Sunday, November 29, 2020

Richard Gordon interviews Richard Fantin on Albertastan

Episode 69! Part one of our discussion on The Great Reset.


Podcast:

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Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.

Thursday, November 19, 2020

The Great Reset and the Post-Post-Truth era

Ugh.

With my blog being one of few places legitimately exploring The Great Reset there has been an unexpected consequence, traffic has exploded. To give you an idea my post 'George Floyd, the hero that broke the camel's back' after Candace Owens created the controversy around George Floyd being regarded a hero ended up attracting roughly 3x the traffic I normally would. My two posts on The Great Reset have doubled those numbers in about 10% of the time.

For the (many) new readers my blog is intended for a small audience... not that you're not welcome, but to have so many Canadians using my blog as a reference was never my intent in publishing these posts. Be that as it may, what's done is done, isn't it?

I've been observing the various discussions and reading the "debunkings" of The Great Reset with interest. The reactions to Spencer Fernando and the CPC's poorly explained and partisan campaign (especially given the CPC is an IDU member which is just another front group for the folks pulling the strings) is a mix of confusion and dismissal among the left with a small fraction of support (mostly based on the elite's promises of utopia for all). The right has mostly united in opposition to it though with no alternative plan put forward. Don't be fooled, those leading this campaign are in on it and want to control and limit the message keeping it inside it's partisan box.

If the Trump era is the post-truth era, then I'd call the period leading up to it the truth era. This era saw both the rise of Occupy, and the rise of the (real) Tea Party. Both of these forces were quite similar in their complaints even though ideologically at odds.

Then again, maybe it is surprising. As more than a few observers have noted, the Occupy Wall Street chant, “We Are the 99 Percent” — a shot across the bow of the wealthiest 1 percent of the country, which includes the financial predators and confidence gamers who crashed the global economy with impunity — seems synonymous with the Tea Party’s “Take Back America” ethos.

Those similarities, though, mask profound differences. The two movements both loathe the elite, but their goals, and the passions that drive them forward, could not be more at odds.
For a time people were identifying and targeting the real enemy, the bankers. Alternative medias were flourishing and the establishment's forth estate had lost the monopoly on truth. The system's response to this was to create the post-truth era.

Supposedly non-partisan actors that are likely compromised such as Alex Jones began to attach themselves to Trump and elevate what would become the "alt-right". After so many years of delivering somewhat dependable alternative news Jones had gained a significant following and trust, along with others in their same circle of thought such as Stefan Molyneux and this trust and support was leveraged into support for Trump.

As I've pointed out in 'Building bridges when the cause has been hijacked' the message coming from these outlets began to change, as did the tactics the style and the amplification. In effect the system flooded every channel they could find with "fake news" which by association tarnished a lot of the hard work and ground claimed by the people against the elite.

Overloaded with junk information and partisan babble I find the people now have largely been caught in one layer of the propaganda onion or another.

The Great Reset and the responses to it (particularly from the left) are perhaps the best evidence to show we have now entered into what I would deem the post-post-truth era. If the post-truth era was a crisis of people falling for fake news, the post-post-truth era is a crisis of people not believing that which is right in front of their faces. The capacity for critical thought has been attacked to the point that simply the act now of debating a public heavily funded initiative draws the ire of true believers and accusations of "conspiracy theorist".

Wow, well that settles it then. It's a "debunked conspiracy theory". Given I had been writing about this for years I was very curious to see the New York Time's investigation into it and all of the debunking they would do. So let us take a gander, shall we?

A baseless conspiracy theory about the coronavirus has found new life as cases surge once again.

Observe how they start the article, A "baseless conspiracy theory". This is to set the tone and framing in your mind. Regardless what you read from this point further investigation is not needed because it's all "baseless" anyway. Should you feel inclined to think wrongly you'd be believing in baseless nonsense, and nobody wants to do that. This forms a wall in your brain and I would bet most people who have no opinion on the matter after reading this first line have had their objectivity nudged just enough that despite the lack of evidence provided it's sufficient to satisfy their curiosity and not attract scorn.

Let's continue.

On Monday morning, the phrase “The Great Reset” trended with nearly 80,000 tweets, with most of the posts coming from familiar far-right internet personalities. The conspiracy alleges that a cabal of elites has long planned for the pandemic so that they could use it to impose their global economic control on the masses. In some versions of the unfounded rumor, it is only President Trump who is thwarting this plan and keeping the scheme at bay.

Again, notice the strong language. It's not just a baseless conspiracy theory but it's also an unfounded rumor. Also notice now the mention of Trump which adds an additional layer of doubt to the credibility. Nobody wants to be associated to Trump...

We are now two paragraphs in, with numerous generic statements against but not even the slightest explanation of what it actually is or any evidence offered or counterpoint from those actually talking about it. This is the same tactic outlets like Rebel Media take in their presentations.

The first argument presented by the New York Times comes in the form of a tweet and it's an inaccurate strawman. This is the world's billionaire's and mega-corporations coordinating this agenda the talking head politicians are just there to help you take your medicine. It's a weak point that doesn't address the evidence but even still I will offer this counterpoint: Always love it when the same crowd who tells us billionaires shouldn't exist simultaneously believe they all came together to brilliantly save the planet.

The narrative first took root in late May, when Prince Charles and Klaus Schwab, the executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, announced plans to convene world leaders and discuss climate change and how to rebuild an economy damaged by the pandemic. The meeting was branded as a “Great Reset,” and the false rumors about the tight-knit group of elites manipulating the global economy took off.
So here we can see the shitty research of the NYT really shining through. Is that when "the narrative" first took root? Are you sure it wasn't back in 2016 when the World Economic Forum released their first Great Reset slide-show? Of course they don't make mention of that 2016 slideshow at all in this post instead making the claim.

If the NYT is to be believed how do they explain this article from 2016? The second portion is how the NYT explains it away, and as you all have seen from the information posted here and here it is a blatant lie. It can not be denied this has been prepared and planned years in the making. The meeting was named after the plan that has existed long before, so why would the NYT want you to think differently?
Then, over the weekend and into Monday morning, a video of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada speaking from a United Nations meeting in September gained millions of views online. In the video, Mr. Trudeau referred to a “great reset” and also happened to utter the words “build back better,” which conspiracists saw as a tie-in to President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. — who had used the phrase as a campaign slogan.
(Actually, he just said "reset" but as you know from my post 'Alberta in the context of the Great Reset' it is clearly in reference to The Great Reset Initiative. The fucking NYT can't even get his quote right.)
Soon, far-right internet commentators with records of spreading misinformation posted about the conspiracy, collecting tens of thousands of likes and shares on Facebook and Twitter. The posters included Paul Joseph Watson, a former contributor to Infowars, and Steven Crowder, who has falsely asserted that coronavirus death tolls are inflated.

The New York Times continues with "baseless by association" as an argument. Still not a single reference to an actual argument made against the source or the source itself.

Joan Donovan, the research director at Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center, said it is “maddening” to see the same networks of influencers traffic in recycled conspiracies and get in the way of delivering accurate information to the public. “What is true is that Covid is on the rise in the U.S. because of poor leadership and the lack of a nationally coordinated response,” Ms. Donovan said.

Twitter said the tweets about the conspiracy did not violate its rules, and that “The Great Reset” was no longer trending.

Facebook did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Hilarious eh? Here you have the NYT that can't get basic facts, dates, sources, or quotes correct being referenced as proof that The Great Reset is a conspiracy. That is the post-post-truth era in a nutshell.

Nothing presented here debunks anything. They don't link to anything that debunks anything. They just repeat, over and over again how debunked it is and lie to you about the purpose and intent. The system has an invested interest in people genuinely believing this Great Reset has come about due to the pandemic. Guess what? that was planned too. Do you really want to go for a ride? read this and this.

The other pieces I've read "debunking" The Great Reset have been similar to the NYT a large pile of nonsense aiming to make you feel like an idiot for being concerned without presenting even one shred of evidence despite the content available everywhere. Hell, here's an Australian Senator opposing it

Here's me talking about it in March in relation to a peer-reviewed report on peak oil that said a reset would be needed:

 And on

And on.

Welcome to the post-post-truth era.


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Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.

Monday, November 16, 2020

Cognitive dissonance is a trans-partisan trait

I've never been afraid of taking a controversial position. It comes with the territory of forecasting future trends. Years ago at the tail end of Alberta's boom I'd tell folks the oilsands were on their last legs. I was called crazy, this was when Max Fawcett blocked me. Standing up for what you know to be true before it's time has come is difficult. I feel I'm constantly swimming upstream and by the time the crazy things I'm discussing become self evident there are never any reparations made or mistakes acknowledged. Those who fight so vehemently against different ideas never seem to remember they were once opposed and even act as though they knew the whole time. Cowards.

As a privileged white male in a safe industry I have the luxury to be able to speak my mind and as such I feel it is my obligation to really speak it regardless what's on it. Sometimes what I'm saying resonates with "the left", and sometimes with "the right". That's because this blog is non-partisan, I don't care about your political leanings only to provide the best information I can and sometimes that information is what is being discussed in left-wing circles, and sometimes in right-wing circles.

Despite the fact I have been writing about the great reset for years while most Canadians just started talking about it yesterday I've already had numerous left-wing folks block and write me off as a "nutter". Ah, home sweet home.

Much like when I debate those on the right, those on the left when confronted with information they automatically oppose often resort to the same tactics as those on the right. Attacking the messenger, making strawman arguments, there really isn't much difference between the left and the right.

It becomes even more frustrating for me because the left apparently doesn't remember due to the age of Trump that they used to oppose the banks. That they used to doubt the honesty of the intelligence agencies. The left has gone from occupying wall street to believing "Joe Biden saved democracy". Joe 'Patriot Act' Biden himself. In my final post in 2017 before my hiatus I wrote about how the system was using Trump to re-legitimize the banking system and the elites that infest it. Mission accomplished, I'd say.

Here is an example thread of what happens when "the left" is confronted, notice how closely it mirrors the knee-jerk #DefundTheCBC style reactions you might see from the right:

I chalk this type of reaction up to cognitive dissonance. Folks see the elites getting together, they see the initiative, they know the global economy has been looted, they know if those who had looted it now had a plan to "fix it" which primarily benefits themselves and of which not many people will like that they're not going to be upfront about it. I'm not sure exactly what sort of source these folks are looking for for an in-depth analysis but you're not going to get it from the MSM funded by the very billionaires operating the initiative.

I don't mind talking about it because at this point its a done deal. It's happening, its now being publicly discussed which means the plans are already set and in motion. This will become self-evident in time.

As always this blog aims to inform those with critical thinking skills that can take this information, and act on it. For those that doubt the great reset, that is your prerogative, I have no interest in attempting to convince anyone and frankly if at this stage you still need convincing there's not a hell of a lot of actions left for you to take anyway.


Click here to recommend this post on progressivebloggers.ca and help other people find this information.

Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.

Alberta in the context of the Great Reset

The Great Reset should be of no surprise to long time readers of my blog. I've been discussing the various facets of the coming new-feudalist system for years now, such as in 'Frugal or Feudal? Taper terrors and the costs that bind us' or more recently 'The emperor's new cloak', I also discussed portions of it on my interview with Richard Gordon on Albertastan and in many many other posts. In fact Michael Ruppert discusses the concepts of it in his video 'The Truth and Lies of 9/11' waaaay back in November of 2001.

I discussed how Canada was preparing a digital currency for this new system in 'Russia moves for N.A. production and banking death blow while Kenney's agenda disintegrates over-night'. Max Fawcett even blocked me on Twitter ages ago back when he was still cheering for the oilsands because I told him this would happen, oil wouldn't return above $60, and Saudi's (the world) would move away from the USD.

Suck it, Max.

I have been holding on to a lot of my analysis these past months. Sometimes you just have to read the room regarding when and how information is distributed. I aim to provide you dear reader the best information I have, that can be relied upon, and as such many of my "works in progress" I will not discuss until the proper time.

If you think the Great Reset is a joke, think again. For instance here is a news release from back in June 2020 directly from gc.ca.

Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales and the Commonwealth group of Permanent Representatives to the United Nations regarding financing for development and the Great Reset initiative. The Prime Minister thanked His Royal Highness for initiating the discussion at such a critical time and for championing the Great Reset initiative to build a better and more sustainable future for all.

With Justin Trudeau now publicly calling for this reset I believe it is time to start putting the things I've been discussing into perspective.

First, if you don't know what the Great Reset is Chris Martenson has put out a comprehensive video covering the WEF's material which I have recently reposted here. I implore you really take the time to absorb the information if you have not heard of this before, don't just write it off. I'm aware the Great Reset is now circulating in right wing circles mostly and while based on my observations few (including Spencer Fernando) really understand it and the players and motives involved this does not mean it doesn't exist. As I have discussed many times on here.. the cause has been hijacked.

Understanding that this was coming down the pipes has really helped guide my understanding of the UCP and their motives. As I've said many times they are here to loot the province, place private risk on the public and clear the way for the big money to leave. Alberta is a dead horse in this new paradigm and Jason Kenney is here to facilitate the departures.

If you think this is all "Justin Trudeau's" doing think again, this is far beyond Justin Trudeau and "the left", it is global and coordinated. This is not a battle of ideology, it is a battle of class and I hope that the right does not aid the globalists cause by believing this has anything to do with the left vs right political football and instead allow this issue to unify the sides in a true fight against the elite. You know, those folks that broke and looted the global economy in the first place.

Much like Chris Martenson, I am sympathetic to the reasoning but not the methods. This is not being done for the good of the planet, it's being done so that the ruling elite can cement their place as the global systems fall apart and keep the peasants from revolting and much like Chris Martenson I understand that the infinite exponential growth economy is dead.

In Alberta this has been particularly difficult because we're not just battling the elite's implementation of The Great Reset but we are also battling the pouty Albertan rich boys who didn't make it into the club looting everything they can before it happens. It's a double whammy and I still maintain the best thing you can do if you can do it is leave Alberta, it's not going to be easy digging out of the hole these assholes have dug for us.

My only advice at this time is to be cautious, prepare, and have an open mind because one way or another, it's coming.


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Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.

Friday, November 13, 2020

Chris Martenson lays out 'The Great Reset'


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Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.

Thursday, November 12, 2020

The partisan nature of no-position non-partisanship

There's a new group of non-partisan ideaers 'TheNext30' that have published their debut idea: 'The last thing we need for progress is a polarized Alberta'. As a follow-up here is a Twitter thread where one of the group's founders discuss what non-partisan means for them. Of particular interest is this statement:

The article, much like this statement, sounds great on the surface but only by avoiding the elephant in the room: Alberta's corrupt purposely divisive government.

In fact even avoiding the elephant in the room they cross into the bounds of unAlbertan heresy, take this paragraph for instance:
How can we reduce our economy’s and provincial budget’s exposure to the volatility of oil and gas prices? How can we build an inclusive social fabric so that every Albertan feels like they belong? How can we ensure that Alberta’s energy sector thrives in a low-carbon emissions future? How can we walk the path of genuine reconciliation in a way that honours Indigenous knowledge and culture and creates new opportunity?

Go ahead, ask a UCP minister any of these questions, what is the response going to be?

For the first question, in recent months, you'll likely be pulled into a debate about how oil demand will be here for years to come and that thus must mean Alberta's bottom of the barrel bitumen will be in demand and to say anything otherwise is anti-Albertan. It was a year ago they'd tell you there is no need to diversify at all in fact it's only due to COVID and the Saudi price war that diversification has even entered into the UCP lexicon and it much like any other word they speak has been redefined to fit their narrative.

Sorry TheNext30 but you're going to need to exclude the UCP types from your partisan premise.

It's hard to discuss ideas when the problems are the subject of dispute and used for political purposes and it's even harder when the problems are deliberately obfuscated for corrupt purposes.

How about the next one? Making every Albertan feel like they belong? Sounds like partisan socialist claptrap to me. The Alberta government has made it clear every Albertan doesn't belong. Letter after letter, concern after concern, many from non-partisan groups who may have even majority voted UCP have expressed concern over what the Alberta government is doing and what is the response? They're somehow aligned with "the socialists". The UCP routinely claim they "will not be lectured", that their mandate to do whatever they want whenever extends from that one election they won, and they even put earplugs in. 

As I stated in 'Alberta's Great Panderer' war is the only language the UCP knows and their entire legitimacy as a government among their remaining supporters rests on the idea Alberta must be at war with everything and anyone who opposes Alberta's core identity of oil & gas or is against the government routinely giving them breaks at the expense of everyone else. They're not just a partisan, but an enemy.

Well how about the next question? surely this one will be non-partisan...

How can we ensure Alberta's energy sector thrives in a low carbon emissions future?

Oh Geez.

Sounds like a question "those who say they're concerned" might ask, but not one the Alberta government chooses to ask. Instead the government has chosen to go after critics with their joke of an extended inquiry. You should be careful TheNext30 as asking such unAlbertan questions will surely get you branded as a partisan or at the very least as "those who say they are concerned".

I could go on but I think my point is clear.

I suggest TheNext30 go tell those on AISH the government fucked over so they could try to cook the books to cover for their criminal giveaways that they just need to try not being so damn partisan. Maybe the government wouldn't have torn up doctor's contracts if doctors didn't stick up for themselves and let Tyler Shandro camp out on their driveways. Maybe the election commissioner wouldn't have been fired if he took a more non-partisan approach and didn't bother to investigate anything.

Now I'm not saying anything is wrong with wanting to have a discussion about these things or that they are in fact partisan but to ignore Alberta's climate is likewise a partisan position. Let me explain.

Let's look at their closing paragraphs:

Exploring these and other big questions in an environment of mutual respect can help people to find their voices. It can also shine the light on the many inspiring leaders throughout the province whose ideas and character can serve as examples for us as we struggle to find our way in a changing world.

Above all, it can help illuminate the fact that we are going to have to come together to face the future with confidence and hope — and that doing so will be necessary if Alberta is going to thrive over the next 30 years and beyond.

This is how our path can differ from the one that’s been taken by our American neighbours and why it can lead to a better future. But it has to start now, with all of us. We had best get to it.

There's that elephant again. It goes unmentioned but is also implicitly present. "Coming together to face the future with confidence and hope [because the current government is ignoring it]", "doing so will be necessary if Alberta is going to thrive over the next 30 years and beyond [especially since the current government rejects the very premise of the problems]", "This is how our path can differ from the one that's been taken by our American neighbors [who much like us were (and still are) rejecting reality in favour of staunch American exceptionalism]".

For a long time now folks in Alberta have been trying to have these conversations and for a long time now those who have have found themselves under perpetual demonization by a province that has been captured by corporate interests but when it comes to the UCP, this isn't partisanship, it's all out class warfare. Albertans of every political stripe are under attack. Albertans' wealth is being looted. Concerns are met with highly paid issue manager propagandists. Any objective non-partisan, left or right winger, should be able to see this. If you can't then perhaps you are too partisan or too obsessed with the perception of being non-partisan to the point that the rules and taboos of non-partisan-ville themselves become a partisan position.

Canadian Trends has been a non-partisan blog for nearly 10 years and was also one of the first publications to correctly identify the UCP's motives and I'm sad to say that so far my forecasts have been quite accurate regarding them. Partisanship is not firm opposition to a sitting government, partisanship is not taking a position on an issue, partisanship is blind support for a political party. I can say the Alberta NDP had good policy and that I supported the NDP government without supporting everything NDP and I can likewise vehemently oppose the UCP government due to their corrupt criminal lying fuckwad policies and attitudes without being against "Conservatives". Hell conservatives can be against the UCP and still be conservatives.

The non-partisan discussions TheNext30 wants to have have already been had, and were deemed partisan. That ship has sailed. Alberta's situation now is that it is under siege by a criminal cabal that has weaponized division and is hell bent on looting this province for every last penny and asset it has and that is the only discussion that needs to be had now if we want any future at all in this shithole and any true non-partisan that isn't so partisan to their belief in non-partisanship should recognize it.

Some might say we've lost our way but I would say we've not gone far enough.


Click here to recommend this post on progressivebloggers.ca and help other people find this information.

Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.