Please look at the pictures of the tattooed inmates of El Salvador’s new 40,000-bed mega-prison, which according to its President will house them for “decades and decades.” But wait, don’t look at them yet.
I want to add an interesting twist to the story. An expert in digital media at the house where I'm staying right now highly doubts the authenticity of the photos. He thinks they were generated by AI. The photos originate with the El Salvador government. I am not sure what to think. The photography is quite amazing (regardless of its horrifying subject matter). If you wanted to stage such a scene even with enthusiastic volunteers, it would be no small feat, let alone with unruly prisoners.
Thanks for the responses, folks. Yeah, i really don't know if the photos are genuine. Or maybe some are and some aren't. Or they are based on genuine photos and then enhanced. Maybe they were created as a kind of aspirational blueprint for what they want the prison to be. In any case, we are about to be flooded with images and videos of unknowable veracity.
It’s interesting... more people I encounter are really starting to question the veracity of things like this. The awareness of AI image generation and deep fakes (in video/audio) have us really questioning what we see. I know it is happening for me!! Faith in media seems to be eroding so quickly at the moment.
As someone who experiments with text-to-image generation, I tend to concur that the images (especially the masses of inmates) are "AI-prompted" and are therefore inauthentic. I had similar results when using AI to generate photorealistic images of refugee camps as an experiment ... it is genuinely difficult to the untrained eye to differentiate what is "really real".
Appreciate your transparency Charles. And yes the image is all a bit too uniform . I believe that strengthening our own inner sovereignty is the best way we can navigate increasing virtual unreality.
At the heart of it Charles, who knows?🤷🏼♀️How, in heavens name, are any of us to know the truth of things? We can only know that atrocity exists and that people exploit people. These images, even if they are artificially produced, arouse in us….. oops, arouse in me, an outrage and a sorrow that says STOP 🛑 Humanity needs healing. And those healed…..if there ever is such a thing…. must simply lead by a noble, dignified and rooted conviction and an embodied truth that oozes, shouting, ‘ love conquers all.´
I know what you mean, but many people also questioned the TRUE pictures that emanated from Nazi concentration camps at the end of WW2: but those bodies were very, very real. Piles of them, rotting in huge heaps and mounds. I've spoken to some of the allied soldiers who liberated them: what they witnessed was a hell on earth.
Well, of course there is nothing saved, no effort put forth other than to sit back & dream grandiose, compassionate reveries and post them here in order to obtain validation/admiration from similarly-minded folk. No exhaustion whatsoever, eh Jason? 2 decades now, CE saying the same old thing and we're all still rotting here in prison hoping the warden will somehow be so deeply moved by our naivete in defiance of cultural limits, by our sacred beauty, that he will experience a long-overdue change of heart, grab his keys, move toward our cages and with silent tears of remorse, set us all free.
The horror is an illusion, a dream we make up from the lies of our own guilt, a necessary consequence of seeing evil in the world, trying to project it out instead of owning it. When we forgive; others as we forgive ourselves, we make the transition from fault-making and fault finding bodies to spirit, created innocent from our inception as in the likeness of God. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
Neither the sacrifice of those prisoners nor the sacrifice of ourselves will end our guilt. Only forgiveness, metanoia, will allow us to see heaven on earth, with a different vision.
"If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent."
Yes Robert, “forgiveness, metanoia, will allow us to see heaven on earth.” I don’t know if that is the “only” way, but it was what liberated the character named Kat from the illusion. Much love ❤️
It is the only way. We must change our minds to see life as God sees it to find the love that lies behind the seeming separation of the "world." God never knows of anything but perfection. He's not deceived by what we have imagined to be truth. Like yourself, I had to experience the power of forgiveness in my life to be certain it is the key to happiness. And then 15 years ago I found A Course in Miracles and it has become even more clear and encompasses everything I think and do.
I agree too. Simultaneously holding beauty and horror, love and fear, selflessness and selfishness is a hard requirement because it's the price we pay to discover who we are. The human condition is what happens before that moment
Whatever good you're doing "for real," you seem awful darn sensitive to be posting on the Internet. It's a rough place, and I'm not anything like the best example of rough talk.
The solution to our world's atrocities is illiogical - improve yourself spiritually. It takes the majority of a lifetime to discover that the cause is everything and that to move yourself one step forward morally is the single most important thing to do with your time. I have very little control over others. But I have maximum control over myself
I sat in a meadow. I was meditating - I was improving myself spiritually. In the stream beside me I noticed some barrels with "toxic" written on their sides. I meditated - I was improving myself spiritually. I found out the toxins were packed badly and would open up in the lake further down stream. I kept being in the meadow improving myself spiritually... Till I stood up and fished the toxic containers out of the stream. I returned to improve myself spiritually. Even wondering if they were the same. .... I want to find a balance - my balance - with improving myself spiritually and acting to stop some atrocities. I believe that just focussing on my own spiritual growth is one of the many constructs invented by clever people to not needing to feel co-responsible to act to prevent, to decrease or stop atrocities.
Very true. The escape into spirituality was invented by clever people to flee from the responsibility towards the fellow people. And some 'New Ager' have been even more clever and made a billion dollar industry out of it.
"Each for himself and God for all of us".
It's a well-known preacher strategy since ancient times which keeps the preacher safe and wealthy while others go out working in the fields and and fighting in streets, also for his freedom. But if a preacher then uses the right words in his sermons, he can even become a hero or a leader, too. But that's another story, because that can be risky. The hero of this channel might tell some harsh stories about it
yes i do see there is a multi million 'spiritual' industry and I see many genuine people trying to find spiritual ways out of the mess the outer world presents us with ... I believe in combining spiritual practice, self development inquiry and 'political' activities ...
Here's what I see in these photos -- young, strong, healthy, men who are being warehoused because society has no productive use for them.
In a former era in the U.S., such men would have worked in factories building things. But that level of industrialization never made it to El Salvador.
In Central America as you know, the U.S. was terrified that such men would turn to communism. So they flooded the area with guns and proxy wars in the 1980s. When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, the narcotraficantes converted the guns and the men trained to use them into workers who could move their product north. Now the government is warehousing these men indefinitely, because it does not have a better use for them.
In the U.S., these same young people are being maimed and killed by the Pharma cartel via the obscene childhood vaccine schedule and the deadly Covid shots. It's the same impulse -- the state does not know what to do with surplus labor, so the developed world is just sterilizing and killing these same people while extracting all wealth from their families via medical bills.
You don't get into that prison if you're a common criminal. These are all gang members with evil programmed into their hearts long ago by corporate cartels. They proudly mark that allegiance on their faces to instill fear in anyone who comes near them. They are not the helpless victims some here suggest. They are grown men, with free will, who chose to perpetuate darkness in their communities. This was a last resort to address the highest murder rate on the planet - almost all of it gang-related.
How they ended up in gangs is another matter and a much greater problem to address at the global level, which Bukele is also doing, by the way. (Watch his UN address). However, the individual actions and crimes of men cannot be excused simply by blaming the CIA and US Intervention. Bukele is well-aware of those forces, and he also has other measures in place to break free from the corrupt international war-banking community that kept El Salvador in poverty and chaos for so long.
In this case, it's good to throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater. He's getting rid of street crime, organized crime, financial and political crimes, in tandem, to break free and let his country thrive. The globalists don't like that, which explains the coordinated messaging of personal attacks, hit pieces and critiques on his vision in the context of social justice and so on. Talk to any honest citizen in El Salvador and they will tell you about their own social justice journeys, from fear to freedom.
There had to be a break in this pattern, so he chopped the head off the beast to let it die. These solutions are unpleasant, but not as much as the generations of terror they propagated on their neighbours. Let your heart bleed out all you like, but this reality is dark, and so is the solution.
It should be noted that these men are incredibly successful criminal entrepreneurs and most certainly NOT unproductive, as suggested above. They participate in unimaginable coordinated brutality. They cut boys' heads off and put them on stake for mothers to find. They dominate and extort every small business in the country. They run vast empires of human trafficking, drugs, contraband goods, weapons, and anything else they can steal and sell. That all takes highly efficient, productive and motivated actors. To suggest they were bored and fell into crime is nonsense.
If they channeled that resourcefulness and commitment to doing good, instead of evil, we would not be looking at these images. But these are not everyday criminals. People I work with in El Salvador are quite happy with this new specialized gang prison system, and they would fall over laughing to hear anyone defend these monsters who killed their families, raped their daughters or burned their stores down.
Fun Fact: Gang crime now committed on the streets get punished inside the gang prison. They remove privileges for all members of particular gang with leaders inside who made the orders. This makes them accountable inside to their fellow inmates and removes their power to dominate the community from behind bars. Crime is dropping dramatically because of these threats of isolation and porridge lunches. This is how you kill the beast, once and for all.
Do we really believe that such brutally violent, traumatized men can be rehabilitated into society? I've never seen evidence of that. Let the good honest people of El Salvador live their lives, and protect them from these monsters who sold their souls for status long ago.
This is also how, from a great distance, I see it. This problem, whatever its roots, needed to be cauterised. What to do now is a second-order issue. It does not invalidate the moral trade-off that was made. Even if there is much more to be said on the subject and I don’t disagree with Charles either.
I'm saying that this is the continuation of 500 years (actually longer) of genocide in the region. The tasks are different, the uniforms are slightly different, but the outcome is the same. I'm asking what would it take to move to a non-genocidal economy for the first time in millennia?
In healthy traditional cultures these men would have been warrior protectors, hunters and athletes. When my own traditional tribal culture broke down during colonization, for the very first time, we had young tribal males preying on our own people; because the traditional outlets for their natural aggression and manhood were denied them by the peace treaties and assimilation. So for the very first time ever my tribe had to create our own law enforcement agency to protect us against our own young men. Those tribal young men who became outlaws way back then were not funded or given weapons by the US government or controlled by the CIA or hooked on drugs, etc. They were simply denied access to the traditional cultural tools of healthy manhood. That alone was enough to turn them rogue.
I recently dropped into one of our local village community cafe events and asked the question of the people there 'what is it that needs to change to create a healthy (define how you want) local economy, ecology, community, polity etc..
Whilst they were surprised, they entered into a really interesting discussion. The consensus was attitudes. But, it became clear to me that what they really meant was other people's attitudes.
When I was mulling over the discussion later, I realised a better question to ask might have been 'what is it about me (as in each of us) that needs to change to create a healthy ..... ?
Major turning point in my life was during a three month incarceration experience. Last place I thought I’d be. It challenged me as does looking at these photographs. Thank you for sharing.
I've been watching El Salvador for the past few years because of my work in the Bitcoin/energy space. From my perspective in Canada, I have no way to fully understand this situation, but when speaking with my friends who live in El Salvador, they see this as a good solution, for now. They are exhausted living in fear and this gives them some breathing room to relax and get on with life, as one described it. It's not political for them. It's purely a survival strategy, like locking your house at night.
This could lead to bigger cultural shifts over the long term, coinciding with things like Bitcoin adoption, tech investment and tourism which will free the country from the shackles of the Mister Global, Davos and US imperialism. There is a distinct energy and optimism that we've never seen before in that tiny volcano nation. Oddly, these images are part of that.
One key tenet of Bitcoin-ism is that it frees us from violence and wars, because it challenges a fiat system built on power and control that use those tactics. Bitcoin erases those anonymous, centralized forces and allows every man to assert himself and interact freely with others, with no 3rd party providing permission. In that context, trust becomes unnecessary, because we only have the singular, locked truth of each individual peer-to-peer / node-to-node transaction.
The Bitcoin system would gradually erase oppression of the people by gangsters, banksters and govt overlords because they will be rendered useless and powerless in how we relate to each other. First we lock up those who would steal from you or hurt you, and then we unlock a new form of wealth that is nearly impossible to steal and liberates you from your masters. That's never been done before.
It is ironic that we need a government like Bukele's with its 'friendly' authoritarian tendencies, to install a destabilizing infrastructure like Bitcoin to bring order to a disordered place.
I been loosely following El Salvador adoption of bitcoin for a while now. I don't think anyone would care or know whats happening in there prisons if they didn't make BTC there de facto money. In theory i'm opposed to prison except for truly violent people. I also realize many people are violent because they been through the prison system. I'm afraid there no good short term solutions. I can see the appeal of this Draconian measures but Also realize that it will likely lead to the cancerous growth of a prison industrial complex.
So this is a site that is usually centered on love, healing and creating a beautiful world, but there are 10 people who want to lock people up and switch to a techno currency. This comment section is getting stranger and stranger.
Yes. Relax. You know that the masculine has been used for brevity in writing since man began writing. And besides, Man can be anything you want it be now. What is a man, anyway? If I change it to Human person, will you be satisfied?
yes, I feel upset about this topic as research has shown that girls and women feel excluded when he/him is used, despite it being meant for all. The dillemma can be mostly and easily avoided by using the plural. I would be satisfied if you gave it a try. :)
What I have loved about your writing since discovering you during the covid coup era is your ability or willingness to face reality in its political and "real" dimensions while at the same time always attempting to go beyond the limits imposed on us by the cultural and political manufacturers of consent that work so hard at ensuring that the "real" be contained by the discursive walls of "reason".
Beautiful! As always, this helps me so much along my path. Feeling deep gratitude for everyone currently doing their part, it supports me so much! And to everyone who isn't: it will come in due time ✨
Thank you Charles for helping me continue to wake up, and contribute my bit. And Yasmine, your comment echoes exactly my feeling and response to reading this.
My future daughter-in-law's parents moved from El Salvador to the US. Her father began working in construction, then opened his own very small construction company and seems to have done well for their family. Her mother worked cleaning houses, then opened her own company doing the same. They told me they immigrated to the US because of the crime in El Salvador. Her father stated, "I don't know if I am a democrat or a republican, but I know I'm for whatever this guy (Bukele) is for." When questioned a bit more, he stated that the majority of girls in his previous homeland over the age of 16 have been raped by gang members. In fact, some folks there don't even know of a girl 16 or older who hasn't been raped by a gang to get into the gang as initiation. Girls who refuse are killed. He elaborated more, buy I understood the picture, it was a very violent place, they lived in fear daily. Their family that remains there still live in great fear.
After reading Charles' writing, I wonder if he would offer himself a test such as imagining having a conversation with a 16 year old girl after she was raped, or a parent of a child killed by a gang member, on a soul-to-soul level. The parent asks Charles, “What were you doing while my daughter's youth, her dreams, her body, her mind, her innocence, her very last breath was being torn away from her by a criminal who has done this to others in our neighborhood?” Could Charles then offer his answer? Can he look the parent in the eye without shame? If he says, "I was planting a garden, I was playing with a child, I was working to end hunger in Haiti, prisons in America, or war in Ukraine; if I say I was protecting a forest somewhere, I was healing a person or a patch of soil or my own trauma; even if I say I was with my mother in her dying days". The parent will nod their head, knowing that all of these things do nothing to stop the present situation, the present hell that envelopes their world.
Yes, those would be good tests too. It makes the same point.
But I see the gang members as victims too. Consider this: what happened to turn them from cute little babies into murderers and rapists? Nothing good, that's what.
That's an excellent question. I think it would be interesting to read several different people's answer, along with their reasoning. We each have different experiences that influence our world view, so the reasoning, or the "why" is important and could be quite personal. But when it's personal and honest, it's not an echo chamber like so many voices seem to be. I'll give mine, with fictitious names, make it as short as possible, and hope it's interesting enough to read.
When I was 4, my aunt was murdered by her husband. They had two children, Lynn 14, and Harold 10, both were home when their father shot and killed their mother. Another aunt & uncle, Helen & Elwood, brought those two children into their home and raised them with their own two children who happened to be the same ages, Dee 14 & Kay 10. Helen and Elwood gave the same love and attention to the two additional children they brought into their home as they did their own. I know this because they practically raised me in my youngest years. They loved and cared for us all equally.
The oldest two, Lynn and Dee, were more studious, both went to college. Lynn became a public school teacher.
The younger two, Harold and Kay, acquired no further education than completing high school.
Mid life events:
All four had children, three of the four, Lynn, Dee, and Harold, went through one divorce.
Both of the oldest, Lynn and Dee, had more significant traumatic events in their lives. Lynn had an emotional divorce with a very deceitful and unfaithful husband, then lost 2 of her 3 children to drugs. Dee had one child abducted, assaulted, abused, which resulted in lifelong learning issues. Then her older child, a young teenager was killed in a car accident. Remember, one of these had the initial tragedy of losing a parent and one didn't.
The murder of my aunt occurred in the very late 1960's, so we get a glimpse of how these four lives have unfolded in time, at least from my perspective which obviously isn't all knowing, but enough to help shape my world view.
Being family, all cousins, and having known and loved all four of them, I don't think my opinion of the results is biased. I hate to use the word results when two of the four are still living, but they are in their 60's, so perhaps I can be forgiven.
Results: Of the two older ones(one with the murdered mother and one without), both with more mid-life trauma: Dee was an alcoholic and to a lesser degree, messed up on drugs. She had multiple DUI's, so many she was sent to jail or prison for a period of time. In short her life was in shambles when she died. Her peer in age, Lynn, is near sainthood. She is one of the sweetest, kindest, most pleasant people I've been around. Through all the loss in her life, her mother, two sons, her best friend, the divorce, through everything, Lynn is an amazing lady, by any standard and living her life after retiring as a school teacher.
Looking at the lives of the younger two, one who lost their mom, Harold and one who didn't, Kay. Harold and his wife both served time in prison for drug distribution charges. They were selling with their young daughter in the backseat of the car. Harold also sexual abused at least one child. As an older adult, Harold did hold down a job and was considered a good worker who never missed work. He mostly kept to himself and did have a descent, yet distant relationship with his only daughter. He passed away recently.
That leaves the other younger one, Kay. Kay married the day after she graduated high school. She and her husband have been married ever since, they have one child, and been anchored in the hometown. She helped take care of her mother, Helen, until her death. She's just a fine, happy, friendly lady who has lived a peaceful life enjoying the simple things. She has never been in any legal or moral trouble that I'm aware of. Her main struggles in life were dealing with the issues of her older sister, Dee.
There are usually questions of economics and race involved in discussions like this. We are white. There is no money here. My uncle, Elwood, was an electrician in a coal mine. He was skillful in helping family members maintain their cars. Vacations were spent camping at a lake in tents with a small, used boat, and going to the state fair. The most financially successful in my family, in the generations discussed here are probably retired military, public school teachers, post office employee.
In summary; four kids raised in the same loving family, not privileged economically, viewed in two groups, older and younger. One older and one younger had an early significant traumatic event. One older and one younger had what might be called a successful, meaningful, or respectful life. The other older and younger ones lives may be described as ...not so successful, meaningful, or respectful.
A very beneficial & powerful force in this true life tale is the rock of support provided by my aunt & uncle. While Elwood worked in the coal mines, my aunt stayed home and raised the family. But even with this in common, the results are very different.
So, what happened to turn them from cute little babies into murderers and rapists? My answer: while they were affected by their environment, which includes family, international, and societal influences as you mentioned earlier. But the reason is their individual choices. Their personal choices when faced with decisions in their lives, just like my cousins, each made their our own choices. Each of us are responsible for our actions, no one else. Actions have consequences, some of them lifelong, sometimes we don't realize when we have jumped off the proverbial cliff, gone past the point of no return. But until that point, we are free to make different choices. I know that isn't popular today, it's always easier to cast blame other than in the mirror. If this weren't true, then 100% of the youth in El Salvador or anywhere else would be in the same situation that their environment set for them. My experience indicates it's just not true.
But, ... the two children whose mother was murdered didn't *choose* to have that happen, it was imposed on them by factors beyond their control (their father).
You seem to be arguing that environmental factors aren't responsible for difference in outcomes, that it's all down to good or bad personal choices. But your story says that different, and worse, "stuff happened" to two of the children, and those two had what I think we agree were worse outcomes, even if worse "personal choices" were part of the chain of events.
So while it may be true that personal choices, better ones and worse ones, have great influence on the eventual outcome, factors beyond an individual's control may have great influence on the choices a person is equipped, personally, to make.
Is that any clearer? Maybe I'm missing *your* point.
1. Of the two children who experienced the trauma of a murdered mother by their father, Lynn and Harold. One had significant legal issues, Harold, and one did not, Lynn.
2. Of the two children without the above trauma, Dee and Kay. One had significant legal issues, Dee, while Kay didn't.
3. Breaking them down into age groups: The two oldest continued to have more emotional trauma in their lives than the younger two. Both lost at least one child, both divorced. But resulted in yet again, one had no legal issues, Lynn, while Dee had many legal issues. Remember of these two, Lynn lost 2 children and experienced the loss of her mom and her father's hand.
4. Of the younger pair; again, one had no legal issue, Kay. While the other Harold did. Admittedly Harold had the loss of his mother. But his sister Lynn experienced the loss of her mother and later in life, two children and she experienced no legal issues.
So I am not arguing that environmental factors doesn't play a role, they are part of the hand dealt in life. I give a lot of credit to my aunt and uncle who played a major role in our lives, that family was an environmental factor in our lives. But it was the personal choices of my aunt and uncle to provide that rock solid environment for us.
Today nearly everyone can be a victim with a little reflection and enough effort. Many others feel better about themselves by assisting, supporting, and encouraging that victimhood.
The first thing we have to do is reorient our focus from disturbing news from far away, where our impact may be questionable, to making an impact immediately around ourselves.
So powerful, Charles. I was reading in my Course this morning that we're turning from the game of fear that tired children play to the happy game of salvation. I see this everywhere. I'm recording this morning an episode on a CIA operative acting in the capacity of the leader of the vaccine resistance. Common sense says I should be at least nervous, if I believe what I'm saying. But there have been too many 'coincidences' leading me to this piece of the puzzle. It's mine to put into place. And there's nothing to fear.
Serendipitous to read this, and all of the accompanying musings as I just conclused in the same arena last evening. It is so comforting hear these voices. I have immense gratitude for this little substack corner of the universe....
You're my new favorite writer, Sarah (next to Charles oc!) And I'm taking you as another happy 'coincidence' to remind me that exposing this person (on whom I've done three episodes already) is a story that's been put in my path, as mine to tell.
I also have a litany of tragedies, close to home but not at home, from this bioweapon. Your dad's initial prognosis is echoed in the six months given my BiL to live now. But I think they say that because it leads them to chemo, which then fulfills the prophesy. Like AZT, like remdesivir. I wish it was otherwise.
I just subbed and noticed how many of the same people we read. Thanks for offering your excellent writing as a gift!
That was some quick work, Bono's Mullet (ha!) Before my computer even retrieved your reply, you'd subbed me, watched 'Is Malone the Zelensky of the Covid Con?" and commented. Yes, this one will be called Phony Maloney & WikiSpooks. Thanks for watching!
My first thought on this is that there are those in positions of wealth and power who don't want a challenging movement to succeed, and one obvious strategy would be to induce division and infighting among their opposition. Another would be to implement controlled opposition. It seems important to distinguish the two.
I can't discount the possibility that option one is the reason for the targeting of Malone. I find his story coherent and generally believable*, even as I note that I probably don't agree with him on everything. What would you point out that I might have missed, either in the cited video or elsewhere? Major points and broad outlines?
It sounds as if the pieces cited above (in your comment) would be more persuasive to those already on board, which wouldn't be me, at least not yet.
Thank you for clarifying this dilemna Tyrone. Lately I have been hearing that all the big names who fought back against the covid narrative are 'controlled opposition'. Many of them lost credibility, careers and even licenses. Talk about turning against our own! No one is going to be perfectly consistent or line up 100% with the ideology of our 'side'. Lately I am watching those who supported Tulsi Gabbard turn on her as well. It is very sad to me as we need these people to speak up and out. Even if 'bad' shit turns up about these guys, I am deeply grateful they gave us a voice at a time when our families and communites were turning against us.
I'll be interested to hear your thoughts, RMW: https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/phony-maloney-and-wikispooks. What I see happening is that the "leaders" are throwing us under the bus, now that we've been proven right. What Malone is saying in this interview is that vaccines are good, the FDA is incompetent but not corrupt, Pfizer pulled the wool over the CDC's eyes.
He contradicts himself in saying we need to trust each other but also be online warriors against 'the ghost army' of ordinary people who are secretly chaos agents. So that sounds like "trust me and attack anyone who questions me, even though I'm the one with a history in weaponized vaccines." He suspects the deaths and adverse effects were from providers storing the vaccines at the wrong temp, causing the cholesterol crystals to aggregate. Nothing nefarious.
I think we've reached a new level of the game but it's not over.
Tereza, Malone has always been contradictory and inconsistent. It is of course possible he is controlled opposition. However many of those questioning Mallone are now also questioning McCullough, Cole and lots of others who spoke out. I personally don't think they are all controlled opposition and again I am grateful they spoke up for whatever reasons. I am not into defending Malone, as I neither like nor trust him, but I do think we needed him for a time because many listened to and took him seriously who would otherwise have not had the courage to speak out . Whether we still need him or not, I don't know. There are many many middle of the road pro-vax docs and other pro-vax folks who spoke out strongly against the mandates and especially against vaccinating healthy young people and kids. Many pro-vax medical professionals protested the lack of transparency and data and research into vax injuries etc. They were not against the covid vax in general, or the CDC etc, they were just against how it was all mishandled. So lots of people legitimately questioned this whole mess to varying degrees and not everyone who questioned the narrative believes that the CDC etc are all evil. I don't know if you watched the documentary produced by a pro-vax, covid vax injured, black liberal female filmaker called "Anectdotals", but it really is a case in point of what I am talking about here. These are all pro-vax, covid vax injured folks, who are still proclaiming their loyalty to vaccines etc, even tho they have been permanently injured and completely dismissed by the CDC etc. I really don't see how anyone can label all of these people 'controlled opposition'. I see them as folks completely invested in the medical system, who even tho heinously betrayed by that system do not want to throw it all away completely. Honestly I think they are the ones who are going to be most successful in changing things from the inside out because very few people are willing to face how entirely corrupt on every level the entire house of cards actually is. Realistically we are not going to get rid of the CDC, FDA, AMA or NIH anytime soon. These agencies are still going to run public and private health policy in america and anyone who wants to maintain license and credibility in the healthcare system at any level is goiing to have to deal with them. In otherwords folks like Malone, etc are still going to have play the game at some level.
Here is a link to "Anecdotals'. Very well done. I recommend it highly. It is reasonable and not sensationalized and is something I have been able to send to folks who believe in the vax, without them having an immediate knee jerk reaction of denial. https://www.anecdotalsmovie.com/
WRT Malone's lawsuit, a court will decide if there was defamation. If there was, he is due damage payments, if not, he's out some substantial lawyers' fees. None of that affects the vast majority of people.
Whether those who led the response to COVID remain able to shape and direct responses to future disasters is still in play, and those players do seem pretty powerful and their actions pretty shadowy. Which way do we think Malone is influencing the situation? I don't see anything particularly problematic in his actions lately, but maybe I'm insufficiently cynical.
It seems better to evaluate patterns of action than to evaluate personalities. Some individual people have confidence-inspiring track records, but nobody is infallible, and few are completely beyond the reach of corruption.
Malone seems an apostate. It would make sense that his former colleagues would hold grudges. It's also *somewhat* understandable that the depth and sincerity of his apostasy would be questioned by some. In that interview he seemed not to be very heavily armored in his rhetoric, seemed pretty straightforward. The inconsistencies in his recollection that you point out seem possibly due to misremembering rather than fabrication, because if he's good enough to lie extremely smoothly, I'd think he'd be good enough to get the details straight.
I voted for Obama twice (sucky alternatives, wouldn't do it again), but that man can lie without missing a beat. Even if Malone is that skilled, I haven't seen him misrepresent something of material importance that I can check (I have in Obama's case). I'm also not aware of his being a vital source for disputed and thinly attributed facts, he seems one voice among many. I find what he says to be of interest, but he's not what I'd call a "key witness."
Oh, that's funny Tyrone. You posted exactly the interview I'm responding to. And you're fulfilling exactly the role he's calling for--warriors against those 'chaos agents' who are sowing dissent. Give me an hour or so to get this done and I'll post a link when it's up and will be happy to hear your thoughts on it.
If there was even ONE successful intentional community that was able to largely provide for its own needs, while serving as an example of deep inter-dependence among its members, and its members and the land, these problems will be mostly gone. We would still need individuals to do their spiritual work, and higher levels of organization to function well (like families, villages, tribes, ICs, municipalities, states, companies and the UN) but the levels of family and community have been outcompeted by the global economy and they need to be restored. I don't think the problems will go away if only individuals meditated or acted kindly. It's a multi-level problem.
Charles, you have the opportunity to contribute to one community that could really make an impact. What is your opinion of the conversation with Marcello?
1:20:32 was particularly illuminating for me, when Marcello is stumped by a question that is very dear to me: "If most of the residents are working online, how can they be held accountable to each other, since they are not providing for each others' needs?" He does not get what many of us are getting at (he says he is not "smart enough to answer") so asks Charles to answer. That question is out of his worldview. Charles sort of answers the question, but even Charles doesn't get that deep interdependence goes way beyond food, and even beyond some of the non-material gifts and needs that he talks about. Sure, you can keep working on the internet, because you are contributing to other people more that way than you would by just gardening. But I hope you can also use your gifts for heartful and clear thought to connect directly with the other people there, and to invite people without much money to come, and not be indentured servants.
Also interesting is when Charles asks "how do people without much money come here?" Marcello answers in a utilitarian way: they can contribute by selling their labor for lots. I like Charles' answer better. Marcello would probably be OK with having those prisoners working like slaves to pay their way. And of course he would not be OK with them coming to his ecovillage. I don't blame him, but I think eventually, once the ecovillage is thriving and has the resources to deal with highly traumatized people, it could become a haven for some of those prisoners. And help other ecovillages take off.
I didn't have the chance to listen to the conversation, but if indentured servitude was Marcello's answer to the poor having access to the "community", then that speaks volumes.
That was my understanding, I could be mistaken. In any case, Charles (and Stella?) being there may make Marcello's ideas not as powerful, and his heart might turn.
Your insights are a source of more hope. Family is the way into the future. The family of mankind can operate like any loving family. It will remove the entire concept of economics. The economy is not even real. It is something created and maintained by the effort of people. In that sense, slavery is not real because it does not actually exist outside the behavior of people. Reality must be taken as including what people do, but the ultimate reality is what exists independently of mankind. It become so complex most people can't even discuss it with me. I have spent the past fifty years looking into it. In the family, waste is minimized, hierarchy is temporary due to the helplessness of children. It is cooperation for the mutual benefit. When mankind decides to cooperate for the mutual benefit, some call it egalitarian, there will be a utopia become manifest.
I am very happy to read your thoughts. If you are interested in mine, look for http://www.thepowerofthepeople.org It is just a lot of articles I have posted in an effort to make utopia real.
I live in a part of the USA where so many people use meth and fentanyl. This shows the brokenness of our society in that happiness is not accessible for many in how things are structured. We have exported this brokenness to the countries that supply our drugs in the money we pay for the drugs. Truly filthy lucre.
I find it interesting we all took that deep breath when we saw these pictures. Is it because this is happening in the Americas? Because I didn’t hear the gasps and discussion when we saw very similar pictures but not of MS 13 gang members but of Uyghurs in China. And the Uyghurs are not killing people. I agree with all Charles and Chris said. I want us to raise awareness for all these people.
I want to add an interesting twist to the story. An expert in digital media at the house where I'm staying right now highly doubts the authenticity of the photos. He thinks they were generated by AI. The photos originate with the El Salvador government. I am not sure what to think. The photography is quite amazing (regardless of its horrifying subject matter). If you wanted to stage such a scene even with enthusiastic volunteers, it would be no small feat, let alone with unruly prisoners.
Thanks for the responses, folks. Yeah, i really don't know if the photos are genuine. Or maybe some are and some aren't. Or they are based on genuine photos and then enhanced. Maybe they were created as a kind of aspirational blueprint for what they want the prison to be. In any case, we are about to be flooded with images and videos of unknowable veracity.
It’s interesting... more people I encounter are really starting to question the veracity of things like this. The awareness of AI image generation and deep fakes (in video/audio) have us really questioning what we see. I know it is happening for me!! Faith in media seems to be eroding so quickly at the moment.
As someone who experiments with text-to-image generation, I tend to concur that the images (especially the masses of inmates) are "AI-prompted" and are therefore inauthentic. I had similar results when using AI to generate photorealistic images of refugee camps as an experiment ... it is genuinely difficult to the untrained eye to differentiate what is "really real".
Appreciate your transparency Charles. And yes the image is all a bit too uniform . I believe that strengthening our own inner sovereignty is the best way we can navigate increasing virtual unreality.
At the heart of it Charles, who knows?🤷🏼♀️How, in heavens name, are any of us to know the truth of things? We can only know that atrocity exists and that people exploit people. These images, even if they are artificially produced, arouse in us….. oops, arouse in me, an outrage and a sorrow that says STOP 🛑 Humanity needs healing. And those healed…..if there ever is such a thing…. must simply lead by a noble, dignified and rooted conviction and an embodied truth that oozes, shouting, ‘ love conquers all.´
I know what you mean, but many people also questioned the TRUE pictures that emanated from Nazi concentration camps at the end of WW2: but those bodies were very, very real. Piles of them, rotting in huge heaps and mounds. I've spoken to some of the allied soldiers who liberated them: what they witnessed was a hell on earth.
Well, of course there is nothing saved, no effort put forth other than to sit back & dream grandiose, compassionate reveries and post them here in order to obtain validation/admiration from similarly-minded folk. No exhaustion whatsoever, eh Jason? 2 decades now, CE saying the same old thing and we're all still rotting here in prison hoping the warden will somehow be so deeply moved by our naivete in defiance of cultural limits, by our sacred beauty, that he will experience a long-overdue change of heart, grab his keys, move toward our cages and with silent tears of remorse, set us all free.
"To be sane in this world, it is necessary to carry both the horror and the beauty in one’s heart."
That's the truest thing I've encountered so far today. Thank you, Charles.
The horror is an illusion, a dream we make up from the lies of our own guilt, a necessary consequence of seeing evil in the world, trying to project it out instead of owning it. When we forgive; others as we forgive ourselves, we make the transition from fault-making and fault finding bodies to spirit, created innocent from our inception as in the likeness of God. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
Neither the sacrifice of those prisoners nor the sacrifice of ourselves will end our guilt. Only forgiveness, metanoia, will allow us to see heaven on earth, with a different vision.
"If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent."
Yes Robert, “forgiveness, metanoia, will allow us to see heaven on earth.” I don’t know if that is the “only” way, but it was what liberated the character named Kat from the illusion. Much love ❤️
It is the only way. We must change our minds to see life as God sees it to find the love that lies behind the seeming separation of the "world." God never knows of anything but perfection. He's not deceived by what we have imagined to be truth. Like yourself, I had to experience the power of forgiveness in my life to be certain it is the key to happiness. And then 15 years ago I found A Course in Miracles and it has become even more clear and encompasses everything I think and do.
Sacred lines. I was about to post exactly the same line here and everywhere. It feels incredible that many us are feeling the same.
I agree. That one statement is the essence of the human condition.
I agree too. Simultaneously holding beauty and horror, love and fear, selflessness and selfishness is a hard requirement because it's the price we pay to discover who we are. The human condition is what happens before that moment
I'll bet a lot of us were ready to quote that same line, William. I know I was. It's so true.
Do I detect some patting of one's own back here?
What side of the fence are you criticizing, yours, or another's?
You decry evils, and I suppose maybe that's not just "virtue signaling," but what is the "something for real" that you are doing?
Whatever good you're doing "for real," you seem awful darn sensitive to be posting on the Internet. It's a rough place, and I'm not anything like the best example of rough talk.
What's a 6/9 talker? A Jimi Hendrix reference?
The solution to our world's atrocities is illiogical - improve yourself spiritually. It takes the majority of a lifetime to discover that the cause is everything and that to move yourself one step forward morally is the single most important thing to do with your time. I have very little control over others. But I have maximum control over myself
I sat in a meadow. I was meditating - I was improving myself spiritually. In the stream beside me I noticed some barrels with "toxic" written on their sides. I meditated - I was improving myself spiritually. I found out the toxins were packed badly and would open up in the lake further down stream. I kept being in the meadow improving myself spiritually... Till I stood up and fished the toxic containers out of the stream. I returned to improve myself spiritually. Even wondering if they were the same. .... I want to find a balance - my balance - with improving myself spiritually and acting to stop some atrocities. I believe that just focussing on my own spiritual growth is one of the many constructs invented by clever people to not needing to feel co-responsible to act to prevent, to decrease or stop atrocities.
Very true. The escape into spirituality was invented by clever people to flee from the responsibility towards the fellow people. And some 'New Ager' have been even more clever and made a billion dollar industry out of it.
"Each for himself and God for all of us".
It's a well-known preacher strategy since ancient times which keeps the preacher safe and wealthy while others go out working in the fields and and fighting in streets, also for his freedom. But if a preacher then uses the right words in his sermons, he can even become a hero or a leader, too. But that's another story, because that can be risky. The hero of this channel might tell some harsh stories about it
yes i do see there is a multi million 'spiritual' industry and I see many genuine people trying to find spiritual ways out of the mess the outer world presents us with ... I believe in combining spiritual practice, self development inquiry and 'political' activities ...
Here's what I see in these photos -- young, strong, healthy, men who are being warehoused because society has no productive use for them.
In a former era in the U.S., such men would have worked in factories building things. But that level of industrialization never made it to El Salvador.
In Central America as you know, the U.S. was terrified that such men would turn to communism. So they flooded the area with guns and proxy wars in the 1980s. When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, the narcotraficantes converted the guns and the men trained to use them into workers who could move their product north. Now the government is warehousing these men indefinitely, because it does not have a better use for them.
In the U.S., these same young people are being maimed and killed by the Pharma cartel via the obscene childhood vaccine schedule and the deadly Covid shots. It's the same impulse -- the state does not know what to do with surplus labor, so the developed world is just sterilizing and killing these same people while extracting all wealth from their families via medical bills.
You don't get into that prison if you're a common criminal. These are all gang members with evil programmed into their hearts long ago by corporate cartels. They proudly mark that allegiance on their faces to instill fear in anyone who comes near them. They are not the helpless victims some here suggest. They are grown men, with free will, who chose to perpetuate darkness in their communities. This was a last resort to address the highest murder rate on the planet - almost all of it gang-related.
How they ended up in gangs is another matter and a much greater problem to address at the global level, which Bukele is also doing, by the way. (Watch his UN address). However, the individual actions and crimes of men cannot be excused simply by blaming the CIA and US Intervention. Bukele is well-aware of those forces, and he also has other measures in place to break free from the corrupt international war-banking community that kept El Salvador in poverty and chaos for so long.
In this case, it's good to throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater. He's getting rid of street crime, organized crime, financial and political crimes, in tandem, to break free and let his country thrive. The globalists don't like that, which explains the coordinated messaging of personal attacks, hit pieces and critiques on his vision in the context of social justice and so on. Talk to any honest citizen in El Salvador and they will tell you about their own social justice journeys, from fear to freedom.
There had to be a break in this pattern, so he chopped the head off the beast to let it die. These solutions are unpleasant, but not as much as the generations of terror they propagated on their neighbours. Let your heart bleed out all you like, but this reality is dark, and so is the solution.
It should be noted that these men are incredibly successful criminal entrepreneurs and most certainly NOT unproductive, as suggested above. They participate in unimaginable coordinated brutality. They cut boys' heads off and put them on stake for mothers to find. They dominate and extort every small business in the country. They run vast empires of human trafficking, drugs, contraband goods, weapons, and anything else they can steal and sell. That all takes highly efficient, productive and motivated actors. To suggest they were bored and fell into crime is nonsense.
If they channeled that resourcefulness and commitment to doing good, instead of evil, we would not be looking at these images. But these are not everyday criminals. People I work with in El Salvador are quite happy with this new specialized gang prison system, and they would fall over laughing to hear anyone defend these monsters who killed their families, raped their daughters or burned their stores down.
Fun Fact: Gang crime now committed on the streets get punished inside the gang prison. They remove privileges for all members of particular gang with leaders inside who made the orders. This makes them accountable inside to their fellow inmates and removes their power to dominate the community from behind bars. Crime is dropping dramatically because of these threats of isolation and porridge lunches. This is how you kill the beast, once and for all.
Do we really believe that such brutally violent, traumatized men can be rehabilitated into society? I've never seen evidence of that. Let the good honest people of El Salvador live their lives, and protect them from these monsters who sold their souls for status long ago.
This is also how, from a great distance, I see it. This problem, whatever its roots, needed to be cauterised. What to do now is a second-order issue. It does not invalidate the moral trade-off that was made. Even if there is much more to be said on the subject and I don’t disagree with Charles either.
I'm saying that this is the continuation of 500 years (actually longer) of genocide in the region. The tasks are different, the uniforms are slightly different, but the outcome is the same. I'm asking what would it take to move to a non-genocidal economy for the first time in millennia?
I saw vitality and power in the photos but had no words for the crushing environment. ‘Warehoused’ nailed it.
I see their beauty too
In healthy traditional cultures these men would have been warrior protectors, hunters and athletes. When my own traditional tribal culture broke down during colonization, for the very first time, we had young tribal males preying on our own people; because the traditional outlets for their natural aggression and manhood were denied them by the peace treaties and assimilation. So for the very first time ever my tribe had to create our own law enforcement agency to protect us against our own young men. Those tribal young men who became outlaws way back then were not funded or given weapons by the US government or controlled by the CIA or hooked on drugs, etc. They were simply denied access to the traditional cultural tools of healthy manhood. That alone was enough to turn them rogue.
I recently dropped into one of our local village community cafe events and asked the question of the people there 'what is it that needs to change to create a healthy (define how you want) local economy, ecology, community, polity etc..
Whilst they were surprised, they entered into a really interesting discussion. The consensus was attitudes. But, it became clear to me that what they really meant was other people's attitudes.
When I was mulling over the discussion later, I realised a better question to ask might have been 'what is it about me (as in each of us) that needs to change to create a healthy ..... ?
Major turning point in my life was during a three month incarceration experience. Last place I thought I’d be. It challenged me as does looking at these photographs. Thank you for sharing.
In which country did you serve time John?
Canada
What did you do? (Admittedly none of my business.)
I hope it wasn't joining a protest against Justin or praying in the street without a face diaper.
No, it was nothing like like that.
I've been watching El Salvador for the past few years because of my work in the Bitcoin/energy space. From my perspective in Canada, I have no way to fully understand this situation, but when speaking with my friends who live in El Salvador, they see this as a good solution, for now. They are exhausted living in fear and this gives them some breathing room to relax and get on with life, as one described it. It's not political for them. It's purely a survival strategy, like locking your house at night.
This could lead to bigger cultural shifts over the long term, coinciding with things like Bitcoin adoption, tech investment and tourism which will free the country from the shackles of the Mister Global, Davos and US imperialism. There is a distinct energy and optimism that we've never seen before in that tiny volcano nation. Oddly, these images are part of that.
One key tenet of Bitcoin-ism is that it frees us from violence and wars, because it challenges a fiat system built on power and control that use those tactics. Bitcoin erases those anonymous, centralized forces and allows every man to assert himself and interact freely with others, with no 3rd party providing permission. In that context, trust becomes unnecessary, because we only have the singular, locked truth of each individual peer-to-peer / node-to-node transaction.
The Bitcoin system would gradually erase oppression of the people by gangsters, banksters and govt overlords because they will be rendered useless and powerless in how we relate to each other. First we lock up those who would steal from you or hurt you, and then we unlock a new form of wealth that is nearly impossible to steal and liberates you from your masters. That's never been done before.
It is ironic that we need a government like Bukele's with its 'friendly' authoritarian tendencies, to install a destabilizing infrastructure like Bitcoin to bring order to a disordered place.
I been loosely following El Salvador adoption of bitcoin for a while now. I don't think anyone would care or know whats happening in there prisons if they didn't make BTC there de facto money. In theory i'm opposed to prison except for truly violent people. I also realize many people are violent because they been through the prison system. I'm afraid there no good short term solutions. I can see the appeal of this Draconian measures but Also realize that it will likely lead to the cancerous growth of a prison industrial complex.
So this is a site that is usually centered on love, healing and creating a beautiful world, but there are 10 people who want to lock people up and switch to a techno currency. This comment section is getting stranger and stranger.
I’m curious what’s your objection to “
Techno currency
... and allows every man to assert himself .... man .... himself ....????
Yes. Relax. You know that the masculine has been used for brevity in writing since man began writing. And besides, Man can be anything you want it be now. What is a man, anyway? If I change it to Human person, will you be satisfied?
yes, I feel upset about this topic as research has shown that girls and women feel excluded when he/him is used, despite it being meant for all. The dillemma can be mostly and easily avoided by using the plural. I would be satisfied if you gave it a try. :)
What I have loved about your writing since discovering you during the covid coup era is your ability or willingness to face reality in its political and "real" dimensions while at the same time always attempting to go beyond the limits imposed on us by the cultural and political manufacturers of consent that work so hard at ensuring that the "real" be contained by the discursive walls of "reason".
Beautiful! As always, this helps me so much along my path. Feeling deep gratitude for everyone currently doing their part, it supports me so much! And to everyone who isn't: it will come in due time ✨
Thank you Charles for helping me continue to wake up, and contribute my bit. And Yasmine, your comment echoes exactly my feeling and response to reading this.
And there: even more hope :) Thanks David.
My future daughter-in-law's parents moved from El Salvador to the US. Her father began working in construction, then opened his own very small construction company and seems to have done well for their family. Her mother worked cleaning houses, then opened her own company doing the same. They told me they immigrated to the US because of the crime in El Salvador. Her father stated, "I don't know if I am a democrat or a republican, but I know I'm for whatever this guy (Bukele) is for." When questioned a bit more, he stated that the majority of girls in his previous homeland over the age of 16 have been raped by gang members. In fact, some folks there don't even know of a girl 16 or older who hasn't been raped by a gang to get into the gang as initiation. Girls who refuse are killed. He elaborated more, buy I understood the picture, it was a very violent place, they lived in fear daily. Their family that remains there still live in great fear.
After reading Charles' writing, I wonder if he would offer himself a test such as imagining having a conversation with a 16 year old girl after she was raped, or a parent of a child killed by a gang member, on a soul-to-soul level. The parent asks Charles, “What were you doing while my daughter's youth, her dreams, her body, her mind, her innocence, her very last breath was being torn away from her by a criminal who has done this to others in our neighborhood?” Could Charles then offer his answer? Can he look the parent in the eye without shame? If he says, "I was planting a garden, I was playing with a child, I was working to end hunger in Haiti, prisons in America, or war in Ukraine; if I say I was protecting a forest somewhere, I was healing a person or a patch of soil or my own trauma; even if I say I was with my mother in her dying days". The parent will nod their head, knowing that all of these things do nothing to stop the present situation, the present hell that envelopes their world.
Yes, those would be good tests too. It makes the same point.
But I see the gang members as victims too. Consider this: what happened to turn them from cute little babies into murderers and rapists? Nothing good, that's what.
That's an excellent question. I think it would be interesting to read several different people's answer, along with their reasoning. We each have different experiences that influence our world view, so the reasoning, or the "why" is important and could be quite personal. But when it's personal and honest, it's not an echo chamber like so many voices seem to be. I'll give mine, with fictitious names, make it as short as possible, and hope it's interesting enough to read.
When I was 4, my aunt was murdered by her husband. They had two children, Lynn 14, and Harold 10, both were home when their father shot and killed their mother. Another aunt & uncle, Helen & Elwood, brought those two children into their home and raised them with their own two children who happened to be the same ages, Dee 14 & Kay 10. Helen and Elwood gave the same love and attention to the two additional children they brought into their home as they did their own. I know this because they practically raised me in my youngest years. They loved and cared for us all equally.
The oldest two, Lynn and Dee, were more studious, both went to college. Lynn became a public school teacher.
The younger two, Harold and Kay, acquired no further education than completing high school.
Mid life events:
All four had children, three of the four, Lynn, Dee, and Harold, went through one divorce.
Both of the oldest, Lynn and Dee, had more significant traumatic events in their lives. Lynn had an emotional divorce with a very deceitful and unfaithful husband, then lost 2 of her 3 children to drugs. Dee had one child abducted, assaulted, abused, which resulted in lifelong learning issues. Then her older child, a young teenager was killed in a car accident. Remember, one of these had the initial tragedy of losing a parent and one didn't.
The murder of my aunt occurred in the very late 1960's, so we get a glimpse of how these four lives have unfolded in time, at least from my perspective which obviously isn't all knowing, but enough to help shape my world view.
Being family, all cousins, and having known and loved all four of them, I don't think my opinion of the results is biased. I hate to use the word results when two of the four are still living, but they are in their 60's, so perhaps I can be forgiven.
Results: Of the two older ones(one with the murdered mother and one without), both with more mid-life trauma: Dee was an alcoholic and to a lesser degree, messed up on drugs. She had multiple DUI's, so many she was sent to jail or prison for a period of time. In short her life was in shambles when she died. Her peer in age, Lynn, is near sainthood. She is one of the sweetest, kindest, most pleasant people I've been around. Through all the loss in her life, her mother, two sons, her best friend, the divorce, through everything, Lynn is an amazing lady, by any standard and living her life after retiring as a school teacher.
Looking at the lives of the younger two, one who lost their mom, Harold and one who didn't, Kay. Harold and his wife both served time in prison for drug distribution charges. They were selling with their young daughter in the backseat of the car. Harold also sexual abused at least one child. As an older adult, Harold did hold down a job and was considered a good worker who never missed work. He mostly kept to himself and did have a descent, yet distant relationship with his only daughter. He passed away recently.
That leaves the other younger one, Kay. Kay married the day after she graduated high school. She and her husband have been married ever since, they have one child, and been anchored in the hometown. She helped take care of her mother, Helen, until her death. She's just a fine, happy, friendly lady who has lived a peaceful life enjoying the simple things. She has never been in any legal or moral trouble that I'm aware of. Her main struggles in life were dealing with the issues of her older sister, Dee.
There are usually questions of economics and race involved in discussions like this. We are white. There is no money here. My uncle, Elwood, was an electrician in a coal mine. He was skillful in helping family members maintain their cars. Vacations were spent camping at a lake in tents with a small, used boat, and going to the state fair. The most financially successful in my family, in the generations discussed here are probably retired military, public school teachers, post office employee.
In summary; four kids raised in the same loving family, not privileged economically, viewed in two groups, older and younger. One older and one younger had an early significant traumatic event. One older and one younger had what might be called a successful, meaningful, or respectful life. The other older and younger ones lives may be described as ...not so successful, meaningful, or respectful.
A very beneficial & powerful force in this true life tale is the rock of support provided by my aunt & uncle. While Elwood worked in the coal mines, my aunt stayed home and raised the family. But even with this in common, the results are very different.
So, what happened to turn them from cute little babies into murderers and rapists? My answer: while they were affected by their environment, which includes family, international, and societal influences as you mentioned earlier. But the reason is their individual choices. Their personal choices when faced with decisions in their lives, just like my cousins, each made their our own choices. Each of us are responsible for our actions, no one else. Actions have consequences, some of them lifelong, sometimes we don't realize when we have jumped off the proverbial cliff, gone past the point of no return. But until that point, we are free to make different choices. I know that isn't popular today, it's always easier to cast blame other than in the mirror. If this weren't true, then 100% of the youth in El Salvador or anywhere else would be in the same situation that their environment set for them. My experience indicates it's just not true.
But, ... the two children whose mother was murdered didn't *choose* to have that happen, it was imposed on them by factors beyond their control (their father).
Agree, I'm sorry, but I'm missing your point.
You seem to be arguing that environmental factors aren't responsible for difference in outcomes, that it's all down to good or bad personal choices. But your story says that different, and worse, "stuff happened" to two of the children, and those two had what I think we agree were worse outcomes, even if worse "personal choices" were part of the chain of events.
So while it may be true that personal choices, better ones and worse ones, have great influence on the eventual outcome, factors beyond an individual's control may have great influence on the choices a person is equipped, personally, to make.
Is that any clearer? Maybe I'm missing *your* point.
Yes, now I understand. Let me clarify.
1. Of the two children who experienced the trauma of a murdered mother by their father, Lynn and Harold. One had significant legal issues, Harold, and one did not, Lynn.
2. Of the two children without the above trauma, Dee and Kay. One had significant legal issues, Dee, while Kay didn't.
3. Breaking them down into age groups: The two oldest continued to have more emotional trauma in their lives than the younger two. Both lost at least one child, both divorced. But resulted in yet again, one had no legal issues, Lynn, while Dee had many legal issues. Remember of these two, Lynn lost 2 children and experienced the loss of her mom and her father's hand.
4. Of the younger pair; again, one had no legal issue, Kay. While the other Harold did. Admittedly Harold had the loss of his mother. But his sister Lynn experienced the loss of her mother and later in life, two children and she experienced no legal issues.
So I am not arguing that environmental factors doesn't play a role, they are part of the hand dealt in life. I give a lot of credit to my aunt and uncle who played a major role in our lives, that family was an environmental factor in our lives. But it was the personal choices of my aunt and uncle to provide that rock solid environment for us.
Today nearly everyone can be a victim with a little reflection and enough effort. Many others feel better about themselves by assisting, supporting, and encouraging that victimhood.
Shorter: some people escape from San Quentin, but that doesn't mean it isn't a prison.
The first thing we have to do is reorient our focus from disturbing news from far away, where our impact may be questionable, to making an impact immediately around ourselves.
So powerful, Charles. I was reading in my Course this morning that we're turning from the game of fear that tired children play to the happy game of salvation. I see this everywhere. I'm recording this morning an episode on a CIA operative acting in the capacity of the leader of the vaccine resistance. Common sense says I should be at least nervous, if I believe what I'm saying. But there have been too many 'coincidences' leading me to this piece of the puzzle. It's mine to put into place. And there's nothing to fear.
Serendipitous to read this, and all of the accompanying musings as I just conclused in the same arena last evening. It is so comforting hear these voices. I have immense gratitude for this little substack corner of the universe....
https://open.substack.com/pub/conspiracysarah/p/placebo?r=thuli&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
You're my new favorite writer, Sarah (next to Charles oc!) And I'm taking you as another happy 'coincidence' to remind me that exposing this person (on whom I've done three episodes already) is a story that's been put in my path, as mine to tell.
I also have a litany of tragedies, close to home but not at home, from this bioweapon. Your dad's initial prognosis is echoed in the six months given my BiL to live now. But I think they say that because it leads them to chemo, which then fulfills the prophesy. Like AZT, like remdesivir. I wish it was otherwise.
I just subbed and noticed how many of the same people we read. Thanks for offering your excellent writing as a gift!
Tereza...🙏🏼many, many thanks. I’ll look forward to many happy coincidences to come...and to reading your stack ;)
I'd be interested in hearing your discussion, Tereza. Would it be about Malone, perchance?
That was some quick work, Bono's Mullet (ha!) Before my computer even retrieved your reply, you'd subbed me, watched 'Is Malone the Zelensky of the Covid Con?" and commented. Yes, this one will be called Phony Maloney & WikiSpooks. Thanks for watching!
And now for some *slow* work ...
My first thought on this is that there are those in positions of wealth and power who don't want a challenging movement to succeed, and one obvious strategy would be to induce division and infighting among their opposition. Another would be to implement controlled opposition. It seems important to distinguish the two.
I can't discount the possibility that option one is the reason for the targeting of Malone. I find his story coherent and generally believable*, even as I note that I probably don't agree with him on everything. What would you point out that I might have missed, either in the cited video or elsewhere? Major points and broad outlines?
It sounds as if the pieces cited above (in your comment) would be more persuasive to those already on board, which wouldn't be me, at least not yet.
* As seen, e.g., in "Pandemic Post Mortem", with Aubrey Marcus. On YT, & possibly elsewhere. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYaLgeEBgaU
Thank you for clarifying this dilemna Tyrone. Lately I have been hearing that all the big names who fought back against the covid narrative are 'controlled opposition'. Many of them lost credibility, careers and even licenses. Talk about turning against our own! No one is going to be perfectly consistent or line up 100% with the ideology of our 'side'. Lately I am watching those who supported Tulsi Gabbard turn on her as well. It is very sad to me as we need these people to speak up and out. Even if 'bad' shit turns up about these guys, I am deeply grateful they gave us a voice at a time when our families and communites were turning against us.
I'll be interested to hear your thoughts, RMW: https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/phony-maloney-and-wikispooks. What I see happening is that the "leaders" are throwing us under the bus, now that we've been proven right. What Malone is saying in this interview is that vaccines are good, the FDA is incompetent but not corrupt, Pfizer pulled the wool over the CDC's eyes.
He contradicts himself in saying we need to trust each other but also be online warriors against 'the ghost army' of ordinary people who are secretly chaos agents. So that sounds like "trust me and attack anyone who questions me, even though I'm the one with a history in weaponized vaccines." He suspects the deaths and adverse effects were from providers storing the vaccines at the wrong temp, causing the cholesterol crystals to aggregate. Nothing nefarious.
I think we've reached a new level of the game but it's not over.
Tereza, Malone has always been contradictory and inconsistent. It is of course possible he is controlled opposition. However many of those questioning Mallone are now also questioning McCullough, Cole and lots of others who spoke out. I personally don't think they are all controlled opposition and again I am grateful they spoke up for whatever reasons. I am not into defending Malone, as I neither like nor trust him, but I do think we needed him for a time because many listened to and took him seriously who would otherwise have not had the courage to speak out . Whether we still need him or not, I don't know. There are many many middle of the road pro-vax docs and other pro-vax folks who spoke out strongly against the mandates and especially against vaccinating healthy young people and kids. Many pro-vax medical professionals protested the lack of transparency and data and research into vax injuries etc. They were not against the covid vax in general, or the CDC etc, they were just against how it was all mishandled. So lots of people legitimately questioned this whole mess to varying degrees and not everyone who questioned the narrative believes that the CDC etc are all evil. I don't know if you watched the documentary produced by a pro-vax, covid vax injured, black liberal female filmaker called "Anectdotals", but it really is a case in point of what I am talking about here. These are all pro-vax, covid vax injured folks, who are still proclaiming their loyalty to vaccines etc, even tho they have been permanently injured and completely dismissed by the CDC etc. I really don't see how anyone can label all of these people 'controlled opposition'. I see them as folks completely invested in the medical system, who even tho heinously betrayed by that system do not want to throw it all away completely. Honestly I think they are the ones who are going to be most successful in changing things from the inside out because very few people are willing to face how entirely corrupt on every level the entire house of cards actually is. Realistically we are not going to get rid of the CDC, FDA, AMA or NIH anytime soon. These agencies are still going to run public and private health policy in america and anyone who wants to maintain license and credibility in the healthcare system at any level is goiing to have to deal with them. In otherwords folks like Malone, etc are still going to have play the game at some level.
Here is a link to "Anecdotals'. Very well done. I recommend it highly. It is reasonable and not sensationalized and is something I have been able to send to folks who believe in the vax, without them having an immediate knee jerk reaction of denial. https://www.anecdotalsmovie.com/
WRT Malone's lawsuit, a court will decide if there was defamation. If there was, he is due damage payments, if not, he's out some substantial lawyers' fees. None of that affects the vast majority of people.
Whether those who led the response to COVID remain able to shape and direct responses to future disasters is still in play, and those players do seem pretty powerful and their actions pretty shadowy. Which way do we think Malone is influencing the situation? I don't see anything particularly problematic in his actions lately, but maybe I'm insufficiently cynical.
It seems better to evaluate patterns of action than to evaluate personalities. Some individual people have confidence-inspiring track records, but nobody is infallible, and few are completely beyond the reach of corruption.
Malone seems an apostate. It would make sense that his former colleagues would hold grudges. It's also *somewhat* understandable that the depth and sincerity of his apostasy would be questioned by some. In that interview he seemed not to be very heavily armored in his rhetoric, seemed pretty straightforward. The inconsistencies in his recollection that you point out seem possibly due to misremembering rather than fabrication, because if he's good enough to lie extremely smoothly, I'd think he'd be good enough to get the details straight.
I voted for Obama twice (sucky alternatives, wouldn't do it again), but that man can lie without missing a beat. Even if Malone is that skilled, I haven't seen him misrepresent something of material importance that I can check (I have in Obama's case). I'm also not aware of his being a vital source for disputed and thinly attributed facts, he seems one voice among many. I find what he says to be of interest, but he's not what I'd call a "key witness."
Oh, that's funny Tyrone. You posted exactly the interview I'm responding to. And you're fulfilling exactly the role he's calling for--warriors against those 'chaos agents' who are sowing dissent. Give me an hour or so to get this done and I'll post a link when it's up and will be happy to hear your thoughts on it.
Awesome! Looking forward to listening.
Here's the episode posted: https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/phony-maloney-and-wikispooks.
If there was even ONE successful intentional community that was able to largely provide for its own needs, while serving as an example of deep inter-dependence among its members, and its members and the land, these problems will be mostly gone. We would still need individuals to do their spiritual work, and higher levels of organization to function well (like families, villages, tribes, ICs, municipalities, states, companies and the UN) but the levels of family and community have been outcompeted by the global economy and they need to be restored. I don't think the problems will go away if only individuals meditated or acted kindly. It's a multi-level problem.
Charles, you have the opportunity to contribute to one community that could really make an impact. What is your opinion of the conversation with Marcello?
1:20:32 was particularly illuminating for me, when Marcello is stumped by a question that is very dear to me: "If most of the residents are working online, how can they be held accountable to each other, since they are not providing for each others' needs?" He does not get what many of us are getting at (he says he is not "smart enough to answer") so asks Charles to answer. That question is out of his worldview. Charles sort of answers the question, but even Charles doesn't get that deep interdependence goes way beyond food, and even beyond some of the non-material gifts and needs that he talks about. Sure, you can keep working on the internet, because you are contributing to other people more that way than you would by just gardening. But I hope you can also use your gifts for heartful and clear thought to connect directly with the other people there, and to invite people without much money to come, and not be indentured servants.
Also interesting is when Charles asks "how do people without much money come here?" Marcello answers in a utilitarian way: they can contribute by selling their labor for lots. I like Charles' answer better. Marcello would probably be OK with having those prisoners working like slaves to pay their way. And of course he would not be OK with them coming to his ecovillage. I don't blame him, but I think eventually, once the ecovillage is thriving and has the resources to deal with highly traumatized people, it could become a haven for some of those prisoners. And help other ecovillages take off.
I didn't have the chance to listen to the conversation, but if indentured servitude was Marcello's answer to the poor having access to the "community", then that speaks volumes.
That was my understanding, I could be mistaken. In any case, Charles (and Stella?) being there may make Marcello's ideas not as powerful, and his heart might turn.
Your insights are a source of more hope. Family is the way into the future. The family of mankind can operate like any loving family. It will remove the entire concept of economics. The economy is not even real. It is something created and maintained by the effort of people. In that sense, slavery is not real because it does not actually exist outside the behavior of people. Reality must be taken as including what people do, but the ultimate reality is what exists independently of mankind. It become so complex most people can't even discuss it with me. I have spent the past fifty years looking into it. In the family, waste is minimized, hierarchy is temporary due to the helplessness of children. It is cooperation for the mutual benefit. When mankind decides to cooperate for the mutual benefit, some call it egalitarian, there will be a utopia become manifest.
I am very happy to read your thoughts. If you are interested in mine, look for http://www.thepowerofthepeople.org It is just a lot of articles I have posted in an effort to make utopia real.
I live in a part of the USA where so many people use meth and fentanyl. This shows the brokenness of our society in that happiness is not accessible for many in how things are structured. We have exported this brokenness to the countries that supply our drugs in the money we pay for the drugs. Truly filthy lucre.
I find it interesting we all took that deep breath when we saw these pictures. Is it because this is happening in the Americas? Because I didn’t hear the gasps and discussion when we saw very similar pictures but not of MS 13 gang members but of Uyghurs in China. And the Uyghurs are not killing people. I agree with all Charles and Chris said. I want us to raise awareness for all these people.