth of the thing while softly bumping up against the acceptable pretending of the thing. Just watch the first 2 minutes and you will see it. WATCH:
As the pretending outline existed before, David Weiss could go anywhere he wanted to investigate and prosecute the Biden issue. A least that was the story from the Dept of Justice and even Weiss himself. Yet, for some rather mysterious reason, Weiss needed to ask for special counsel status. It’s all just an exhibition in parseltongue and pretending.
The DOJ is trying to protect the Biden family while simultaneously prosecuting their political opposition, Donald Trump. Toward that end, the special prosecutor against Trump asked for, and received, a secret court order for data from the Twitter account of Trump; their justification, Trump was a flight risk. Now think about that.
A secret, under seal, court order authorized under the justification of President Trump being a flight risk. The most famous man in the world, a man known by everyone on the entire planet earth, a walking human GPS system who literally has armed guards of the U.S. government following him around every day and documenting his every move, is considered a “flight risk”?
What level of pretending is needed to make that judicial justification seem rational? I digress.
As long as the era of great pretending remains the easiest psychological condition to survive the abuse, there will be no shift for people to look at their core beliefs and the fabricated world around them.
The challenge is getting those who understand the big picture dynamics to stop being comfortable and sticking their heads in the sand about “motive”. Most people are still clinging to beliefs around a principle of ‘rule of law’ that applies to national leadership writ large. We need to change that thinking quickly – or we will be left explaining ‘what happened’ far too late.
There is also a major issue with conservative “ushers” guiding the audience into a state of tactical numbness. A willful blindness within part of the American electorate, a chosen refusal to acknowledge the implications of the unAmerican and unconstititional actions we are seeing on a daily basis.
It can no longer be presumed to be a matter of, “I can’t see what’s happening”, because a whole lot of normal Americans really are clean and articulate. “I can’t see it”, just doesn’t cut it.
It’s more along the lines of, “I see what’s happening, but it’s scary and complicated and confusing, and if I admit that I see it, I will become responsible in a way that I am not if I keep pretending; I can’t see it or hear it, or maybe I don’t understand it.”
Why don’t we dare say what is so? Are we a bit afraid that if we give up the willful blindness we will perhaps start screaming and not be able to stop? Do we think we have so little courage? Do we really believe that we have no resources to bring to the battle – or nothing more to contribute to the turning of the battle?
If we stop pretending, we unite as a country, because we all start to accept the same baselines. The fraud, that has been purposefully deployed as a tool for fundamental change, can only exist if people pretend that fraud and corruption does not exist. Stop pretending, and the sunlight of commonality begins to unite our nation.
Believe me, and think about this with great serious reflection, the systems that are destroying us rely upon our continued pretending.
If you want to be a person of great influence in this current era, stop pretending. Start living, speaking, challenging and being direct and brutally honest when you encounter the need for pretending. Stop participating in the pretense, and you will see the natural outcome of a loving God elevate you.
We have the tools, resources and opportunity to speak with great resonance and clarity.
Speak truth!
Speak it loudly!
Speak it with resonance, clarity and great deliberateness.
This is what they fear.
Truth is a weapon against pretending.
Use it!
Watch what happens!
I hope everybody will check out the image accompanying my article today. (Maquis, you’ll love it):
https://markamerica.com/2023/08/13/knowing-when-its-over-kamikaze-candidacy-dies-in-iowa/
Sundance, you’re right about the “great pretending.” It’s what they do.
nice article!
Thanks Michele. Last night, reading Sundance’s coverage, it came to me: Meatball… Kamikaze… Maquis added the notion of the cockpit canopy welded closed. I’m poor at the image creation, but this one I made up best I could.
the image rocked. LOL.
Thank you Michele, you’re very kind given the amateurish quality of my graphics-editing. Did the best I could in short order. Finding an appropriate meatball to replace the Japanese Rising Sun was the hard part…LOL
Nice article and nice graphics!
Maybe they actually told Ron what his job was and his own ambitions took hold in his mind…
Its going to be a long campaign season. We are in need of a true leader…even the swamp needs a true leader, but they can go last on the list of priorities.
Thank you Aggiegirl!
It’s funny how all the pretenders keep on pretending.
It reminds me of a line from Atlas Shrugged(and I may not have it exactly here):
“If you’re willing to pretend you hadn’t heard what I said, what makes you think I’m willing to pretend that I hadn’t said it?”
Nice article, 🙂
And, indeed governor Reynolds messed up bigly.
Thank you Phflipper, I agree wholeheartedly. I think her cringe “Karen” moment combined with her clear support of DeMeatball really will harm her long term. She may not care. None of them seem to mind. Anything to stop Trump.
She is politically astute to know publicly supporting DeSantis is really dumb. Going full “karen” on her own voters, tells me once again, the fix against a president Trump nomination is well coordinated on many levels.
Oh yes, it’s on many levels and in many ways. It’s across all states. My own governor tried to get in on the ballot-trafficking in 2020, but he was stopped by Paxton. You see what they’re doing to him.
All the time they want to take your place
The back stabbers (back stabbers)
(They smilin’ in your face)
All the time, they want to take your place
The back stabbers (back stabbers)
Add Ernst to the mix
Am wondering how many Iowans woke up as to who their governor really is and not who they thought she was.
I also hope they got a dose of reality with Ernst and realize these people need to be replaced.
Iowa is obviously Trump country and these two are not even close to MAGA.
Hopefully plenty. It’s really disgusting. The whole bunch of ’em.
Somebody needs to hit DeSadsack over the head with a clue by four and tell him it’s over. Pull the fork out of his ass and send him back to Florida. Unfortunately for Ron, he might get the same reception in the Sunshine State that he got in Iowa.
Post Ian, Florida needed a steady hand on the wheel, but the governor skedaddled to challenge the MAGA King. Probably one of the dumbest political moves in recent history.
FollowTheMoney, You bet, and the worst catastrophe, not widely known outside Florida, that is going to sink the Kamikaze Candidate is the homeowners’ insurance situation. Everything I’ve read says that they’re one significant storm away from an all-out debacle, and as Governor, he’s not done squat of note on the issue.
Yea but this is one if the many problems no amount of money will fix. How long before the cretins in Club Rino figure it out. Might as well be Mark Runio for God sake. Lol
sept and october – if the high level wind shear and the saharan dust clouds dissipate…the hurricanes will form like a long train, one after the other. This is the expectation. I’m looking at the US, euro and russian models. very difficult this year to make predictions…given there has been no named hurricanes in the atlantic of any signficance…which isn’t just unusual..but seem to indicate the two factors stated above are playing a much larger role than they would ordinarily. The ocean is heated on record…those two factors dissipate as controlling influence over hurricane development and sept and october are going to be a very serious situation with a very high probability of unleashing many hurricanes in a short period of time. Now there are some interesting other factors that come into play also if that should happen. Deep water upwelling from sequential following hurricanes. The first one or two in a given track tend to make the conditions far less for significant force wind speeds…But this element only controls areas and tracks that are “repeated”..so it leaves alot of room so to speak for hurricane development above and below those tracks.
Hopefully, my interpretation is very wrong and this year is going to be a complete bust for hurricane formation. But I would be watching closely the high level shear for changes and low level winds across the sahara to decrease and thus drop the amount of dust entering the region of 40-70,000 feet. It can happen. I just hope those two factors persist…This is probably what most weather nerds are looking at right now. ocean temps are ideal for seriously powerful storms. Those two factors seem to be restricting those storms from rotating. Weird, but that’s how I interpret it.
Around here (NC coast) people are talking about how they jump in the water and it’s really not refreshing because the water is so warm. Praying we get a cold front soon — too many 90 degree days of late!
One suggestion Mark, you need to take a lesson from Sundance and allow your words to be spread far and wide. Not allowing your articles to be copied doesn’t help the cause.
Ron B, Not copied? People copy my articles all the time.
I just tried to copy it and a message comes up saying “you cannot copy content on this page”. I use Firefox.
Same message when using Microsoft Edge.
Ron B, try again. Seems I had an old plugin in operation that MAY have caused issues.
Hey Ron, if you want just the meme:
That was the problem. It copies fine now. Thanks.
No problem! Thanks for saying something!
I copied portions with Brave browser.
Thank you!
Brave print function works for easy *.pdf creation.
Getting rid of the old plugin did the trick.
I believe everything you said in that article. I think DeSantis has been used as a tool to try and oust Trump (if the damn Democrats aren’t successful with all of their indictments). I actually feel kind of bad for the guy because he fell for it. Even FOX put him up on a pedestal. They were all about DeSantis being the nominee, in hopes that Trump would fail or be arrested.
I am 100% a Trump supporter. I believe he truly is the only one who can get this country back on track. MAGA all the way. That being said, I hate the fact that there are Republicans who hate Trump so much, they are willing to sacrifice the reputation of anyone willing to fall in their “Never Trumper” trap. DeSantis fell for it and has even lashed out against Trump with some dishonest rhetoric. He has betrayed the man who got him the governorship. And I think he blew any chance of being Trump’s VP, if Trump had that thought in mind.
In the beginning, I considered DeSantis as a possible second choice for me if Trump is not the nominee. But now that I have had an opportunity to see the true colors of DeSantis while he has been on the campaign trail, I am not very impressed or pleased. I think he should stay in Florida. He’s been a great governor for the state.
My biggest concern is what is going to happen with the 2024 election. Will Trump even be allowed to be the nominee? There are so many things that I do not trust, especially our election process now. The Democrats have changed the process to fit their narrative, so I don’t know if I can ever trust it again.
All your concerns are valid Michelle. We need to be vigilant, but also engaged in the process to the degree we’re able. There’s no doubt but that what Sundance says is true: There are trillions(many) at stake, and these people don’t intend for their grip to be loosened. They’ll burn down the country first.
DeSantis is a fraud, and he’s permitted himself to be a puppet, whether he knew fully or not. Ego entices many people.
Thank you, Mark. 😔🗽
I am sure the “urging forward” comes from “a spouse”….A few weeks ago, Sundance made mention of ‘tiara polishing’—
—IMHO- the battle of the “Jill’s”, be it “Dr.” or “Jill Casey”.
Mr. Desantis needs to get back to Florida and fix Florida’s problems, now, if not yesterday. With a vested interest in Florida, I am deeply disturbed at the lack of leadership, especially related to the insurance industry.
https://www.bankrate.com/insurance/homeowners-insurance/florida-homeowners-insurance-crisis/#crisis
Building where the expectation of hurricane damage every ten years or so means that someone has to pay for the damage. As much as I am sorry that the real cost is now being assesse to the homeowners in danger’s pathway, it is morally and economically the responsibility of those homeowners.
Too bad so many people were encouraged to move to locations for which the cost of ownership is onerous.
TY for sharing your site. I will be visiting often.
Thank you Westpointmomma!
Covid was one huge pretend. And the communists still want to revive it.
They have already started in North Carolina…news reporting increase in Covid hospital admissions, go back to Covid protocals, people starting to wear their brand new masks, masking kids….then, a couple days later…300 cases STATE WIDE in hospital…are you kidding me! Wow, all I can figure is it’s flu season starting up, school is starting up, kids need to wear masks to school, and all because the UNC in Chapel Hill is still doing gain of function experiments….they must have released a new strain to see what it does.
How can it be that they claim hospitalizations due to COVID when it has always been “fact” that each strain becomes weaker. Of course they could be telling people they have COVID when they don’t.
I would like to know what in hell has happened in NC. I was really shocked when it was pointed out how off the rails some schools were and then you have a number of state elected that I was left scratching my head on.
Don’t get me wrong, everyone has a vermin issue, but it was shocking. Had a buddy tell me he sent his kids out if state to college. It was that bad. Had no idea.
People Pretend, to maintain their current American Dream Illusion.
no cnflict with coworkers, bar friends, neighbors, community.
“American Dream” is what corporations tell poor people to make them work harder.
I would post Hank Jr song on the American Dream.
Showing what Chinese children are learning should scare people out of their American Dream Illusion.
HAHAHAHA… EoS = Elf on a Shelf
took me a minute to get that one!
Or Pixie on a Shelf – PoS 🤣
There is an answer to the Great Pretending. It is the answer to many of our current problems. The First Amendment of the Constitution.
Free speech.
then they made Hate Speech. Redefined anything they wanted. and your Free Speech became Hate Speech.
Fired. Shunned. Arrested. Fined.
Speak up anyway, even in prison.
Paul did so.
Many J6ers are doing so.
Put on the whole armor of God and speak the truth.
AMEN!!!
Don’t forget, George HW Bush is the one who came up with hate speech.
And now look how quickly we have come. Now it’s a crime to have, Hate thoughts….
So? Who gives a hoot? We must pray and fight, the best we can!
Sorry buddy but free speech will not get us out of this. The 1st amendment will be decimated before the 2nd amendment, and we are watching it in real time.
The 2nd Amendment is there to protect the other 10 amendments of the Bill of Rights. Notably the 1st. 1st & 2nd, both go hand in hand together in my opinion. Need both to protect one another & the rest of the Bill of Rights.
We shall overcome this onslaught on the US Constitution. Bet on it.
( There are many of us who swore at least once, if not more than once, to uphold & defend the US Constitution against ALL enemies, both Foreign & Domestic.
Many are willing to still uphold that oath… more than folks know.
I don’t recall ever being releived of that duty & oath. I am sure others feel the same way. )
😉
GOD Bless us all~!
“Start living, speaking, challenging and being direct and brutally honest when you encounter the need for pretending.” If we all do nothing more than this we can accomplish great things together. I personally have been doing this more and more, and I believe it has been helping others to be more outspoken.
thats just for the bystanders that are like you to realize they arent alone.
this is all going to end in self defence.
There is some of that WhiteBoard; maybe most of them. Not everyone is a bystander though.
if i heard you standing up for whats right, it would inspire me, and I most likely would never indicate I agreed. Just keep walking on feeling inspired.
Politicians have been pretending for ages, but controlling the message has gotten harder now that the sheer lying has been exposed.
I think he was mostly referring to us citizens…..
“ It’s very scary, complicated, and confusing “. So Is The Gulags that await us.
agreed – so then, do you wish to exit on their terms or YOURS?
You mean the “floating accommodations” moored off Cali and NY?
Lots of pretending and willful blindness in the republican blogosphere. These people have their nests feathered and don’t care about anyone else.
They have no humanity.
“A willful blindness within part of the American electorate, a chosen refusal to acknowledge the implications of the unAmerican and unconstititional actions we are seeing on a daily basis.”
I see are part of that group not only pretending but participating gleefully in that behavior.
Which is why, from where I sit, normal in the USA isn’t going to return, ever.
Not necessarily. Those of us who are awake and willing to stand up when the time comes, can and will do the rebuilding, God willing.
It is a battle of words, minds and voices. A battle we cannot afford to lose. Silence be damned! Full throat ahead!
Well would this mean that OJ Simpson can quit looking for his wife’s killer on every golf course in America?
Watched that trial from beginning to end……Mark Ferman set OJ up….and yes I had to defend my position.
Reynold’s scolding people and Reynold’s fighting off Vivek as he tries to get her to rap. Reynold’s had a very bad day.
no humbleness.
Baby sitting meatball and being mommy to everyone else isn’t a good look.
What struck me about Trump’s lawyer the other day is that he was approaching the case as if his only concern was to defend his client against criminal charges, not accepting that the whole affair is about the narrative, and is purely political in nature. In an honest court, a first year law student could win the case. Why else would Jack want to muzzle Trump? He had no case.
The other great pretending is that the 2020 election fraud has been debunked. It’s in every news story.
That is why a lawyer like Robert Barnes is necessary.
According to Robert Barnes, President Trump’s lawyers are doing a ‘good job’.
He also stated that he is in contact with the Trump lawyers and they are in contact with him.
I follow Barnes daily on locals.com.
Good!
AMEN! He’s a bulldog!
The main objective of the parseltongue crowd is to keep their hands in the till and the sheeple under control.
And thus has it always been down through history.
I believe there are millions who see what is happening but who, as it doesn’t affect them directly, feel safe from the burning coals being heaped upon the heads of others by the jackbooted thugs of the regime which has no care for anything except their own power and wealth.
These somnambulant millions see all right. But lacking critical thinking skills they haven’t followed the road we’ve been placed on to its intended destination…which creeps ever closer day by day.
Yes, all that’s happening is beyond any nightmare we could imagine in 2016 when President Trump took a detour from that road. But we’re here now, and all of us, even those who believe they can forever remain untouched by the hideous forces arrayed against us, will know what that means one day if tyrannical lunatics are not routed.
The first lesson in life..
Don’t think it can’t happen to you.
Amen to that!
hear hear!
Excellent 💯 Betsy jones
” These somnambulant millions see all right” 👀
👉 “The Great Pretending”- “Take Sominex tonight” get your restful sleep, sleep sleep…👈👈
Good afternoon, Joel. It has been ages since we’ve seen you. I do pray you are well, dear sir.
👉Knowing my dear sister via this site I am as you are in Christ, “seated in the heavenlies”, “accepted in the Beloved” and “fighting the good fight of faith” here in our brief sojourn as “sojouners, aliens, strangers, pilgrims, soldiers,farmers, fishermen and Ambassadors for Christ.”👈
In other words you are in the best Hands possible, and I am so glad to hear it.
You are not alone. Everyone in the Tree is along side you🙏🏻
Thank you the best smile I’ve had today, Joel. Blessings as always B
Being “sojouners” here was one of the great life lessons my dad taught me.
He had me inscribe
“Gone Home” on his headstone marking his date of death.
Oh my heart….🙏🏻
Copy that 👌 👍 dear brother and fellow warrior 💪.
I was wondering the other days if the protestants are alarmed at the FBI surveilling Catholics. It’s coming. We need to be unified.
Catholics were first.
Only someone who is not familiar with
Martin Niemöller’s famous words would think Protestants won’t follow.
From what I’ve observed, however, about the appalling knee bending by too many of these churches…not to God the Father but to despotic government apparatchiks during the covid years, then after to the ungodly, repugnant apostasies…I’m not sure at all if what was done to Catholics would bother them in the least when the forces of Sauron turn its eye onto them.
Yes we are. And no you are not alone in this.
My comment to the ministers at the beginning of the Covid shut downs which is part of the goal is to drive people away from churches and put the ministers allegations and I don’t think they understood that
They understood all right – they were simply too cowardly to stand up.
But, those FBI/government idiots apparently don’t know history, long-time history.
We Catholics have a very old phrase (from the 2nd century) that goes, “…the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
It has always been that way, and will continue to be. We must always be faithful to Christ and His Church to weather this coming storm.
Oh, explicative, yes! We are all be surveilled and most of it is 24/7. Our devices tell tales. I am in shock that the government has attacked Catholics for practicing their faith. That little letter the FBI from multiple states sent around to target parents was also an eye opener. They are after all of us, no question in my mind.
To Lolly,
👉Same letter ✉️ for antiConstitutional governments against parents standing 🧍♂️🧍♀️ against perverted and corrupt school boards and tax supported propaganda education systems 👈.
🤔These tyrannical antiConstitutional fiends 😈 rearrange and substitute the names to attack whatever group or people who are under attack from the antiConstitutional “enemies foreign and domestic”.
I was a former ELCA Lutheran and the church was repeating the gov COVID messaging, it now loves gays more than others and has decided Jesus is too much like John Wayne in Sunday School. Oh, and the gov gave almost a million to the individual church-Ppp money for a none taxpaying organization. Now, the larger ELCA is helping to facilitate open borders and gets big money for “ taking care of the border crossers.”
The truth is, many Protestant groups are already on board with what the government wants they just prefer carrots to sticks.
Excellent points.
Also, leaving a church that has turned away is painful despite being the right thing to do. For many, the grieving process is a long one.
Let’s not forget, it was Protestant churches being prosecuted during Covid. Most notable be John McCarthur’s church in SOCAL. Another in Canada with charges still pending, he’s looking at 10 years.
Word…
While there are likely millions who know about the great pretending, those millions have looked to one man to direct their actions. PDT is the single greatest US leader in the last 40 years. The evil behind the destruction of America know if they’re somehow able to cut the head off their opposition, their great pretending can probably go on uninterrupted. The great pretending stops when those millions look inward for actions to be taken against the evil that is currently executing the destruction of America. We truly are standing at the abyss.
If that is accomplished, I guarantee it will only make us stronger and more resilient. I truly believe this.
We’re going nowhere, and more fool them for thinking otherwise.
I agree Betsy, I agree!
They seem to think they have the power to make it otherwise, Guest. Imagine the hubris!
It is happening as we read this. Inflation, or the price of gas, utilities, groceries, baby formula, or any other essential we need in daily life equals the boot on our throats to feel the pressure to breathe. Add chaos to society, racial hatred, trans gender issues, and the media controlling the narrative and that leaves a divided society that has become simple to manage and control.
This is what we are living within now.
You would think, wouldn’t you, that the pressure which is systematically being increased every day would shake the wool out of the heads of those who were so glad to see the coup succeed…because Trump.
Yesterday I was remembering someone who posted two years ago that a friend of his said he didn’t care how high gas prices went. He was more than happy to pay it if it meant President Trump was out of office. I wonder what that poor deluded, hate filled man thinks now.
If I remember correctly this friend lived in a dark blue city.
I wonder also if this man feels safe any more. If as the economy continues to tank he still has a job. If as a result of the covid years he was forced to get injected to keep that job; and if so, has his health been destroyed.
Etc.
How many others like this friend are suddenly realizing the errors in their thinking as the screws are tightened.
Of course there is no way to know…but I bet there are more out there than we can imagine who can’t live their best lives because of what…not who…sits in the WH and the ones pulling the strings. And have had well enough.
We can only pray so.
🤔Betsy jones, remember
the book, The Last Battle, from The Chronicles of Narnia series ??
👉Some of the reactions from our hate-filled fellow citizens reminds me of the “Black Dwarves” so filled with hate they were against everyone to the point of killing natural allies and they were suicidal and deluded by their own hatred for the good.😈☠️👈.
I must revisit those wonderful books.
“It’s for the Common Good” is the cry of tyrants throughout history.
👉Betsy jones, I also compare, The Last Battle, from The Chronicles of Narnia series with, That Hideous Strength(the final in the 3 book series), also from Clive Staples 3 book so-called Science fiction series. 👈
Both books 📚 from the different series are still contemporary with our current political, religious (etcetera) potpourri in this present evil 😈 age.
CS Lewis wrote thoughtful books. I believe he would be surprised were he alive today of the resurgence in the interest in his writings. He was a great good friend, as you know, of JRR Tolkein, whom he credited with reviving his Christian spirit. A perfect fit for friends.
I have his slim tome “A Grief Observed” on my bookshelves. Probably his most hopeful one, and one which anyone who has lost someone dear to them should read.
No. Look to God. Christ said, the meek will inherit the earth.
It is difficult, but Our Father KNOWS what we NEED (not what we want); the difficult part is doing our best then letting go, and trusting Our Father.
I said it in January 2021 and I’ll say it again today: we no longer have to believe the lie.
The epic over the top response of the Government Party proves that the 2020 election was a fraud. The scale of these absurd indictments tells you the election was a fraud and they are absolutely terrified that Trump will get into power and start taking heads.
Up next: GA. Epicenter on the 2020 election fraud.
Hokkoda: It’s not PDJT of whom they are afraid. They are afraid of the millions of people who are done pretending.
Both, actually…
At this point in history, sans PDJT do we have a voice? It’s an unavoidable truth we do not and until such time that changes, leverage it.
Amen to that!! Preach it brother!!
Some (If not most) people are very comfortable living in the MATRIX.
Sad, isn’t it Don? I mean, how do they do it? I just can’t lie to myself that way.
How do they do it? Bread and circuses. It’s a story as old as humanity.
Narrow is the gate which leads to salvation.
Their are good people and bad people that walk the earth.
Remember during O’s term that PSA they did with the fictional character “Julia,” who had every part of her life, from birth onward, touched in some way by government? I believe there are millions out there like that. Life can be difficult sometimes. Messy, complicated. It’s much easier when you have someone else making the big decisions, and all you have to do is what you’re told. It has the added benefit of removing all accountability and responsibility for one’s own actions. It was someone else’s decision, therefore it’s someone else’s fault. “I’m a victim!”
I remember that with disdain. SPIT!!!
When I’m not on Twitter, which is a bad habit, I admit, I’m a true crime fan. Was watching a show on ID about the infamous Richard Speck murder case in 1966. He walked in an apartment building and knocked on the door of a unit shared by 8 nursing students. A student let him. He proceeded to slaughter all but one of the nursing students. How could he kill 8 young healthy women when they could’ve joined forces , tackled him,ran out in the hall screaming for help. They were all in denial that something was wrong until it was too late. They thought all he wanted was to rob them. Only one student survived, a young Filipino immigrant who recognized his type from the back country of the Philippines. She hid under the bed. He killed so many he lost count and left. She was able to identify him. Something about the human condition is comforted by pretending rather than facing reality. It’s also very hard being one of the only ones not pretending.
I was talking with a friend outside a grocery store one evening. A man came rushing toward us waving a shiny hammer all over the place and saying he needed help with his car. I said, loudly, to buy a little time and figure out what was going on: “Hold it! I see you’re waving around a hammer and I don’t know you. If you need help with your car, go inside — ask the store manager.” So he went away. Perhaps it was nothing. What surprised me was my friend just stayed with her back partly turned to him and didn’t move into a more favorable position to keep an eye on this person.
Some people just assume the world is safe. I think I’m careful, but perhaps I need to increase my situational awareness.
Get off of twitter.
I remember that.
In the words of Paula Cole ” where have all the cowboys gone”
Robert Costa used to be “conservative” until he found a higher paying position.
That’s only true if you consider National Review to be a real conservative site these days.
When a president takes conservative positions, yet a site still trashes him and votes for the Democrat as in 2016, one has to wonder.
That quote from Mussolini that I posted the other day after he had lavishly bribed a rival to step aside: “2 things you can do with a bad tooth – pull it out or fill it with gold .” might be applicable here , maybe Robert should say “ahh…” .
Ruby Ridge- Waco and the list goes on.
Barr says Ruby Ridge was a “ constitutional “ kill.
Who did the government just “ constitutional “ kill in his house and then drag his bloody body out in the streets for everyone to see.
Let that old man bleed out in the street as a warning to anyone on the right and as a trophy for the government.
The government couldn’t just sit and watch this guy.
Government always go after the right and let the left burn the country down.
Maybe the right is bad or maybe the government just pretends that the right is bad.
Either way people are dead and the dead aren’t pretending.
I always knew that the RICO statutes would be used against Trump.
It’s all in Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals.
When Rudy was highly involved, many people, including those who know Rudy well, spoke of going after the FBI henchmen with the RICO statutes, and I said to myself, “Hey, they always do to Trump and their enemies what they fear will be done to them. The difference is, we have the evidence but no justice system will hear the evidence. They have nothing in the way of evidence so they make it up with a pretend somber face while they present it to corrupt judges on their side.”
And here we are.
Our enemies are the GOP, the judicial system, the Dems, and not apathy, but a feeling of “We don’t have the weapons to use the system. They do.”
Oh, and the other big enemy, the press. (Goes w/out saying).
Press? What press?
I’ve found it somewhat humorous when the talking heads refer to President Trump. They immediately stop and correct their selves,with; FORMER President Trump. They emphasize the FORMER. This is not done with Clinton,Bush,Carter,etc.😖
Rich people north of Richmond
LOVE THAT SONG!!! People, world-wide, love that song, and identify with the honesty of it! Talk about not pretending!!!
I suspect those rich men north of Richmond (and that includes NY as well as DC, among other places) are more than a bit nervous.
IMO, the “Great Pretending” is a result of decades of professional, massive, institutional mind conditioning (propaganda/PSYOPS).
Why?
Think about how hard it is for most people to admit when they’ve been fooled by another person and when confronted with the Truth refuse to believe it rather than admit they’ve been fooled.
Expand that analogy to institutions you were raised and expected to somewhat be trusted suddenly having the veil pulled back to what we’re now experiencing. Lives of happiness and joy destroyed in an instant.
For a few enraged on this site , I suspect a much more higher than normal percentage population wise, it is different.
For me, believing and knowing what I do and have for decades, quite frankly it is relieving.
However, the price to my psychological, emotional and mental health and the ruined to negatively impacted relationships that I’ve had my entire adult life has cost me.
Or has it?
We have lost our Compass-
“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”
if one thing is clear from hanging out on this site off and on for a few years now… its that each of us comes to stop pretending in our own time and our own way. I grew up with a lot of respect for some of those same institutions you mention… and it is hard to force yourself to see through some of my own pretending and the presumptions and propaganda that, in some cases, we were practically born with – from well-meaning families.
i have been comparing it lately to the grieving process: some of us are sad and resigned, some enraged, some resolved and committed to this or that, some trying to bargain, and so on…. and perhaps it is grieving the loss of the republic which gave us all so much.
and yes, it is sometimes tough and lonely, agreed.
seems there is indeed a family wake going on in the back room. but, we have enlisted in God’s army, and, are singing Onward Christian Soldiers in spite of it.
Blast from the past…
The Great Pretending – Denial of Truth Allows Easier Trespass – The Last Refuge (theconservativetreehouse.com)
The great Pretender, the Platters
The great pretending!
Seems to me that started with Adam&Eve. As it was then so it is today. We pretend, we can do it without God. We can’t! And that goes for all the demonic souls running around this earth. Since God created life who better to listen to on how to run (govern) life.
Its looking like humans are now only good for one thing creating chaos and then talking about its ramification on the humans that live on this planet. Do you think when the Christ is running this planet we will be sitting around talking about the ramifications of that event?
The mainstream press are hopping on that big story in Marion, KS. Theme: Abusing the press.
Police chief conducted a raid on a local paper and the owner’s home that was sitting on a story about a local restauranteur (paper was waiting until they could verify facts, so the article wasn’t even published). But the paper’s owner said they had been investigating the police chief and thinks that’s the real tie-in. Tragic postscript, the owner’s 98-year-old mother (who co-owned the paper) was present during the home raid and, after the trauma, died.
Marion’s mayor is Republican, so they’ll make hay of that.
home wasn’t sitting on the story, but you know what I was getting at
I read that story earlier today. The death of a 98 year old women during a police raid is an abomination. I’m sure they were aware of the occupant and her age.
Marion KS. Population 1,891. Come on. This stinks…
Merrick Garland appointed David Weiss special counsel to silo the DOJ misconduct in this case. Weiss attempted to give Hunter a permanent “Get Out Of Jail Free” card to protect Joe behind a firewall of immunity, cutting off all lines of investigation that could lead back to him.
Clearly this is rank corruption, AG Garland and US Atty. Weiss playing defense for Joe Biden. Even Eric Holder would blush at the brazenness of it.
I just wonder whether someday some special prosecutor appointed from outside the Department will be able to go after Garland, Monaco, Weiss, Wray, and others for obstruction of justice in (1) stalling on the tax charges until the statute of limitations ran out, (2) not giving Weiss permission to go to other jurisdictions (which Weiss apparently was OK with, because he was in on it), and (3) lying to Congress about the whole deal. I know the answer is no, but still a man can dream.
The American tradition has long been “gentlemen don’t prosecute other gentlemen.” That all changed with Barack Obama, who not only opened criminal investigations into the previous administration; he conducted a coup against his successor which continues to this very day.
So yes,in the past membership in the Big Club meant there wouldn’t be any consequences beyond minor embarrassment . But Barack Obama smashed that tradition into a million pieces and scattered them to the wind.
Hussein is no gentleman
Precisely my point. Barack Obama is something unique in American history: A genuine enemy of the United States who seeded the cancer of totalitarianism into the body of our republic. He stands alone, an even greater traitor than Benedict Arnold.
But, are they really qualified to do this? Bribem is NOT our American president!!! There was a coup, and it is continuing and ongoing!!! MANY people, at all levels, have been participating in this BS since Zero and Big Mike got in, with the help of, “con”gress!!!
There comes a point, when all peaceful avenues of change are foreclosed, that the people will have no other options. And when THAT day comes, the people in government will find out what a real insurrection looks like.
But we aren’t there yet. Not even close.
Hence the abject terror in both sides of the DC establishment going into 2024. There is a real possibility Trump will win.
Here’s why the MIC despises PDJT
Western defense industry expected to make over $400 BILLION IN SALES by end of the year amid ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
War Is A Racket by Major General Smedley Butler, USMC.
I just think using the word pretending is weak. It lets them off easy when in fact they are frauds, liars and are complicit in much of what is happening.
The reality is these so called pretenders are flat out lying to the American public every day. They know EXACTLY what is going on. They are part of it and many have participated in developing this strategy to destroy and our Constitution.
They are not pretenders, they are criminals!
The sooner 200M Americans start to call out these frauds for their lies and crimes the better.
Good point Bogey!
Most of the media on both sides are feeding the same narrative. If they can’t try to scare the hell out of us, they won’t get readers.
We have forgot to think for ourselves, somebody is putting a necklace around our neck, telling us how nice it looks,
And we never look in the mirror and see what the stranger did, a noose tightening around our neck.
There are no sides. They are ALL on the same side. Its an illusion of choice.
That whole “Flight Risk” thing is old as the hills. I have watched vindictive AUSAs claim that in magistrate bond hearings over and over in the last 25 years. It’s a revenge mechanism and has nothing to do with “loosing” their prisoner.
We get one life, and within that life one should always strive for honesty, and the betterment of self and others. Above all salary, and inducements, one should strive for those two things above all else. Without honesty, and a willingness to help, you are already in hell. She doesn’t need the job, profile, or salary, and yet still she chooses to lie. Enjoy hell, Catherine.
Are they protecting Biden? Or are they protecting themselves by protecting someone they have so much dirt on he will not cross them?
I think too many are just protecting the system. They are part of the system and if it goes down they fear going with it. It is self preservation as much as anything else.
Embrace the power of “and.”
Indeed. In a time of general lying, truth telling is a revolutionary act.
People like their bliss,and they have a stranglehold on it .
More cowardess, pathological mindless jebajaber. Enough prima facie evidence for probably cause, time indicate and go to trial.
In November of 2020, I experienced a death —much like the death of a close family member. I haven’t been the same since that November 3rd night when I realized that my voice—my vote—-no longer counted.
In the two months that followed, I had to face blow after blow in finding out that there were no judges or institutions who would even look at the fraud much less help remedy the problems. On top of this, I watched people who shared my concerns be arrested for insurrection while the MSM called them “domestic terrorists.”
I am 100% red pilled but that 2020 election pill really did hurt me. It depressed me and altered some of my longest held beliefs. It was a very scary process which still makes me feel so helpless and angry and sad. I literally mourn the loss of the faith and hope I used to have.
We were never supposed to have faith in leaders or government, though. Our founding fathers warned us about the very corruption we are witnessing today.
People pretend to be ignorant so they can avoid unwanted emotions. They will keep pretending until it becomes personally inconvenient, painful, or dangerous. The only way the other half of the populace will swallow the red pill is through forced reality. For many folks, COVID was a red pill. For those who weren’t hurt by the COVID scam, it will take something worse.
Imagine a society or just a situation where stupidity and willful ignorance isn’t comfortable or rewarded. That’s when we will see change.
Just my opinion.
.
Well, the Supreme Court recently ruled against Affirmative Action, so there’s that ‘reward’ component being squashed.
That ‘comfortable’ part, though, is going to be tough — what with the low expectations of what ‘comfort’ means . . .
The federal reserve note (aka the, “dollar”) and our economy crashing might just do it, painful though it may be. And, if we could get back to a gold-backed currency it would GREATLY help in curtailing corruption.
I think SD has already posted ” The final straw “, that will get people to wake up.
He said, the absence of food, of the ability to feed your family, is when the silent majority will stand up and enough will be enough. He has said this more than once.
We arent there. Yet……
Basically, we are three meals away from the collapse of civilization.
I would venture to assume that most Americans paying attention to what was going on in 2020 know there was no attempt to “overthrow the results of an election”. Most people were simply screaming for the legal authorities to investigate the IN OUR FACES, actual FRAUD going on that we saw for ourselves in our various sources of news outside of the state propaganda MSM. You may recall that GA was where in one vote counting center, they lied about a plumbing leak as a ruse to clear everyone out so they could commit their illegal activities. Most here have undoubtedly seen the video of the boxes of ballots being taken out from hiding places under the tables after the “vote counters” had cleared the area, stating they were closed for the night, and proceeding to feed ballots to the machines. Multiple eye witnesses created affidavits of the illegal irregularities they saw and gave video testimony, which the public was privy to. Citizens shot video of suspicious unmarked vans delivering loads of ballot boxes in the middle of the night. Without exception, all US courts turned up their noses and refused to look into any of this obvious fraud. Worst of all, was the Supreme Court who said they didn’t have “standing” to look into this.
Besides all of the crooks involved in actually carrying out the election fraud crimes, these courts are the people who are chiefly responsible for destroying our country and why we are where we are today. Let that be a marker to The Great Pretending” that allowed the Coup D’Etat to install the demented shell of an old pervert, puppet and Fool, Joe Biden, and why DC is now being controlled by a crime syndicate that has become so emboldened that they don’t even bother to hide their criminal activity anymore.
I Think what people forget is how small of an area and population the 13 colonies were . . I live between Cleveland Ohio and Erie PA on the Lake Erie shoreline. Throw in Pittsburgh and you have in the general area I believe about the population of the 13 colonies give or take . I’m a fifty something male with outdoor skills and weapons. I could fight to a certain point. But , where do I start ? When do I start? What’s my target ? Specifically? How do I know who’s on my team? How do you? The colonists fought a specific target . ( for that matter so did the Civil War soldiers ) who’s the enemy ? FBI ? CIA? Immigrants? Fighting age immigrants supplied with weapons? We’re surrounded by enemies we can’t see . I’m afraid I’ll have to fight a ( psycho) liberal friend of mine who accepts everything that’s happening because ” Trump just isn’t a good person ”
I’ll fight to the death to protect my family , my home, my community and my country , savagely if need be .
I’m not pretending . I know there are many, many patriots out there just like me living in the real world . Give us a target — when and where — We are not pretending . We are living in the real world the best we can .
We will be ready when the time comes and the enemy comes .
I’ve never seen An FBI or CIA agent in my life . This whole fight and only fight is about the deep state . The only way to win this fight is drain the swamp . Something I’m not even remotely capable of attempting. That’s why President Trump is our only hope of winning this country back without bloodshed. It will be too late if it comes to that anyway .
Pretending? Hell no !
Just being realistic This is the hand we’ve been dealt . Keep living your life and enjoying your family . The best reality we have .
.
I have met FBI agents.
While they may recoil at what is happening in our government, the thought that they may lose their pension/retirement if they do anything about what they know is the noose around their neck . . .
Pension? ROFLOL! With THIS economy? They’d be better off avoiding a real noose, imho!
I don’t think anyone here is proposing to “fight” anyone. But you identified the enemy. It’s the Deep State. “Draining the Swamp” only exposes what lurks underneath the murky water. President Trump promised to do that and he is still successfully doing it! In actuality, exposure is deadly to most swamp creatures. But since we have no justice system or media to make those creatures accountable, exposure isn’t as effective.
I live in the south Louisiana swamps. If you want to get rid of swamp creatures (alligators, etc.), you destroy their habitat. Fill up that swamp with dirt and rocks and build levees that divert water away from it. Make the swamp monsters go elsewhere.
Congress is the only institution with the power to do this. We need term limits. We need to get rid of Rinos. We need MAGA candidates to control both houses. But we can’t do any of the above if our elections are rigged.
Jeff,
Here is the battle plan: https://www.biblegateway.com/
Here is a story from the Bible about my commander Jesus Christ the King. https://www.bhpublishinggroup.com/qrpage/humpty-dumpty/
And pray and turn back to God!
Well said Jeff. I’m with you 100% right here in the 1st suburb outside Cleveland. As much as I love The Good Lord and pray every day for it to rain for 40 days & 40 nights, I’m afraid it comes down to civil war if the bloody POS’s as much as touch our GREAT Pres Donald J Trump.
I’ve spent 70 + years here on this great earth & it’s time to “Put up or ????????? Fill in the blank
God Bless, Stay Frosty
Well since we are going to stop pretending and speak the truth….how about we stop pretending that the “Republicans” are a real political party and just call them dirty rotten sniveling scumbag lying greedy whores of the DNC? Yeah I guess I’m done pretending they are what they arnt.
But they are a political party! That is what a political party IS. A group of elitists and arrivistes organized to grab and hold power and wealth over and from the plebeian masses. The ideologies and political “positions” are just window-dressing to scam said masses.
Mike, THAT is an insult to the ladies of the evening, imho.
😏“Equivalent”🙄
Bidens’s deeds
ARE
-really-
c r I m I n a l.
President Trump’s
deeds and words
we’re & are legal.
– there’s that manufactured
pattern
again
I think one reason why people pretend is because for them to face reality, they have to acknowledge that America has fallen.
When people are willing to face this fact (and have sufficiently grieved over it), they are then ready to address these two interrelated questions: “Why did this happen?” and “What should we do about it”?
Yes. There are three stages of analyzing a problem and finding solutions.
1)What? (ie what is wrong?)
2) So what? (what does it matter?)
3) Now what?(given the answers to 1 and 2, what are solutions?)
The vast majority of the
US population is not even at stage 1 yet.
KoY: America hasn’t fallen yet but I guarantee you we’re “listing” HARD to “port” (That’s left for ye landlubbers)
Tis time to man the cannons & set ourselves FREE !!!
GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH SAID A FAMOUS PATRIOT
In the end, reality wins. But the Soviet Union managed to last for 80 years based on a ridiculous economic theory. We need to understand that we’re in this for the long haul on many levels and one election isn’t going to fix it.
Looking back, it is very possible that the US and England economically supported the Soviet Union in ways that prolonged what might have been 40 years to 80 years. It was Ronald Reagan who cut off the back door, unpublicized loans and trade deals. Once those went, the rest followed quickly.
Maybe much of the Cold War was just the equivalent of Vietnam or Afghanistan or Ukraine? An endless, very profitable grift where the bankers could have pulled the plug on the whole thing at any time?
Then, when the Berlin Wall fell, Plan B was Soros, economic destruction of Russia, and oligarch puppets hoovering up assets from the ravages.
Somehow, Russia has pulled itself out of the ashes and away from the bankers. I would be very curious to see a real history of how they did it.
Hey Herridge, you need to start pretending not to know things, or I wont pretend that your out of a job. Got it?
~ cbs
I had someone on the Treehouse “pretend” to one of my posts about pets “possibly” getting cancer from their Branch Covidian humans. They said “cancer” was natural, there Vet told them!
I would think it all takes place at a subconscious level where our primitive self sees only risk and no benefit to acknowledging the truth.
The analogy that Sundance uses of the battered wife is so very apt.
And indeed the very act of acknowledging the truth does put us at risk. But that is also the only way we may become free.
Another analogy is that of Salvation. It is only when we refuse to pretend anymore that we are all right and good enough that we can accept Christ’s righteousness in our stead.
The way I see it, is pretty simple stuff.
Acknowledging the very truth, about how far the world has fallen, would require everyone to get off of their behinds, and sacrifice life, limb and wealth/future, to achieve the desired outcome.
Not enough are willing to do that, at this time. The wide majority can still feed themselves and their family’s, are still gainfully employed, their money can still buy the things they need, to be comfortable.
The absence of food, is the part, where people start getting pissed off. Hungry people are not known to be quiet or afraid.
I repeat, we are just not there yet, for the largest number of people.
The absence of basis foodstuffs will be the game changing moment. Or perhaps when the money they have, cant buy anything, because the dollar is worth squat.
Either way, we shall see what happens, whether we like or or do not. There are not enough people with a beehive in their bonnets, to stand up, and rid ourselves of these thieving, conniving, soulless demons….
Im convinced that will happen at some point. Here’s to hoping! Im getting up there in my years now, survived stage 4 cancer, and I damn well hope to see these criminals taken down some notches, and given what they are due, for all the suffering they have caused.
I pray to the Almighty, to deliver justice for us all!
” the systems that are destroying us rely upon our continued pretending.”
Now think about George Washington and the bravery he and the men demonstrated when the ‘globalist’ of his time kept taking their liberties.
Pretending makes me nauseous. Dont know how some of you manage it so well.
Actually , could only watch her for about 2 or so minutes , she had such an eye twitch every-time she went over a pretending speed bump – a real tell , but it was getting annoying seeing her eye twitch so much …
Dont kid yourself. Most of us dont really manage it well.
Most folks just dont say it……
Once the words of frustration start flowing, at times, there is no off switch.
You arent alone Mass. I hope you really truly understand that.