Free Republic

Hey Liz, Great to see this pic of Don King! A few times I was in Vegas for tech industry conferences. On afternoon I’m walking past a gazillion slot machines and there he was directly in front walking the same direction. I had a back view of his Star Spangled outfit, gold and silver glitter everywhere. And there in each hand he was waving small Old Glories at the crowd he was passing through. I never saw his face. The crazy hair and outfit were enough to recognize the King. Cool performance from a real patriot. Thanks, Don. You’re terrific in your eccentricity and love of AMERICA!

True, the intelligence community learned how to exploit the press. They learned the craft of toppling governments and getting rid of leaders they didn’t like. Then they said, “Hey we can apply the same tools and techniques to run the U.S. government.”

And, of course, the internet and tracking your identity wherever you go was part of the game.

Thank God Musk took over Twitter and Trump started Truth.social. From those beachheads, maybe we can begin to see respect for free speech come back and our Republic preserved.

The irony of it all is that the "change the world" attitude of journalism started with Bernstein and Woodward were labeled the heroes of Watergate.

Once the media/entertainment elite lionized those two, a whole generation of journo-commies went to college and aimed to infiltrate the major news organizations, which they did.

But just before he died, former FBI kingpin Mark Felt outed himself.  He explained how he was the secret "Deep Throat" who provided all the juicy details that took Nixon down.  And of course, not a single word of remorse or contrition was heard from the Fake News.

In other words, all Bernstein and Woodward did was merely listen to what Felt was saying.  They did not performed any so-called "investigative journalism" at all. So the entire premise of the commie journalists was fabricated by the press themselves.

In fact, it would interesting to trace the multiple streams of corruption and gullible voter habits that have created our current crisis.

I'd love to see a flow chart showing that -- if anyone has seen such a thing.

Hey GOPJ,

Also note the pic of a senior Chinese Commie in Mao outfit (is that Chou En Lai?) behind him.

And notice the latest in Commie Agitator fashion — what looks like spikes on the back of his shirt!

Yeah, real nice fella.

Oops, forgot the link to the Motley Fool story. Here it is:

https://www.fool.com/investing/how-to-invest/stocks/who-owns-x/

According to this March 2024 story in Motley Fool:

"... Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey retained a $1 billion stake in the social media platform after Musk took Twitter private."

So it looks like Dorsey has been playing two sides of the fence... and maybe he's putting his competing solution on the backburner for now.

X is standing the test of time, and is bound to get stronger as the country recovers from Bidung and freedom of speech is preserved.

Thank you for your valuable perspective in the publishing realm.  A book is a good idea for sure.

I'm thinking what's really needed more is a website (similar to FR) where the concerns of Americans living in Japan is the subject matter.

And rather than a published book, a bait piece (a mini-book) with lots of valuable information can draw members into the free forum.

I love the idea that a forum exists that is not a veiled advertisement for somebody's business.  There's plenty of websites that serve that purpose well, but nobody gets to the heart of what Americans really need to know to move or live here.

And the FBU in Tokyo has a limited number of (what appears to be mostly Japanese staff) and so they cannot really serving the full information need.

So maybe this is a worthwhile pursuit for the next 10 years of my life on this Earth.

Your perspective is highly valued, my FRiend.

Hey Bobalu. Thanks for your analysis.

My understanding of security mechanisms is shallow, but you've opened my eyes to new layers of knowledge I need to explore.

In a sense, my question about the security of my SecurID device answers itself.  The fact that one of America's largest banks uses the SecurID system to identify someone living outside America's mobile-phone operator enabled security system is proof the bank finds value there.  It's also delivering value for me (the customer) because I can use banking services from outside the USA.

Moving overseas as my wife and I did two years ago automatically makes you aware of the "outer limits" of America's infotech security system.

For instance, another bank we use wants mobile phone authentication when I access their website through a Virtual Private Network.

Only when I shut off my VPN, does my bank let me go ahead and access their website to see my accounts.

We are getting social security payments sent directly to our Japanese bank.  Another 100,000 Americans living in Japan also enjoy this same convenient service offered by our federal government.

And yet we are being blocked and cannot access the my Social Security information site because we cannot receive mobile SMS messages to verify who we are.  Yes, we do have telephone numbers in Japan (and even an Internet based U.S. phone number) but those numbers lie outside the security blanket of US mobile phone connections.

So how does Social Security communicate with us?  Well, that's the role of the Federal Benefits Unit in Tokyo, operating out of the U.S. embassy, who maintains contact with all the Americans resident in Japan through postal letters, phone calls, and on-line-submitted exchange of info and questions.

Hey Bobalu. Some interesting analysis. My bank sent me one of these key-chain style RSA SecurID devices to carry with me on international travels where if you don't have a roaming-capable US mobile phone, the bank can still verify my identity.

The bank gives you one minute to return the 6 digit code, and the code on the device changes every 60 seconds.

My question for you is: how secure is one of these devices?

Thanks.

Good perspective, rcbn1.

My Dad was gunner's mate on an LST at the Battle of Okinawa, a battle where 5,000 U.S. Navy sailors died because of the Kamikaze attacks -- mostly on the large capital ships like battleships and carriers. He told us kids one time, "If anyone says he wasn't afraid, he wasn't there."

You cannot reason with a people who became desperate to win at ALL costs.  Almost all the experienced Japanese aircraft pilots were dead by the time of the Okinawa battle.

In fact, the kamikaze pilots at Okinawa were mostly young teenage boys told to sacrifice their lives under threat of being shot.  They got a one-way ticket to their deaths with no fuel in their tanks to return.

When a nation turns its young boys into flying torpedoes, it signals that its civilians have become their nation's de facto military.  Which means all bets are off.

Confounding this story even more: the destruction of buildings at Columbia and UCLA is creating a backlash against Biden and Pelosi.

The Jewish vote could go Trump now.

But I wholeheartedly agree that “intelligence” agents funded by we the taxpayers could be helping to instigate this destruction, similar to the estimated 200 intelligence agents who were in the crowd on January 6th.

Remember how Disney used to "humanize" American heros: Davy Crockett, Johnny Shilo.  The entertainment industry is thinking only of profits, not keeping the country united and fostering the right culture.

Maybe Truth Social can start doing such projects.

Nice summary there, GOPJ.

Here in Japan, I need to pick and choose my opportunities to talk about the crazy stuff happening in America.  An America in decline is a major setback for freedom-loving people around the world.

But because Xi Van Fleet is an Asian and a woman, she somewhat softens the message and makes it more palatable for people here to listen.  For instance I am now leading a monthly-meeting of 4 women who want to practice English with a native speaker.

I use 15- to 20-slide presentations of my observations from daily life and travels in Japan to get conversations started.  I'm thinking of creating a slideshow of perspective from the Mao's America book.

But this is delicate, in part because the Japanese press is somewhat controlled by Washington.  Because the mainstream American press is leftist, they push their fake news narrative to their international counterparts.

For instance, when NHK needs news clips of what's going on in the States, their go-to outlet for content is ABC News (because it's own by Disney, who has strong branding in Japan and NHK can trade all sorts of content with the Disney on the entertainment side.

When NHK needs perspective on Trump, they sometimes show content from RBN broadcasts of Trump rallies. But those are rare.  In fact, ANY candid or two-sided analysis of what's happening in American politics is rare to see on Japanese TV.

When Biden attacked Japan last week for being "xenophobic", that opened up an opportunity to explain the idiocy and damage caused by Biden's open borders.

So educating Japan about what's really happening in America is a work in progress.

Hey rlmorel,

I spent a few minutes listening to the audiobook you send me the link to. You have a splendid voice for this reading such works.

It’s tragic how much the heritage of Paul Revere, John Adams, Samuel Adams and the rest of them has been hidden from the public — in part because searching for “patriots” takes to you to football sites.

And considering the current policies of the corrupt and misguided people running Massachusetts politics, it’s as if the heroes of the past never existed.

My initial thought is a large graphic based on a map that allows you to click and get a popup of facts about these people. I would be willing to create the visual website mechanisms for such as guide.

Work thinking about.

Reminds me of Tucker Carlson’s interview with Xi Van Fleet, who as a teenager was caught up in the cultural revolution.

Now she’s written a book, remarking how America is going down the same path as Communist China where they brainwashed the educated youth.

Scary. See the Tucker Carlson interview:

https://tuckercarlson.com/the-tucker-carlson-encounter-xi-van-fleet-2/

Wow, what a great interview. I read the transcript. President Trump is a man prepared.

Every FReeper should read the interview transcript. I didn’t bother to read through Time’s after-the-interview analysis because that’s merely a hit job to save Time’s reputation as a Leftist publication.

But the raw interview is tremendous — it’s our embattled ex-President in full glory and sharper than ever.

Thanks for the link to the original Politico story.  I read it and I agree that it's worth reading this lengthy story (even with its "gratuitous snark" comments) you eloquently warned us about!

I love the insider knowledge of how political operatives work. This was illuminating. And the story showed Susan Wiles' savvy at working with the press and other influencers.

There are also some fabulous full-screen pictures that come with the story.  All in all, this is good journalism and it may very well be that Susan encouraged the article be published because it will appeal to women on the fence who think Trump is too domineering.

If I'm right about that, we're bound to hear more from Susan Wiles in the months ahead.

Thank you for this splendid analysis.

And one more thing to add to the The Free Republic' Writer's Guild: a terrific 1921 essay by the "Terror of Baltimore", H. L. Mencken:

The Motive of the Critic

Hey GOPJ. I used the term literary criticism in the scholarly sense.

Guys like H. L. Mencken did that for a living.

Now maybe, in our age of DEI, literary criticism is viewed as unholy and criminal prejudice against authors who are just trying to make a living... or some such nonsense.

Suffice it to say: I treated your gracious comments for what they are -- honest praise -- and I'm happy my words worked for you.

And given that we have a 12 hour time lag between my visits to FR in Japan and yours in America, it may take a long time to get responses back and forth.

But let's keep our candid dialogs going...