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The lawless, punishment-less, rent-sucking mess that the USA has become is surreal. One more election or two and I suspect this country is done.

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I think we should consider who is behind the whistle blower, and where the actual power lies. From what I've read, the whistle blower is working with the support of and in the interests of the politically powerful to coopt Facebooks immense power over discourse for themselves through public browbeating. Here's a couple of stories on this: https://thegrayzone.com/2021/10/21/facebook-whistleblower-frances-haugen-us-intelligence/

https://greenwald.substack.com/p/democrats-and-media-do-not-want-to

Curtis Yarvin made this point more theoretically earlier this year, before the current whistle blower revelations in a post titled Big tech has no power at all: https://graymirror.substack.com/p/big-tech-has-no-power-at-all

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Treat 'em like they're mobsters, and do it on a local level. My personal experience is NYC...

Grab Sheryl Sandberg off the street in NYC next time she's in town w/ a sealed indictment on a Fri afternoon at about 1:00 PM. By the time she's processed, the courts are closed. Lodge overnight Fri/Sat in a precinct, and then on Saturday put her in Rikers for the weekend.

She'll have found Jesus by Monday.

Then, just cut her loose. Oopsie!

Make public statements mea-culping all over the place, whilst also thanking her for her 'candid and helpful' statements.

Rinse and repeat in the C suite for the next week.

Then grab Zuck in Cali. Full press takedown like they did to Roger Stone. (I like the idea of taking him at the office, TBH instead of in the middle of the night at home).

My point?

Throw the fear of God into 'em, and ask, what'll you do to make me stop?

*****

Sure it's a fantasy, but I enjoyed writing the above, and you didn't mind reading it, did ya?

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“ The political dynamics in the 1940s were very different than they are today. Arnold was dealing with American firms in illegal arrangements to divide up global markets with firms from Nazi Germany, often facilitating Germany’s military gains and weakening American industrial capacity. “We had an industry dominated by cartels before the war,” he told Congress, pointing at cartels that worked with German companies involving America’s most prominent firms, like Standard Oil of New Jersey. “Indictments must go out to make that sort of thing hazardous.”

Is it really that different in terms of the relationship between monopolistic firms and authoritarian regimes? I mean, Nike and Apple are all too happy to use slave labor to build their products while padding the coffers of the Chinese Communist Party. I’m sure plenty of that profit is getting turned into weapons that are tailor-built to destroy the military of the nation in which these firms were founded.

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Just wanted to leave this thought here. I have a pretty strong belief that Blackrock is pushing hard for ESG so they can use their Aladdin system to become the de facto standard (monopoly) for the ESG ratings that will be used in investment decisions (similar to S&P or Moody's ratings for bonds). By doing this they will edge out the Bloomberg terminal. Why is this so dangerous? If this gets implemented, Blackrock will be able to set the cost of capital for all industries. Talk about monopoly power.

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I do like the honesty in the new name. "Meta" just so happens to be the kind of data Facebook is taking from their customers and selling to corporate advertisers and the feds.

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An excellent post. I will say about the 2008 financial crisis: no one was indicted for the simple reason that they were carrying out policies strong backed by Congress and three administrations (Bush Sr., Clinton, and Bush, Jr.), and certain Congresscritters and their staff benefitted thereby, by special deals and jobs at Fannie and Freddie.

Draw the contrast with the savings & loan bust of the early 1990s, which had its roots (like so much that has gone wrong with American economy since the 1960s) in the Great Inflation of the 1970s. About 1200 people were indicted, with about 600 or 800 of the cases sticking and leading to real punishments. The difference is that the S&L debacle was the *unintentional* result of bad Congressional policy and the background of the high inflation that ended in 1982-90. People in Congress were lobbied by the S&L industry. But once they found out about the results and the criminal behavior, they reacted accordingly, like the late Senator McCain barring Charles Keating from his office.

The housing bubble was a concoction of Bush Sr. and Clinton officials, the Fed, and all those Congresspeople captured by Fannie and Freddie. It went through one cycle in the isolated subprime market in the 1990s, then moved outward to the prime mortgage market in the 2000s. A number of them (like Barnie Frank and Chris Dodd) personally benefitted from it, and both Fs were a reliable source of patronage and jobs until the crisis started in 2007. Then just look at the Clinton and Obama jokers who directly made it possible and made careers and mounds of money on it, even in the ruins of 2008 (Rubin and his protoges, like Tim Geithner and Jack Lew, and many others).

Anyway, that's why, prosecutions in the early 90s for the S&L crimes, and no prosecutions for what led up to the 2008 crisis.

Matt, I want to thank you for being outspoken in opposing the policy ideas of Frances Haugen. Facebook's monopoly doesn't need to be nationalized; it needs to be ended by being broken up. This is a dangerous moment, trying to turn social media into a Ministry of Truth-style government-controlled megaphone. If you want to see a January 6th riot again, on a much larger scale, just try it -- it could turn into a real insurrection, not just a civil disturbance. Amy Klobuchar has the right idea. Consent decrees have forced divestitures and restructurings many times in the past. Why can't they now? It was a pretty vigorous area until the late 1990s, but went to sleep until the last two years of the Trump presidency.

However, you must keep in mind the degree to which the Democrats and their upper class gentry funders are still very much captured by the social class that swoons at the feet of Cheryl Sandberg and views Jeff Bezos in messianic terms for saving the Washington Post and turning it into a reliably "woke" outlet. Among other factors, this makes me skeptical that the Democrats can make real headway here.

Of course, as is now widely recognized -- it's almost a cliche now -- corporate America, but especially its financial, tech, and media wings, and the Democrats are bed in now as way to distract voters and especially brainwash the youngsters with "woke" and avoid talking about the very obvious mess that the elite of the Boomer generation has made of things.

Finally, little about the social media fracas is new this year or last. I know you (Matt) like to say bad things about libertarians. But here's a lawyer and real libertarian, Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit, who got to the heart of the problem wtih the social media giants almost five years ago in this little book and recommended breakup, not nationalization:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-social-media-upheaval-glenn-harlan-reynolds/1130920557

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45415587-the-social-media-upheaval

But Reynolds is a real libertarian from Tennessee, not a corporate neoliberal living in a tony Washington suburb.

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When you look at a the governing elite of the US you should realize this can never happen. When the criminal enterprises such as JP Morgan who have paid billions in fines time after time under the Don Jamie Dimon, who hurt a huge number of Americans who lost homes, jobs, and shareholders who paid the fines, and not even the pension managers or hegdies cared why would they do anything to a rich guy who just cheated some advertizers and killed a few hundred teens? Boeing killed more in just two plane crashes and nobody got charged.

I, for the life of me, cannot understand the reluctance to charge the rich and powerful when they commit crimes, unless of course, the fix is truly in.

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These columns are one of the few hopeful things in America of late and the Biden administration's interest in anti-trust is both surprising and encouraging.

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founding

I just had a very interesting experience trying to spread the word about the petition.

Just before the pandemic, Facebook's lying effectively destroyed College Humor (https://www.ccn.com/facebook-lied-about-video-metrics/). Since then, Dropout has slowly been able to stay in business. However, when I tried to share petition in their online forum, it got slid by longtime users.

If I ran a company impacted by Facebook's choices in today's climate, I would be very reticent to endorse such a petition and potentially earn their ire. The whole thing is very reminiscent of 3rd party Amazon merchants afraid to speak up. I worry larger power blocks won't be able to get behind the petition for risk of retaliation from Facebook (most small businesses use instagram).

But, it gave me an idea. I'd be very interested to see the internal messaging Facebook has had with the companies whose livelihoods it has endangered or destroyed, and I imagine prosecutors would as well.

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Thanks for sharing that email. Highly relevant. I defected from the Dems in 2007 and became an Independent. Dems abandoned working people decades ago. Big mistake.

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The only way to stop that pile of human waste Zukerfuck is to shut facebook down. Just cancel your account and leave if everyone did it it will stop. But you are all so addicted to it you can't.

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Look for me on Substack or possibly on Tucker Carlsons show

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I actually have a hate group outside of my apartment right now trying to talk the police into arresting me because they have harassed,abused, bullied and assaulted me in many places and ways. They have been tracking my every move and in the process been trying to find someone who will attack me with deadly force or shoot me. He gave detailed description the other night of how to break my neck in such a way that he even gave time it would take. They’ve been breaking into my places of residence and even went as far planting meth in my motor home the day that in the evening was to be a meeting with them and Facebook’s A.I. which was quite interesting I must admit. The fact is though I have moved from place to place 15 - 20 times only to be followed by them and others who have also been involved in influencing my life and friends were turned unfriendly towards me after they were repeatedly harassed and threatened as well as being harassed and hacked. Numerous people have been witnesses to the abuse and at the same time was told that if they continued to do anything that would help me they would have severe consequences for their actions. Billy Bingham and his neighbor Frank met these people, who were at that time crawling on the roof of my motor home to listen and look through roof vents, caught her once and she tore her clothing while trying to escape. The first incident was when Micheal Koefph ( Head Hacker and boss of Facebook Security Group convinced me that I needed to commit suicide to avoid being killed or going to prison to be someone’s bitch. I believed him and took 5 bottles of prescriptions all at once with whiskey. It was below freezing by quite a bit , that was around 10:00 p.m. in the evening and then when as I passed out in the middle of my storage yard at 5313 Cook St. they left me after Anthony’s daughter asked him what that was and he stated that was the final twitch of life we will never see him again ever, he’s dead. That was the last time I heard anything from then , till I woke in Rose Medical Center on the following Wednesday night when I was revived some how. There’s no reason why I didn’t die from exposure if nothing else, I only had on shorts and a T-shirt and the neighbor whom found me at 2:00 p.m. on the Sunday afternoon said I was a grey blue color , not breathing or any other signs of respiratory or activity related to a pulse. I was dead. I had visions that I visited with Jesus Christ and told him I didn’t want to go back, I had many incidents that in fact I died numerous times over the years ages between 12 - 30 , accidentally and not intentionally, motorcycles, fast boats that I seem to have a back for sending air borne to my dismay always have been serious in nature. But I did what the lord asked of me and to this day I still thank firefighters and police officers for their service and courage to do what they do. I’m definitely not a angel by no means but if you ever want to walk around my neighborhood you probably be told that I go out of my way to listen to others and help them in anyway I can. The truth about this is that I had a computer with a graphics card that was not compatible with Facebook and I was getting all sorts of weird messages and cameras from people that had no idea that they were on camera and it was being sent to Facebook without their consent or knowledge. I had shut down a gold auction in New York without knowledge of it, was getting ads on my site for fully automatic machine guns that were being bought from Russia by the people on the show “Man VS Gold and they we’re using the firearms license of a gun dealer in Aurora, Colorado.

The license was then transferred to another dealer and they picked the guy up and moved him, guess where to the mining camp of Man V.S. Gold to be the camp cook. This was the first time I overheard someone saying that they had really taken care of Garry Vaughn and that he would never be able to prove anything and they stated that when they were done I would probably commit suicide. The only reason that I am telling people about this is because I have been reading about the situation with junior and senior high school students being bullied by their peers to the point that the suicide rates even to this day are horrendous for them and their families. The fact is that they have no regard towards life and their families as either a protected group or a bully in the group. I’m being honest about this because I was told by numerous people that I would never survive and if I did I would be dead anyway at the first purge of people by means unknown at that time. There are three scheduled purges to drop the population. First in 2020 which is what we know as Covid, second is scheduled for 2025 and third is 2030. By this time Facebook is supposed to be in complete control and everyone will know their status and job in this euphoria of a new generation of people who have no knowledge of how American politics and values had been built, destroyed and then changed to become the norm in the modern world of social media platforms that influence increasingly more people all the time. This I know for a fact is more people than anyone else will know about committed suicide or were killed in freak accidents, one for instance a pilot in Miami had his twin turbo prop inspected and passed the day before when he took off got about 300’ in altitude and then the plane did a sharp left downwards and then exploded with full tanks of fuel. That was showed to me as I was told that people die in mysterious circumstances and events they have no control over. I am not going to lie to anyone about this because it is not my intention to see others die because of some kind of conspiracy theory that I cannot prove. The truth is that if you believe in the science of Social Media rules rather than the laws of our great nation which at this point have been manipulated to make people feel better and believe they are there to help them, if you don’t produce money for them and Mark you will see the change and probably seek mental and or physical support as well. Hopefully I haven’t caused any issues or problems in your situation but I feel that I need to tell now because I’m afraid of the situation that I am in right now, they have been trying to kill me since 1992 to my disbelief that they were the ones that told me the year they started to destroy my life and my mental health aside from that I am grateful to have been able to help my accountability for now. I’m bi-sexual and was raped by family member as a child and they henceforth are running every where I might make a friend and screaming that I’m queer.

God Bless all and Thanks

Garry L.Vaughn

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I have first hand knowledge about this subject as I have been and currently am under a “Hate Group of people that have been influenced to break into my residences and vehicles for years (started in 1992) Micheal Koephf was the first person to physiologically break me mentally. They convinced me that they were going to see me being someone’s girlfriend in prison and had enough evidence to warrant a conviction sentence and I had to make the choice between that or taking my own life. Being a victim of rape as a child it was obviously not a choice that I would make if I had been knowledgeable about the 4th amendment rights of the accused. I was homeless for years because every single time I moved they had already taken away my freedom and lifelong friendships with numerous people who had been convinced of their agenda to destroy me. There are so many laws that have been broken by people who are doing exactly what Facebook wants them to. I have named such individuals as “Sheeple’s” or simply simple minded followers of a created safe haven.

I with the conviction that they have been placing on me has more than enough times almost impossible but all but 8 days now have they not been at my newest apartment convincing my neighbors to write letters about me to the housing authorities that they pretty much were told exactly what to write and how to word them. Anyway they are viciously and relatively relentless to their own personal goals of making their boss Mark happy to the point of believing that they are above the law. So far that’s been the case for me, I called the police on numerous occasions and they in turn called my stalkers to report my actions to stop them. I’m not sure what might happen if they come back again but I’m sure they’ll be able to find out what happened afterwards and I will probably get arrested again for whatever reason. Lost all my belongings from 92 to now three different times, people were told to do anything they wanted to do but it had to cause me a problem in some way. This is happening to a lot of people and needs to stop.

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In a free market democracy the CEOs should fear consumers like politicians should fear voters. Instead the billionaire CEOs control and surveille the voters and consumers and pay off the justice system, media and political leaders who enforce class based justice. Zuckerberg has nothing to fear.

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