Jeff - THIS was truly your best ever! You have shed light on something we could sense, but not put a finger on. Those of us in our middle age could see it and knew something was not quite right.
Jeff - THIS was truly your best ever! You have shed light on something we could sense, but not put a finger on. Those of us in our middle age could see it and knew something was not quite right.
And some of us who are in the seventh decade of earthly life - we who were alive, participating, observing when American society still functioned more or less as designed - KNOW from our own experience that this corrupt crap today is not right.
I am so thankful and so relieved and so proud of the work DOGE is doing —and for the first time ever, so filled with hope for my grandchildren’s futures.
and to think they have only scratched the surface - the level of corruption is truly breathtaking - heard a clip from a congresswoman about a finance agency similar to USAID that dispenses billions for leftists projects as well - like 40 billion for green energy in Africa - and here we thought communism died with the Soviet Union - nope it moved to the deep state
As Bill Rice, Jr wrote on his Substack, “Covid was not the story; it was the universally scripted compliance.” Pretty clear now, isn’t it? Everyone was pointing fingers at the WEF/WHO, diverting attention from our own USAID. When all the pieces fit…
My husband and I have been complaining for years now how American culture has devolved, how primitive, ugly and uncivilized America has become, and how unimaginative, vapid and downright evil Hollywood and the music industry has been in the last couple decades. Thanks for connecting the dots for us, Jeff!
You should see it in Music Conservatories. My son is a musician, singer and composer. He wrote a piece using Isaiah 40 and was told by a visiting professor that he would never be part of the Community. This Professor now teaches at Hillsdale of all places. “Classical Music” today is written to cause angst in the listener. Beauty is not tolerated.
And it should be mentioned that the frequency of musical instruments was changed by Goebbels from 432 to 440. The new frequency is much less harmonious.
Check out the choral compositions from Elaine Hagenberg for some relatively modern refreshing, uplifting music, especially the selection, You Do Not Walk Alone on elainehagenberg.com. There are audio files there to listen to.
Yet the arts are flourishing with beauty in Russia. A friend of mine who was born and raised in the former Soviet union, showed me a clip of a famous Greek born maestro in Russia. He was given the opportunity many years ago to continue his musical career in the US or Russia and he chose Russia. The clip showed him and a female violinist backstage before entering the Orchestra for Ravel's Bolero, and both he and she are shown doing the sign of the cross in the Orthodox fashion.
Another side news, about the Eurovision musical contest,which had censored Russia from participation. They have created their own, open to all countries,without perversion and lgbtq biases like woke Eurovision.
My mother used to say that where there is God, there is beauty everywhere: art, music, architecture.
i'm certain that you are right. we have a husband and wife russian symphonic musicians who stay at our house frequently. they are very traditional, family oriented and religious. russia is what USAID calls a "closed society" which means that they are closed to US funded groups going in there to stir up trouble. i suspect that is why they haven't descended into our insanity.
and why we had to attack them from ukraine.
meanwhile european countries, not the ones under the spell of the EU, are thrilled to be freed from our oppressive Empire.
How about this adorable little Russian prodigy, Elisei Mysin? I think he was 6 or 7 here, but he’s 14 now and has won most international competitions in recent years: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Do0Qz-y0Fn4
For the last decade or so I have described current pop tunes as “music to commit suicide by.” The lyrics are depressing and/or the same few words repeated endlessly. There is no creativity or joy. Also auto-tune should be illegal! Rap is not music. Techno is soulless. A sad state of affairs.
My daughters are outstanding artists but when they go to gallery shows or competitions the winner is usually some "abstract" piece that could've been done by a 4 year old! Just a bunch of paint thrown in.
Tell them to keep honing their talent. There are inklings showing that beauty is making a comeback. My son continues to compose beautiful music. It might not be published as of today, but one day his compositions will be discovered.
Oooooohhhh! This makes me so angry! Beauty is what our lives should be surrounded with in art, architecture, fashion, music, literature, etc! Of course, beauty is a reflection of and an acknowledgement of God's grace upon us all and wanting us to be happy. Angst, ugliness, and depression come straight from the devil and you see who has been running the world!!
Hollywood has helped American culture to devolve. Look at shows like The Kardasians. They’re disgusting, yet young people watch and emulate their behavior.
We used to plan big annual parties around the Oscars. Now we don’t even watch. Very very few new movies are worth the time. CGI and sequels run amok. Also graphic violence has been dialed up to desensitizing levels—on both movies and TV.
Exactly! There's new stuff out there in the Entertainment industry. It's loud, obnoxious, and vile. It erases the idea of morals and conscience. It's poison in the minds of youngsters.
I know the rock&roll age disturbed our parents. It seems like innocent fun these days. However!! Elizabeth Nickson, in her substack Welcome to Absurdistan, stated the rock&roll wave was a CIA contrived Entertainment.
Right now these lettered agencies are humanity's #1 Enemy.
Right after that's realized, then the next step is to wonder if the saying should be rewritten to "the enemy of my enemies, IS my enemy, too!!
women especially have fallen prey to this death culture. since women carry life forward, it's disturbing to see them rejecting their attractiveness in favor of dressing up like ugly sci-fi creatures. one wonders if we have a future as a species
women especially seem to have fallen victim to this. since women are the life force and seem stuck in the death spiral, seeing them trying to look like ugly sci-fi creatures is really disheartening
YES. THIS. I was an active Democrat. I almost ran for a local job. I went to peace marches, wrote letters to the editor, called congress. Made homemade signs with the number of American dead in the Iraq war 2, gave money. Then it all changed and i didn’t recognize the twisted deplorable thing it had become until Biden. Better late than never. My sister was even more dedicated than I was. She attended a Peace Group meeting every week. I wonder now what that Peace Group is celebrating or even seeing. I don’t know because my sister died after her first Covid jab. Hating Trump.
I'm so sorry about your sister, Janet. I have a half-sister twenty years younger than me, with whom I have never been close, but I am trying to advise her now that she has what I think is a covid vax induced cancer. It's a very rare and aggressive sarcoma. She's been having scans every two months and the last one indicated the cancer had metastasized to one lung. I have made her aware of Dr. William Makis.
Just a few days ago, a much loved pastor and seminary professor from my community died due to glioblastoma. He received several shots, including a covid booster, in late 2023 or early 2024, and was diagnosed soon after. It's painful to me that his ignorance or stupidity killed him.
So sorry! Adult daughter of a cousin battling Ewing’s sarcoma, normally seen only in the young. Glios used to be rare; claimed an uncle. Two (and maybe 3; one called a suicide) more cousins died suddenly this month. 💔🤬💔🤬
I went to four anti-war marches against what was happening in Iraq. But then the Dems embraced war. I was shocked at the turnaround. Also at the embrace of trans men in women’s sports. The clip of the guy’s rant today is exactly my feeling too.
Apparently yesterday, the day that Trump signed the EO, was National Girls and Women in Sports Day (i.e., the "perfect" day for the EO keeping men out of women's sports). Trump makes me smile!
I realized then during the Obama reign that nothing I had done made a tinkers damn difference. The economic crooks got away with death and destruction too. Only now do I see it might change.
I am nearing my 8th decade of earthly life and I concur with your assessment. The wisdom of us “old” people cannot be denied. Something has been rotting in our society for at least 20 something years. Onward!
No, 60 years, with the onset of "feminism" and then the Pill and then Roe v Wade, all of whichg gave my first love the notion of "open relationships" and everything was spoiled from there.
Yes, I wholeheartedly agree! My childhood was stolen from me because of the 60’s and it got worse in the 70’s. “I am woman, hear me roar!” All those feminists didn’t even meow, while men were competing in women’s sports. Personally, I don’t care about sports, but I was absolutely delighted to see President Trump put an end to the madness!
Yes! I have always felt my childhood was stolen in the 60's. It was fine, as much as it could be with JFK being murdered by our Gov agencies, until 1967. Then it all went to hell.
In addition, I believe Rome, with infamous Vatican 2, had a great deal to do with families losing their Faith and culture being destroyed.
They also didn't make so much as a little "meow" at what Bill Clinton did to all his females--the rape, the affairs, the power-over- subordinate sexcapade in the White House with Monica Lewinsky, followed by the TRASHING of all the women who had been involved.
I agree with you. Born in 1950. Had a 3+ hour Skype on Tuesday with daughter in Japan---and pointed out that I was worth listening to, as at 74, I am actually a treasure trove of wisdom (besides, I was wise enough [really, blessed enough] not to take the shot--though I did not mention that).
Yes, indeed (May 1952 for me). Lucky your daughter will speak to you for three hours; mine won't, and still won't admit the lie of the "pandemic" and everything else.
My godmother who was in her 90's when she died would say it started in the 1920's with Dewey who took over the education system in this country. That's also when people in this country began to play with communism thinking it would be the best thing since sliced bread since everyone would be equal - no rich, no poor. Many found out the hard way that this wasn't true. There's a good book called Dancing Under the Red Star about a family who went to live in Russia when Ford was helping them start their first automobile factory. Mother, Father, and 2 daughters left. The youngest daughter was 8 when they left. The father was taken by secret police when she was 18 years old. She spend the next 40 years trying to get back to the United States. It's a harrowing story that should be required reading in schools. A reminder to all that "All that glitters is not gold." It may be a shiny fish hook.
Thanks for book recommendation. Wonder if you've read "Witness"? author Whitaker Chambers - Inspirational read. Insight about the left beginning to infiltrate our government and our culture "way back" in 1940's. Autobiography. Chambers was ex-communist operative who exposed Alger Hiss as a liar, spy and traitor.
So all of us who grew up drinking from the garden hose and feeling safe to play outside until dark. Know that those times were good, and feeling that things today just aren’t quite right. So how do we get back to that reality if things making sense?
I have for a very long time felt something was off. The lack of any new story lines had me thinking I must just be getting old; I've seen it all. I've also watched truly stupid and incompetent people prosper. What was I missing? Never in my wildest imagination did I see this coming! And to think thisis only the beginning!
I've noticed that all of the "reporters" are 20-something babes. Not the true seasoned professionals like Douglas Edwards, Eric Severiad, John Chancellor, David Brinkley, Charles Collingwood - I can go on and on.
I read this piece very slowly, trying to wrap my head around it all. I was hesitant to even make a comment. What can I say? The last clip of the black man telling it like it is - wow - that needs to be said, actually quite moving.
Thankfully, the majority of the American people are not falling for this crap anymore. We aren't falling for the fake staged protests.
Is this why ultimately the military will need to be brought in to make sure these changes are not preempted by civil unrest?
I read today's post slowly today as well. I'd never heard this idea of a freeze of our advancements being linked to the deep state wanting us easier to control.
They don't want a change agent like RFK Jr getting us off the food slop conveyor, as our crap diet helps keep us down.
We need to take it on ourselves to reverse a lot of these changes.
It all Really seemed to ramp up after 9/11. The evil state noted just how much control could be imposed on the masses after experiencing a real or manipulated fear event. So why not manipulate an event anytime one was needed to keep us in line? Of course that takes money - OUR money used for evil while the potential good works are ignored & stalled out. Example- How long has the fund raising using the pink ribbon been going on? Most of my life. Absolutely no results. Don’t ever give another dime, or energy to these corrupt organizations participating in the con. people suffer & die due to these traitorous, greedy evil participants saying good is evil & evil good.
I refuse to give a dime to most of these organizations. The goal of the S Komen org was to cure breast cancer. They get lots of $$. The admin makes lots of $$.. Guess what? They haven't cured breast cancer in nearly 40 years of supposed research. Don't even TRY to tell me that the cure isn't there. It's being suppressed & the dumb public keeps giving them $$.. The whole "pink ribbon" thing is one of the biggest scams out there. I'm hoping they will be exposed!
The Koman Foundation knows that abortion increases your risk for breast cancer, yet they fund abortion rights protests and Planned Parenthood. Seems kind of questionable, doesn’t it?
I'm a biologist. I've tried to wrap my head around "the stall" and got part way there trying to understand the control being imposed. This perspective really helps me get all the way there, big-picture-wise, and to see a way to push forward.
Just to follow up, I did some checking last night and found that the science agency that issued both consensus statements (AIBS) is an NGO funded by grants through the National Science Foundation. So, a similar influence pattern as seen with USAID: not the Gov't itself issuing science-censoring edicts, but the NGO
I have always thought the same as your comment. They both are a threat to the Deep State. Our Lord is allowing DJT to expose the evil. Let's all continue to pray for DJT, his family and all the cabinet and their families. Amen!
Just last night, my spouse asked me if I remember to pray every night for President Trump. (Just a little observation here, after I typed President, three names came up: Obama, Biden and Clinton…not Trump or Reagan…funny that! I’m on an Apple device. Tim Cook and Steve Jobs - all Left.)
It has been coming out different places lately that the CIA has orchestrated all of it. Rock and Roll. Hip Hop, Metal, shitty Country. II knew about the CIA control of movies and TV too . But I had not thought about the entirety of it all before though, and the fashion stagnation was an excellent catch. Every generation had a new look, but not this one, unless you count the extra appendage in their hands (phone) .
I have heard good things about it. I think Trump hosted a showing at Mar O Lago. Unfortunately, Netflix stopped shipping CD's , and we do not have sufficient internet speed to stream. And we do not use smart phones, so we pretty much are relegated to what we find on Direct TV.
“Shitty country” implies? Country has some great new names like Cody Johnson, Thomas Rhett, Jordan Davis, Riley Green…not at all “shitty”, unless you mean giving hip-hop Beyoncé a country award.
to each his own. There are no Ray Price's, Patsy Cline's, Vern Gosdin's, Charley Pride's, Johnny Cash's, Kris Kristofferson's, and dozens of others I could name today. No one I have heard is even in their league
Agree. I don't see mass conversions - BUT - nearly 25 years ago, I read The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell. Yeah he is a lefty hack but the book really did shape my thinking for a while, and I had kind of forgotten it but Jeff's analysis today resurrected it in my memory. Gladwell's thesis is that for things to 'tip' - there needs to be 3 things;
1. info/trend in the hands of the right influencers (connectors, information specialists - people we look to for good info - like Jeff and salesmen - people who are good at convincing others)
2. Stickiness - the thing has to be memorable, clear in such a way that people remember it easily
3. Context - conditions have to be right so that the recipient is ready to receive the message.
This is why going first after USAID is so brilliant - we have Elon as the influencer - huge # of twitter followers, including a lot of people who have trended left. Stickiness - nearly everyone I run into in person is talking about the '$20 million in condoms, Sesame Street in Iraq, and on and on and on. Context - here's where it gets dicey - for those of us who are awake - we were 100% ready to hear this - but for the sleeping and TDS patients, acknowledging this is a HUGE leap as if they question that, it will make them question everything. Time will tell. For now most of them have been diverted with the 'Elon has my information' outrage.
Yep. Seconding this with a somewhat too-long reply, but it is illustrative.
A conversation I had not 3 days ago, supermarket parking lot, with an acquaintance I had always been on friendly-chit-chat terms with about birds, we are both into them.
Him: "So, how are you dealing with all the bullsh**?"
Me: "What bullsh**?"
Him: "You know, all the bullsh**!"
Me (having an idea where he's gonna go with this...): "No, seriously, what bullsh** are you talking about?"
Him (exasperated with me): "You know TRUMP'S bullsh**!"
Me: "Oh, well, I VOTED for that bullsh**. Really, I thought Biden and Harris was the real bullsh**."
Him (eyes wide with horror, then pure CONTEMPT): "Oh." Turns on his heel, and leaves! (Like a huffy Karen!)
I put my groceries in the trunk, and was wheeling my cart back, when I crossed his path again and asked (with a big smile): "Need a cart?"
We moved from our blue state and one reason was because we could no longer stand being surrounded by neighbors like this. I can't say we had the courage to risk their rage, but we could sense how we must always stay in line and what lay beneath the surface if we did not. It felt so oppressive. When I hear anecdotes like yours--and there are a lot--it reminds me how real it was, that we weren't imagining that they would turn on us in an instant if they knew our views.
Michele - Thanks for the story. I had a similar experience the year that the Smollett hoax happened. An email conversation with an old high school friend at the time that incident was just being reported. I told him it was an obvious hoax, and Kamala Harris and Cory Booker were behind it, in an effort to smear Trump and his supporters. He responded with several memes of Trump in an orange jumpsuit behind bars. I haven't spoken to him since.
I lost a friend over the similar Althea Bernstein hoax (look it up - her story was incredibly stupid yet people believed it). Still pisses me off nothing happened to her and she cost a lot of law enforcement time and money.
I had almost the same conversation with an “acquaintance” back in 2016 when Trump won the first time! Oh my goodness! She was so disappointed in me. That I knew was the start of her TDS. Haven’t talked to her in years.
Yes, they are always "disappointed" in you. It's so weird, that kind-of snobby head space. The way they are always so "well, if people just had the KNOWLEDGE that I and my fellow indoctrinees have; it's so sad they are so UNEDUCATED they fall prey to MISINFORMATION blahblahblah...."
We are Americans, we used to respect the fact that we live in a country where we can have differences of opinion. But she didn’t obviously agree with that. And I find they just spout “talking points”. If you ask them for specifics, they can’t answer you. I love the Canadian politician, Pierre Poilievre who has a couple of videos where he tries to pin people down to specifics, and they just can’t give him examples. Its amazing. So I need to challenge people more on specifics.
I had a similar encounter. Her anger stayed directed to Trump and Co., but she wouldn’t stop ranting to let any other opinion to be heard. Some people are too far gone.
It really feels like a civil war is coming more now than pre-election. The only thing is their side is so small now. But they certainly are using rhetoric that will ignite a physical war quite easily just about anywhere in the streets today.
Disagree. Saw a short 1 minute video of a scheduled protest outside the capitol last night. It was cancelled because of cold. it was 36. They are pussies, and even if they have guns, most don't know which end the bullets come out. The right will always win, because we have God on our side, self discipline, toughness, resolve, and we still think. All they have is rage, hate, and talking points someone gave them. Still surprised they learned how to dress themselves .
I never said they would win or that we aren’t strong enough, but I do believe many of them are being radicalized to amass an amount of rage that is humanly impossible to keep contained and many are going to lash out. Maybe in small pockets, maybe in larger mobs, but they will engage. There are less of them than us, so yes - we will win easily against anything they bring us. However, if I’m attacked in a grocery store parking lot by a couple crazy libs, I don’t believe I could protect myself. It would end up on social media but I would still be significantly harmed. That’s a different kind of warfare - attacking us one on one apart from each other.
I do believe it’s coming if those that have raged at me are anything to judge by. They are like caged animals right now that truly believe they are fighting for their lives and survival. 🙄
Perhaps I am an optimist, but I think most of any real fights will be with the cabal and illegal invaders who were inserted for just such purpose. I don't think normie libtards have the backbone to fight anybody. And if they do, remember Mike Tyson's brilliant quote. "Everybody has a plan, until they get punched in the face".
I commented yesterday about a gentleman I know yelling at me for ten minutes about how horrible everything was and how it wasn't "godly" for these things to be happening (he is a reverend) he was HOPELESSLY confused as to what is happening. I couldn't honestly understand how he could only be getting this completely one sided idea as to what is occurring unless he ONLY listens to MSM. Or (unbeknownst to me) is beholden to USAID $ for his ministry. Who knows? Either way it caught me way off guard as I normally don't have those sorts of conversations at work but thought he was a conservative (godly) guy. Meh!
People who only listen to MSM have a totally different set of facts. They think they know what is going on because their MSM sources tell them what to think. And the many things that you and I hear and read about, they often know absolutely nothing about it other than the leftist spin. Even now with all the fraud exposed of what USAID is funding, you might assume that those people know about it too. They most likely don't. You simply can't break through that barrier with real facts. It is kind of like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. The good witch tells her should could have gone home all along, but she had to find it out for herself.
Correct, Melissa, and that's the reason we can't even have a rational discussion with them. The brainwashing runs deep. We are just talking past each other because we can't even agree on the basics about reality.
Melissa - yes, the curtain had to be pulled back all the way for Dorothy and her friends to see who was pulling the strings.
I have a dear relative who lives nearby, and she only believes what the TV tells her. I have tried to have serious conversations with her about things, but it's just not possible. She truly has TDS, with all it's accompanying symptoms.
As I read the Bible (up to Acts 16 this morning, only started this serious, continuous read in April '23), I have come to wonder how many pastors have never read the Bible in its entirety. That might explain this pastor's confusion.
There are lots of pastors out there who are more or less self made - non-denominational churches with a 'make it up as you go along' approach to doctrine, but they are charismatic, have good people skills, and build congregations around what I call 'cafeteria Christianity' - picking and choosing what to adhere to. Non denominational is the fastest growing segment, and I 'get' that many denominations have their issues, mine included, but there is something to be said for formal training, and some level of oversight that a formal denomination has.
I have been asking, for several months, daily, that those who don't know Him/don't love Him/hate Him may do a 180. Before it's too late for them. Before He exercises His justice.
Also from places like reddit, tiktok, etc. My daughter graduated HS as a conservative but had started going down rabbit holes on places like reddit and 4chan and who knows where else (we did monitor and control what they were doing online until they got to 17/18 and at that point it became a 'pick your battles' thing and decided that as long as they were getting good grades and staying out of trouble that they had good enough judgement) and started picking political fights with me in her early 20s' and is a full on TDS/Bernie bro adherent in her early 30's now. She was never one for watching TV other than she loves old movies and classics, she never watched the news shows. She's an introvert as is her hubby - they don't get out much so I think most of her radicalization came from online forums and such. However, lefty relatives my age or older (turning 60 this year) do watch MSM and use those talking points and share that crap on social media. So I think it's a little of both - we all have circled the wagons in our own little echo chambers and there are few common things that we can gather around.
It is stories like this that make me grateful for that baseball scholarship my son got from a catholic university. I was always grateful for it as it kept him here in town, local to me and able to go to many games, but I am fairly certain it helped him avoid the indoctrination that is so common these days in universities. They just don't do that there as the entire school is run by the Sisters of Charity, and is still to this day fairly conservative. He's 35 and probably worse than I am about conservatism. Grateful!!
BUT you eventually saw through it. We all have our 'wake up' stories (it was Ross Perot for me in 1992) so hoping and praying that more and more do have those wake up moments.
What this well-spoken man says NEEDED to be said. Now, itn needs to be heard - and judging by the number of 'likes', it is being heard. Will it be UNDERSTOOD? That's the question....let's hope so.
He said it was the only solution and I guess we have started seeing it, at least at the border but I can assure you that if the way it has been for the past three weeks…they are more than ready for what’s coming.
I hesitate to say it - still - but I wonder whether the majority of us did recognize something unusual was happening - that the world we grew up in (born in the 50s) was fading away, first slowly but in the past several years, much more rapidly. But we couldn’t put a finger on it, as has been said, and “they” made it seem we were the ones who were out of touch, stupid “old fogeys” hopelessly stuck in the past. That shut us up for a while but COVID was too much, and then normalizing pedos and LGBTQ+ and the trans cr@p they’ve been inflicting on our kids! We have all been being victimized, and then censored when we spoke out. Thank God there are still sane people - MANY more than they’d like you to believe - who want our Country, who want our world BACK! And who are willing to fight for it! God Bless America - let us be a bright, shining Light - a covenant Nation with the Almighty.
I definitely agree, we (me and my wife) have been reading C&C since the beginning and I can assure you that with out Jeff’s mental sanity and incredible sense of humor, we probably wouldn’t be living here anymore.
Just as a comment, yesterday my wife tells me,
“ If I would tough four years ago that I couldn’t wait to watch the daily briefing for the President press secretary, just to catch and confirm what I read at C&C in the morning “
Hah! I, too, have been checking the whitehouse.gov site several times daily, checking Karoline Leavitt's most recent expose, what Jesse Watters or Harris Faulkner (have you noticed how many of these public-face women are wearing a cross around their necks?) have to say, or listening to the Congressional grillings....in part to see what asses these Democrats are....
Lord, may thy will be done. And it appears that His will is being done! Now. Now--in our lifetimes. In our lifetimes? The Hebrews lived in Egypt 400 years. In the desert 40 years. Before the Messiah ~1000 years? All glory to our God. Thank you, Lord God. And thank you for your gift to us of your son, Jesus Christ.
Truth---I (brought up with classical music on my mother's stereo and under my own little fingers) happily listened to popular music from age 12-20. From then on, my junior year in college, classical only. Must confess that a change of boyfriend was part of that. Still with him.
I'm a boomer, but grew up hearing all these and they are my staples. Husband grew up with the Chieftans and lots of choral music--we never listen to "current" stuff. I have a lot of Christian music that I play when exercising, and there is some contemporary worship I like, but the choral stuff is so rapturous . . . hard to beat many voices in harmony. Even contemporary Christian music is kind of static . . . I still listen to Love Song and Maranatha Music. And Cat Stevens and Joni Mitchell.
Heck, my dad had a reel to real tape recorder, and every Sunday, a local station would play a musical he would tape and replay over and over. How many kids have ever heard the soundtracks from the, "Oklahoma", 'Hello Dolly", "Flower Drum Song", "Desert Song", and one of my favorites that had an all too brief run because it came out in 1963, "Mr. President".
I bought a Time Life full set of Broadway musical soundtracks when I was a teenager, because in high school we sang all the scores you mention. I had the collection for decades. One of my favorites was "Lady in the Dark" with Gertrude Lawrence and Danny Kaye. <grin> Years ago I asked a young woman if she'd ever seen "The King and I" on TV. She was clueless. "Sound of Music"? Nope. I was floored.
Jeff, so well said! Thank you for piecing together the source of our discontent. It reminds me of Narnia when the frozen ice began to crack and the snow began to melt as the evil queen's spell was broken, and warmth and light and life began to flourish again. Life has slowly been being choked out, and now it's beams of light are starting to again burst forth! I can feel it too. I am finallybeginning to feel joy. What unprecedented times we are living in! And what grace God is shedding upon us!
My oldest, age 40, once remarked (when he was in HS) he only liked the music old dead guys played: Jimi Hendrix, SRV, etc. Now he can crank out Crazy Train with the best of them ❤️
Music is a huge part of my life. Music in the 80’s was a vast improvement over the acid rock of the 70’s. Much, if not most, of the new music today is terrible. Tyler Swift 🤢…. but there is really good Alternative Rock being release. I live outside of Chicago and we have a radio station called WXRT. They release new music every Thursday. We lived out of state for awhile and WXRT was one of the things we missed. You can find them online. Your children might like it. They feature a year on “Flashbacks” every Saturday, but if it’s from the 60’s-mid 70’s, I rarely listen.
Sorry, but I disagree. The'70's brought us David Bowie, and so many other greats. I think rock peaked in the '60's, and then each subsequent decade was slightly degraded, until by 2000, it was stable, and poor.
That’s okay. You can disagree. My husband constantly points out music from the 60s and 70’s that I like, but music triggers memories and much of the music brings about bad memories.
As a late boomer, we would never have considered listening to the music of our parent's generation (I remember my mother singing "Zing Zing, Zoom Zoom, my little heart goes boom", "Hi Lilly", "Abba dabba dabba said the monkey to the chimp" not to mention the music of the rat pack.). Now I go to the doctor or the dentist and get to tell the hygenist that the music they are playing was popular 50 years ago when I was in high school. One replied that they couldn't play modern music, that it wasn't "appropriate." I have been wondering what happened to creativity in music - how did it disappear? Then I remembered that they don't sing about love and marriage any more. Women's lib managed to ban it, along with having or caring enough about children to stay with them for a few months after they are born. Sad.
Not really, I know many original composers who have incredible songs that will never be heard. Today's music industry is beyond corrupt. Just look at " the best Country album" this year..
My young missionary son sent this to me “ check out Suzanne Ostler Shippen
she is our pianist for the mtc choir who creates gorgeous arrangment of the songs we sing including songs like how great thou are in which you can here the rolling thunder in song in the way she rewrote it. Also includes organ.”
But do you know where you WILL find new and vital and interesting modern music? In the Worship Music / Christian Music space. There is some really beautiful and inspiring music being written by young people right now
I find it sad. We have a library of tv shows from the 70s, 80s and 90s that my husband and I grew up on that we show to our sons aged 10 and under. They love them. We originally started it out of necessity when they were little due to the insidiousness of current children's programming but its turning into a way of life for them. The only saturday morning cartoons they watch are the old style ones on the old local channel (MeTV) but otherwise they stick in a TMNT disc or garfield, batman, etc. There is nothing good now. And we find out its not us, its the culture. That's kind of a relief.
MacGyver (original, duh) has been excellent. Theres a few that have a greenie message but we mostly avoid those, or we might watch them and critique it. But hes always the hero, he always helps others, he always uses his wits, the good guys always win, etc. Classic boy stuff. Our 9 yrold has a mullet because he wants to be MacGyver :)
Star Trek Next Generation is also great for similar reasons.
The Muppet Show from the 70s
Classic Looney Toons, Tom & Jerry, Superman/Batman (90s), Animaniacs, TMNT, Classic Scooby Doo (60-70s), Garfield (90s), Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (a rare gem from 2000s)
Those are the ones off the top of my head. The great thing is most shows are completely out on dvd now and pretty cheaply. Animaniacs and looney toons are the ones that are a bit hard to find complete, but the volumes are cheap on places like thriftbooks. Happy viewing!
My granddaughter plays high school basketball. They were all warming up to MY music from the 80s. When I walked into the gym... Not looking too bad, the music playing was Back in Black. And I was rocking my black jacket. I even asked if they had permission from us to play our music... haha. But I also love Vivaldi.
You literally took the words right out of my mouth! I’m 60 and my husband is 70 and I read C&C out loud every morning. Today, I could barely get thru it as a lump in my throat grew. I have said many times that we (he and I) would be okay (though not the golden years we had dreamed of), but I had so much anguish and worry about our kids and their lives. I now have so much hope with President Trump at the helm! He kept saying (back when) that “…the best is yet to come!” …and maybe this is what he was talking about!
Exactly this! I had most of the parts in my head. Now I can see the web they create. I couldn't connect them all before this. Even the music part....my husband's band played locally. Cover songs from 70-2000's. We were always so intrigued that the 20and 30year old crowds knew all the 50 year old songs by heart! When we were that age, that would be like going to the bar to hear songs from the30's!!! To the point on fashion, we both still buy clothes that are basically the same as we wore in the 90's. There they are...in the store. I have known for decades about medicare/Medicaid payor mix because I managed an icu and dialysis unit. Private insurance bases their structure on it as well. Obamacare came in with other control metrics....payment was reduced if quality surveys fell below 97% ( questions like was your food warm, did the nurse answer your call bell fast enough,did you feel safe,was it quiet enough to rest). We are also docked if not enough staff are vaccinated for flu,or covid. We get docked if not enough nurses went back to get advanced degrees( titled the 80 x 2020 rule..meaning 20% of RN's refusing would work bedside care, the other 80% were intended to move to outside hospital and replace the doctor shortage with PA'S and nurse practitioners as they anticipated the influx of patients from age,chronic illness and immigration.( The hospital and the union have literally pushed me nearly weekly since Obamacare passed to go back to school. I am already past retirement age and no way I'm spending $25000 to get a 75 cent an hour premium for the next year or 2.) Everything is on line, virtually no clinical patient contact and consists of social construct management theory and statitistics. Bam you got your masters in a year or 2. You're only $50000 in debt.. I haven't seen a movie that's less than 20 years old except for a few Christian movies because 10 minutes in I'm disgusted. I can't listen to newer music because it's either the same electronic noise with some whining, rap or the lyrics are pure filth. The news is just the same fact less opinionated crap. The good news is it's lead me back to Christ, church, community and reading. And it lead me HERE. Jeff, you amaze me every day. I thank you for your insight and humor. You attract an equally amazing audience with insights I also enjoy and even cherish. As bad as everything seems, I find hope here every morning.
Yes! I tried to tell families during convid that they needed to fight the hospitals or avoid them entirely or their loved one would die. I had only one friend who actually believed me and avoided the convid protocol even though she had pneumonia and was an inpatient in a small hospital. It saved her life.
I am aware of the Medicare BS as I do the MC billing for the chiro office I work in. We are non-par so we and the patients get dinged and reduced coverage. Makes me angry.
I find the current medical system abhorrent and I avoid it. I am a very late boomer and I do not play any of their sick-care, BS yearly check games nor do I focus on disease.
I focus on health and positive mental attitude.
New movies mostly suck-way to much violence and sex (deviant stuff especially). New music, if you can call it that is awful. I listen to 70's and 80's stuff-many genre's.
This was a great stack! I feel completely vindicated for what I have been sensing/feeling/believing now for years. Way to go Jeff!
Interesting thing about Medicaid/Medicare that I found out in 2021: there is a regulation that says that nursing homes and hospitals cannot deny visitors for Medicaid/Medicare patients. (Obviously this rule was in place before covid, but it's a federal rule, and we were counting on staff not wanting to jeopardize their Medicaid/Medicare funding.)
My friends and I protested outside a facility that was forcing our elderly friend to wear a mask to visit her even more elderly friend in that nursing home. I wrote on my sign that they were breaking the law, and I listed the regulation. It worked for a while. Some of the staff said it was okay for her to visit without a mask. My other friend went along for moral support. But as soon as that other friend quit going, they started insisting on masks again for our elderly friend, and she just went along because she didn't want the hassle. 😢
The requirement for almost every profession to get advanced degrees is all about the money and additional indoctrination. The Democrats are in cahoots with the universities.
Right? I’ve complained that there is nothing creative in the movie world, just keep rehashing the same stories. I think this is why independent studios have suddenly taken off. Things like The Chosen have exploded.
Angel Studios is another investor owned studio that produces quality films. Most of us are small amount investors. We can rate trailers [actually longer than trailers] and watch movies when they are streamed or get cheaper tickets for the movies.
Probably 30 years ago, my mother gave me "Speed" on VHS as a gift. I remember looking at that box and I had no interest in watching it. I soon threw it in the trash. Why would anyone watch that crap, let alone want to own a copy? Then came the sequels . . .
I looked up the movies that came out in 1995 and was shocked, no wonder it seemed like we went to the theatres every weekend growing up! Even most of the crappy movies are a good time. We've not had that many decent movies come out in the last 10 years much less 1!
Sling blue is streaming Goonies on Feb 8 at 5 pm on E!. I have the DVR set up. My kids watched it almost every time it came on and I loved watching it with them.
We watched the movie Emilia Perez and it is so amateur-ish, the songs are so bad... and it occurred to me that USAIDS may have funded this film and also the money to push it on the public with 13 Academy Award nominations.. It never made sense that Hollywood would collectively say this film is "the best film of the year" and push it with marketing so hard. I'm thinking now that its funding must be from USAIDS, or another cut out of gvt. money and I REALLY want to see/hear that Columbian musical... heh The Bee should get recordings for us to enjoy.
Agree. I was just going to say the same, but you beat me to it. Jeff, I don’t know how you do it. I love the way you anchored this piece in the frozen state that has descended upon us since 9/11. The “arts” are dead, and so is journalism, “science”, and so many other fields.
I’m choosing hope. Will this clean up effort underway last? Will we prevail? We don’t know the answer, but the only thing we can try is to try our best.
Art and SCIENCE! Literature! ALL GONE! ALL DEAD! There's no love left! No truth! No loyalty! No trust! No Christ among the masses only dead oligarch idols.
And architecture - Tucker likes to rail that we don't make beautiful buildings any more. I frankly never really noticed, and now I can't 'unsee' it. Some of these apartment complexes going up all around look more like prisons than homes.
My husband was given a book called, “Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon” by David McGowan. I haven’t read it, but it’s about the amount of people in the music industry in the 1960’s whose parent was in the CIA.
Also have read that. It fits well into the history of the CIA which concluded at some point in the 1950s that it had to find some way to prevent actual communism from coming to America. So, it decided to create a kind of cultural rebellion among young Americans that could absorb any real disruption to society by going to Hollywood and fostering music and film that only appeared to challenge the establishment , while also being part if it. And thus, the 60s happened. It was all part of a plan: long hair, sandals, free love, hatred of all things establishment, and hippies.
OMG-McGowan writes some bombshell truth about the music industry and how the hippie culture was co-opted into garbage like Charles Manson. There is a whole subject to study. So much CIA manipulation going on in the rock n roll industry in particular. McGowan will make your head spin!
I didn't like it and the whole first part and culture made me sick. I never thought our culture was getting better as I have aged and being "stuck", as I am a sixties child, had the best and worst and much seemed to get worse. I mean they really tried to sell US first paint for clothing without even one fig leaf! Nasty. The culture has moved... Naked and unafraid of Godly judgement in every arena. We ARE in a PIT and minds are so shrunken live with trauma cortisol that I can't see it's so dark, can't see my own hand in front of my face" dark. I do know this mental collapse. I'm living it. I don't care to exercise my creative instincts anymore.
I so agree. What a hugely important post. This sentence in particular is brilliant: “Morally worse, USAID is also the part that we inflicted on the rest of the world, a bureaucratic neurotoxin that has paralyzed global culture and science for a quarter decade now, a poison that killed, maimed, and destroyed — all in the name of virtue-signaling humanitarianism.”
Reminds me of The Matrix. Reading JEFF‘s analysis of the cultural stagnation and us being frozen in time is so eerily reminiscent of that movie. The brains of the souls in the matrix - set in the 80’s - when everything was comfortable and familiar. That movie aleays gave me chills.
Really a great article. I've suspected for years that almost everything that's defined our culture for the last 30 years (news, movies, TV, music, education, etc.) was propaganda. Actually, I just got into a "discussion" about it last night with a family member, lol.
As Jeff points out, it's all been one big "same" rehash. (My guess at a before-times date is around 2000.) But that is not how markets work. In a true free market, companies compete for customers, which means proliferation of different products. Options tailored to different segments of the market. There would never, ever be a sea of sameness without someone manipulating the market.
I didn't know the mechanism by which it was funded and controlled until this USAID exposure. USAID is the funding mechanism for the propaganda and the DOJ has been the enforcement arm. USAID pays organizations that craft or uphold the government's narrative, threatens to cut off anyone who won't comply, and pays others to squash the free thinkers. Those who don't acquiesce to the soft persuasion from USAID find themselves targeted by the DOJ.
And it's all ending. Imagine real creativity and innovation happening again. Combined with lower taxes and less regulation, we will see an explosion of productivity.
Jeff - THIS was truly your best ever! You have shed light on something we could sense, but not put a finger on. Those of us in our middle age could see it and knew something was not quite right.
And some of us who are in the seventh decade of earthly life - we who were alive, participating, observing when American society still functioned more or less as designed - KNOW from our own experience that this corrupt crap today is not right.
I am so thankful and so relieved and so proud of the work DOGE is doing —and for the first time ever, so filled with hope for my grandchildren’s futures.
and to think they have only scratched the surface - the level of corruption is truly breathtaking - heard a clip from a congresswoman about a finance agency similar to USAID that dispenses billions for leftists projects as well - like 40 billion for green energy in Africa - and here we thought communism died with the Soviet Union - nope it moved to the deep state
We knew they were all getting kickbacks. It was a circular-incestuous relationship.
Nobody had the records to prove it. Now, Trump has cracked the seventh lock of the Vault of Nakatomi Plaza.
Makes me wonder what the 3 letter agencies were really looking for in the Mar-A-Lago raid...
🤔
As Bill Rice, Jr wrote on his Substack, “Covid was not the story; it was the universally scripted compliance.” Pretty clear now, isn’t it? Everyone was pointing fingers at the WEF/WHO, diverting attention from our own USAID. When all the pieces fit…
My husband and I have been complaining for years now how American culture has devolved, how primitive, ugly and uncivilized America has become, and how unimaginative, vapid and downright evil Hollywood and the music industry has been in the last couple decades. Thanks for connecting the dots for us, Jeff!
You should see it in Music Conservatories. My son is a musician, singer and composer. He wrote a piece using Isaiah 40 and was told by a visiting professor that he would never be part of the Community. This Professor now teaches at Hillsdale of all places. “Classical Music” today is written to cause angst in the listener. Beauty is not tolerated.
And it should be mentioned that the frequency of musical instruments was changed by Goebbels from 432 to 440. The new frequency is much less harmonious.
I have noted for 25-30 years that the only new music of any value is sacred music.
And even much of modern Christian music is bland with endless repeats of a phrase. Not a fan.
It's sooooo boring!
And I’d love to abandon it for awhile and go back to the good old days
Check out the choral compositions from Elaine Hagenberg for some relatively modern refreshing, uplifting music, especially the selection, You Do Not Walk Alone on elainehagenberg.com. There are audio files there to listen to.
Elaine Hagenberg is amaaazing! It's tough to sing this one with dry eyes - O Love https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2cqblTDR8w
Lux Aeterna by Morten Lauridsen is a favorite.
My husband sang (in his chorus) a Morten Lauridsen—I found it ethereal
Good word for it. I'm in a community choir and one of our pieces this Spring is Sure On This Shining Night. Oh my god, it is gorgeous.
I’m a trained mezzo. I like Lauridsen too.
I especially like the Elgar Lux Aeterna.
My church still uses this type of anthem. I hope this endures.
Joanne - Hillsdale? I remember that they were also lauding Rumsfeld after he passed. I let them know he was not a friend of the Republic.
It's the Leo Straussian (a prominent Neo Conservative in the 1990's) influence.
I have a doctorate in classical music. You are absolutely right.
Indeed, says an old mezzo.
Yet the arts are flourishing with beauty in Russia. A friend of mine who was born and raised in the former Soviet union, showed me a clip of a famous Greek born maestro in Russia. He was given the opportunity many years ago to continue his musical career in the US or Russia and he chose Russia. The clip showed him and a female violinist backstage before entering the Orchestra for Ravel's Bolero, and both he and she are shown doing the sign of the cross in the Orthodox fashion.
Another side news, about the Eurovision musical contest,which had censored Russia from participation. They have created their own, open to all countries,without perversion and lgbtq biases like woke Eurovision.
My mother used to say that where there is God, there is beauty everywhere: art, music, architecture.
i'm certain that you are right. we have a husband and wife russian symphonic musicians who stay at our house frequently. they are very traditional, family oriented and religious. russia is what USAID calls a "closed society" which means that they are closed to US funded groups going in there to stir up trouble. i suspect that is why they haven't descended into our insanity.
and why we had to attack them from ukraine.
meanwhile european countries, not the ones under the spell of the EU, are thrilled to be freed from our oppressive Empire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zStZiLu_F_U
How about this adorable little Russian prodigy, Elisei Mysin? I think he was 6 or 7 here, but he’s 14 now and has won most international competitions in recent years: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Do0Qz-y0Fn4
For the last decade or so I have described current pop tunes as “music to commit suicide by.” The lyrics are depressing and/or the same few words repeated endlessly. There is no creativity or joy. Also auto-tune should be illegal! Rap is not music. Techno is soulless. A sad state of affairs.
Ugh. Contemporary music. You can’t even sing it. There’s no melody to follow. I can hum along to Nessun Dorma more easily.
Just like so called "art" these days.
The Art Institute in Chicago had a canvas painted white.
My daughters are outstanding artists but when they go to gallery shows or competitions the winner is usually some "abstract" piece that could've been done by a 4 year old! Just a bunch of paint thrown in.
Tell them to keep honing their talent. There are inklings showing that beauty is making a comeback. My son continues to compose beautiful music. It might not be published as of today, but one day his compositions will be discovered.
Oooooohhhh! This makes me so angry! Beauty is what our lives should be surrounded with in art, architecture, fashion, music, literature, etc! Of course, beauty is a reflection of and an acknowledgement of God's grace upon us all and wanting us to be happy. Angst, ugliness, and depression come straight from the devil and you see who has been running the world!!
What is his name and the name of his piece, and is it on YouTube? Spotify?
Hollywood has helped American culture to devolve. Look at shows like The Kardasians. They’re disgusting, yet young people watch and emulate their behavior.
We used to plan big annual parties around the Oscars. Now we don’t even watch. Very very few new movies are worth the time. CGI and sequels run amok. Also graphic violence has been dialed up to desensitizing levels—on both movies and TV.
My friends—aged 60s to 70s—love the dumpster fires called Real Housewives of … I have never watched any and never will. I cannot even…😖😖
I can’t watch commercial tv in Australia at all. Endless, endless stupid reality shows, lying documentaries and biased news media.
It’s absolutely disgusting.
I pretty much only watch old black and white movies since they rely on telling a good story without any of the indecent stuff that goes on today.
Television unplugged going on 5-6 years now. Haven't missed it a bit!
Exactly! There's new stuff out there in the Entertainment industry. It's loud, obnoxious, and vile. It erases the idea of morals and conscience. It's poison in the minds of youngsters.
I know the rock&roll age disturbed our parents. It seems like innocent fun these days. However!! Elizabeth Nickson, in her substack Welcome to Absurdistan, stated the rock&roll wave was a CIA contrived Entertainment.
Right now these lettered agencies are humanity's #1 Enemy.
Right after that's realized, then the next step is to wonder if the saying should be rewritten to "the enemy of my enemies, IS my enemy, too!!
women especially have fallen prey to this death culture. since women carry life forward, it's disturbing to see them rejecting their attractiveness in favor of dressing up like ugly sci-fi creatures. one wonders if we have a future as a species
women especially seem to have fallen victim to this. since women are the life force and seem stuck in the death spiral, seeing them trying to look like ugly sci-fi creatures is really disheartening
So true!
YES. THIS. I was an active Democrat. I almost ran for a local job. I went to peace marches, wrote letters to the editor, called congress. Made homemade signs with the number of American dead in the Iraq war 2, gave money. Then it all changed and i didn’t recognize the twisted deplorable thing it had become until Biden. Better late than never. My sister was even more dedicated than I was. She attended a Peace Group meeting every week. I wonder now what that Peace Group is celebrating or even seeing. I don’t know because my sister died after her first Covid jab. Hating Trump.
Janet - I'm so sorry to hear that about your sister.
I'm so sorry about your sister, Janet. I have a half-sister twenty years younger than me, with whom I have never been close, but I am trying to advise her now that she has what I think is a covid vax induced cancer. It's a very rare and aggressive sarcoma. She's been having scans every two months and the last one indicated the cancer had metastasized to one lung. I have made her aware of Dr. William Makis.
Just a few days ago, a much loved pastor and seminary professor from my community died due to glioblastoma. He received several shots, including a covid booster, in late 2023 or early 2024, and was diagnosed soon after. It's painful to me that his ignorance or stupidity killed him.
So sorry! Adult daughter of a cousin battling Ewing’s sarcoma, normally seen only in the young. Glios used to be rare; claimed an uncle. Two (and maybe 3; one called a suicide) more cousins died suddenly this month. 💔🤬💔🤬
It's heartbreaking, isn't it?
Sorry to hear it. Added these stories to the body pile:
https://patrick.net/post/1340336/2021-07-29-thread-for-vax-deaths-maimings-and
I went to four anti-war marches against what was happening in Iraq. But then the Dems embraced war. I was shocked at the turnaround. Also at the embrace of trans men in women’s sports. The clip of the guy’s rant today is exactly my feeling too.
Apparently yesterday, the day that Trump signed the EO, was National Girls and Women in Sports Day (i.e., the "perfect" day for the EO keeping men out of women's sports). Trump makes me smile!
I realized then during the Obama reign that nothing I had done made a tinkers damn difference. The economic crooks got away with death and destruction too. Only now do I see it might change.
I’m so very about your sister.
I am nearing my 8th decade of earthly life and I concur with your assessment. The wisdom of us “old” people cannot be denied. Something has been rotting in our society for at least 20 something years. Onward!
40 years
No, 60 years, with the onset of "feminism" and then the Pill and then Roe v Wade, all of whichg gave my first love the notion of "open relationships" and everything was spoiled from there.
Yes, I wholeheartedly agree! My childhood was stolen from me because of the 60’s and it got worse in the 70’s. “I am woman, hear me roar!” All those feminists didn’t even meow, while men were competing in women’s sports. Personally, I don’t care about sports, but I was absolutely delighted to see President Trump put an end to the madness!
Yes! I have always felt my childhood was stolen in the 60's. It was fine, as much as it could be with JFK being murdered by our Gov agencies, until 1967. Then it all went to hell.
In addition, I believe Rome, with infamous Vatican 2, had a great deal to do with families losing their Faith and culture being destroyed.
Bingo. Vatican 2 was a major cultural destabilizer.
Unsurprisingly, it's starting to be revealed that US Intelligence has had a MAJOR influence since at least the JP2 papacy.
The POPE is probably on the CIA payroll.
We now know that the CIA paid Lee Harvey Oswald and then used him as a Patsy.
Not surprised!
They also didn't make so much as a little "meow" at what Bill Clinton did to all his females--the rape, the affairs, the power-over- subordinate sexcapade in the White House with Monica Lewinsky, followed by the TRASHING of all the women who had been involved.
I agree with you. Born in 1950. Had a 3+ hour Skype on Tuesday with daughter in Japan---and pointed out that I was worth listening to, as at 74, I am actually a treasure trove of wisdom (besides, I was wise enough [really, blessed enough] not to take the shot--though I did not mention that).
Yes, indeed (May 1952 for me). Lucky your daughter will speak to you for three hours; mine won't, and still won't admit the lie of the "pandemic" and everything else.
Turns out that lie was the one that cracked the cement covering all the other lies. Makes TFauxchi look like a pawn.
11/22/1963
You mean "femenazis"?
Rush knew what phonies they all were!
My godmother who was in her 90's when she died would say it started in the 1920's with Dewey who took over the education system in this country. That's also when people in this country began to play with communism thinking it would be the best thing since sliced bread since everyone would be equal - no rich, no poor. Many found out the hard way that this wasn't true. There's a good book called Dancing Under the Red Star about a family who went to live in Russia when Ford was helping them start their first automobile factory. Mother, Father, and 2 daughters left. The youngest daughter was 8 when they left. The father was taken by secret police when she was 18 years old. She spend the next 40 years trying to get back to the United States. It's a harrowing story that should be required reading in schools. A reminder to all that "All that glitters is not gold." It may be a shiny fish hook.
Thanks for book recommendation. Wonder if you've read "Witness"? author Whitaker Chambers - Inspirational read. Insight about the left beginning to infiltrate our government and our culture "way back" in 1940's. Autobiography. Chambers was ex-communist operative who exposed Alger Hiss as a liar, spy and traitor.
Thank you for the book recommendation!
Biographies are my favorite genre.
Since the 80's more like.
seems to me we all thought the best was when we were teenagers. Who knows?
No, it really was much better before with much more personal freedom. Far less government control over us.
I was about to comment the same
Your funding has been removed Mary- time to move on.
I think these bots like their own posts because they always have one heart. How lame is that???
Ha hahahaha!
Humor is all bout timing. 😂😂😂👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
lol
scammer
C&Cers--Mary has just been added to my list. Always offering https://t.co then letters/digits. All t.co
What does this have to do with our broken culture?
So all of us who grew up drinking from the garden hose and feeling safe to play outside until dark. Know that those times were good, and feeling that things today just aren’t quite right. So how do we get back to that reality if things making sense?
Answer: D.O.G.E.
I pray that’s correct!
I have for a very long time felt something was off. The lack of any new story lines had me thinking I must just be getting old; I've seen it all. I've also watched truly stupid and incompetent people prosper. What was I missing? Never in my wildest imagination did I see this coming! And to think thisis only the beginning!
Yes. And have you noticed how thin major media news coverage is these days?
It's obviously controlled by the military intel complex, AKA deep
I've noticed that all of the "reporters" are 20-something babes. Not the true seasoned professionals like Douglas Edwards, Eric Severiad, John Chancellor, David Brinkley, Charles Collingwood - I can go on and on.
Right is not the word to describe it…EVIL Is the only word.
Exactly how I feel Roger.
Precisely
Destroy us from within.
So happy "same ol, same ol" is DONE.
unfortunately, we ( 70 y.o.'s ) appear to be the majority
Quite right!!!
Exactly!
I read this piece very slowly, trying to wrap my head around it all. I was hesitant to even make a comment. What can I say? The last clip of the black man telling it like it is - wow - that needs to be said, actually quite moving.
Thankfully, the majority of the American people are not falling for this crap anymore. We aren't falling for the fake staged protests.
Is this why ultimately the military will need to be brought in to make sure these changes are not preempted by civil unrest?
I read today's post slowly today as well. I'd never heard this idea of a freeze of our advancements being linked to the deep state wanting us easier to control.
They don't want a change agent like RFK Jr getting us off the food slop conveyor, as our crap diet helps keep us down.
We need to take it on ourselves to reverse a lot of these changes.
Stuck in time. Like Cuba. Like East Germany. It's not necessarily the goal; rather, it's the natural outcome of totalitarian government control.
It all Really seemed to ramp up after 9/11. The evil state noted just how much control could be imposed on the masses after experiencing a real or manipulated fear event. So why not manipulate an event anytime one was needed to keep us in line? Of course that takes money - OUR money used for evil while the potential good works are ignored & stalled out. Example- How long has the fund raising using the pink ribbon been going on? Most of my life. Absolutely no results. Don’t ever give another dime, or energy to these corrupt organizations participating in the con. people suffer & die due to these traitorous, greedy evil participants saying good is evil & evil good.
I refuse to give a dime to most of these organizations. The goal of the S Komen org was to cure breast cancer. They get lots of $$. The admin makes lots of $$.. Guess what? They haven't cured breast cancer in nearly 40 years of supposed research. Don't even TRY to tell me that the cure isn't there. It's being suppressed & the dumb public keeps giving them $$.. The whole "pink ribbon" thing is one of the biggest scams out there. I'm hoping they will be exposed!
There’s a lot of this going on. I’m thinking Diabetes Foundation and Kidney Foundation. What are they really doing?
The Koman Foundation knows that abortion increases your risk for breast cancer, yet they fund abortion rights protests and Planned Parenthood. Seems kind of questionable, doesn’t it?
There you go, Tim. That’s it, in a nutshell. Moving toward total government control = communism.
Good examples.
You make a very good point.
I'm a biologist. I've tried to wrap my head around "the stall" and got part way there trying to understand the control being imposed. This perspective really helps me get all the way there, big-picture-wise, and to see a way to push forward.
In my line of work, the power brokers have used consensus statements to keep everyone in line, which I wrote about here https://open.substack.com/pub/susancrockford/p/consensus-statements-in-science-are
The “stall” as you call it is very pronounced and you may have been ahead of Jeff Childers in that very important analytical observation.
Just to follow up, I did some checking last night and found that the science agency that issued both consensus statements (AIBS) is an NGO funded by grants through the National Science Foundation. So, a similar influence pattern as seen with USAID: not the Gov't itself issuing science-censoring edicts, but the NGO
Did anyone wonder why they tried to treat DJT to the same fate as jfk?
I have always thought the same as your comment. They both are a threat to the Deep State. Our Lord is allowing DJT to expose the evil. Let's all continue to pray for DJT, his family and all the cabinet and their families. Amen!
It’s a miracle DJT is still alive. 7/13/2024 DJT SHOT. Joe Biden had said “time to put a target on Trump“ and then djt was shot five days later.
Just last night, my spouse asked me if I remember to pray every night for President Trump. (Just a little observation here, after I typed President, three names came up: Obama, Biden and Clinton…not Trump or Reagan…funny that! I’m on an Apple device. Tim Cook and Steve Jobs - all Left.)
It has been coming out different places lately that the CIA has orchestrated all of it. Rock and Roll. Hip Hop, Metal, shitty Country. II knew about the CIA control of movies and TV too . But I had not thought about the entirety of it all before though, and the fashion stagnation was an excellent catch. Every generation had a new look, but not this one, unless you count the extra appendage in their hands (phone) .
Watch the movie "Reagan".. They were in Hollywood a long time ago. Ronald Reagan did his best to get them out.
I have heard good things about it. I think Trump hosted a showing at Mar O Lago. Unfortunately, Netflix stopped shipping CD's , and we do not have sufficient internet speed to stream. And we do not use smart phones, so we pretty much are relegated to what we find on Direct TV.
Our newest fashion change is fat rolls. Those were rare through previous generations.
I don't even know what that is
“Shitty country” implies? Country has some great new names like Cody Johnson, Thomas Rhett, Jordan Davis, Riley Green…not at all “shitty”, unless you mean giving hip-hop Beyoncé a country award.
to each his own. There are no Ray Price's, Patsy Cline's, Vern Gosdin's, Charley Pride's, Johnny Cash's, Kris Kristofferson's, and dozens of others I could name today. No one I have heard is even in their league
Big Harma always spewing out their honest to God crap.
(I can openly use the word crap now because PS Karoline uses it)
The scales are beginning to fall from people’s eyes.
Not in my world. The Left is outraged and doubling down. They only listen to their own echo chamber and there is no piercing it.
Agree. I don't see mass conversions - BUT - nearly 25 years ago, I read The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell. Yeah he is a lefty hack but the book really did shape my thinking for a while, and I had kind of forgotten it but Jeff's analysis today resurrected it in my memory. Gladwell's thesis is that for things to 'tip' - there needs to be 3 things;
1. info/trend in the hands of the right influencers (connectors, information specialists - people we look to for good info - like Jeff and salesmen - people who are good at convincing others)
2. Stickiness - the thing has to be memorable, clear in such a way that people remember it easily
3. Context - conditions have to be right so that the recipient is ready to receive the message.
This is why going first after USAID is so brilliant - we have Elon as the influencer - huge # of twitter followers, including a lot of people who have trended left. Stickiness - nearly everyone I run into in person is talking about the '$20 million in condoms, Sesame Street in Iraq, and on and on and on. Context - here's where it gets dicey - for those of us who are awake - we were 100% ready to hear this - but for the sleeping and TDS patients, acknowledging this is a HUGE leap as if they question that, it will make them question everything. Time will tell. For now most of them have been diverted with the 'Elon has my information' outrage.
We may not convert the leftards, but we sure as h3ll will outnumber them, and soon.
Yep. Seconding this with a somewhat too-long reply, but it is illustrative.
A conversation I had not 3 days ago, supermarket parking lot, with an acquaintance I had always been on friendly-chit-chat terms with about birds, we are both into them.
Him: "So, how are you dealing with all the bullsh**?"
Me: "What bullsh**?"
Him: "You know, all the bullsh**!"
Me (having an idea where he's gonna go with this...): "No, seriously, what bullsh** are you talking about?"
Him (exasperated with me): "You know TRUMP'S bullsh**!"
Me: "Oh, well, I VOTED for that bullsh**. Really, I thought Biden and Harris was the real bullsh**."
Him (eyes wide with horror, then pure CONTEMPT): "Oh." Turns on his heel, and leaves! (Like a huffy Karen!)
I put my groceries in the trunk, and was wheeling my cart back, when I crossed his path again and asked (with a big smile): "Need a cart?"
Him (spitting with disgust): "NO!"
I guess THAT acquaintanceship is done....
No loss ... you don't need a boat anchor tied around your ideas.
Love the metaphor!
We moved from our blue state and one reason was because we could no longer stand being surrounded by neighbors like this. I can't say we had the courage to risk their rage, but we could sense how we must always stay in line and what lay beneath the surface if we did not. It felt so oppressive. When I hear anecdotes like yours--and there are a lot--it reminds me how real it was, that we weren't imagining that they would turn on us in an instant if they knew our views.
Yeah, I really do question staying here. Moving would take a miracle (or Kamala as gov) to achieve, though.
Michele - Thanks for the story. I had a similar experience the year that the Smollett hoax happened. An email conversation with an old high school friend at the time that incident was just being reported. I told him it was an obvious hoax, and Kamala Harris and Cory Booker were behind it, in an effort to smear Trump and his supporters. He responded with several memes of Trump in an orange jumpsuit behind bars. I haven't spoken to him since.
I lost a friend over the similar Althea Bernstein hoax (look it up - her story was incredibly stupid yet people believed it). Still pisses me off nothing happened to her and she cost a lot of law enforcement time and money.
Yep, the sickness runs deep, in some.
I had almost the same conversation with an “acquaintance” back in 2016 when Trump won the first time! Oh my goodness! She was so disappointed in me. That I knew was the start of her TDS. Haven’t talked to her in years.
Yes, they are always "disappointed" in you. It's so weird, that kind-of snobby head space. The way they are always so "well, if people just had the KNOWLEDGE that I and my fellow indoctrinees have; it's so sad they are so UNEDUCATED they fall prey to MISINFORMATION blahblahblah...."
We are Americans, we used to respect the fact that we live in a country where we can have differences of opinion. But she didn’t obviously agree with that. And I find they just spout “talking points”. If you ask them for specifics, they can’t answer you. I love the Canadian politician, Pierre Poilievre who has a couple of videos where he tries to pin people down to specifics, and they just can’t give him examples. Its amazing. So I need to challenge people more on specifics.
Love it. There I a right number of libtard friends and acquaintances , and I have them. It's called "Zero". You are on your way.
Sadly, this illustrates how so many people simply will.not.see. any of this until it affects them personally in a way they don't like.
I had a similar encounter. Her anger stayed directed to Trump and Co., but she wouldn’t stop ranting to let any other opinion to be heard. Some people are too far gone.
It really feels like a civil war is coming more now than pre-election. The only thing is their side is so small now. But they certainly are using rhetoric that will ignite a physical war quite easily just about anywhere in the streets today.
A fake civil war - paid for by leftist overlords.
Disagree. Saw a short 1 minute video of a scheduled protest outside the capitol last night. It was cancelled because of cold. it was 36. They are pussies, and even if they have guns, most don't know which end the bullets come out. The right will always win, because we have God on our side, self discipline, toughness, resolve, and we still think. All they have is rage, hate, and talking points someone gave them. Still surprised they learned how to dress themselves .
I never said they would win or that we aren’t strong enough, but I do believe many of them are being radicalized to amass an amount of rage that is humanly impossible to keep contained and many are going to lash out. Maybe in small pockets, maybe in larger mobs, but they will engage. There are less of them than us, so yes - we will win easily against anything they bring us. However, if I’m attacked in a grocery store parking lot by a couple crazy libs, I don’t believe I could protect myself. It would end up on social media but I would still be significantly harmed. That’s a different kind of warfare - attacking us one on one apart from each other.
I do believe it’s coming if those that have raged at me are anything to judge by. They are like caged animals right now that truly believe they are fighting for their lives and survival. 🙄
Perhaps I am an optimist, but I think most of any real fights will be with the cabal and illegal invaders who were inserted for just such purpose. I don't think normie libtards have the backbone to fight anybody. And if they do, remember Mike Tyson's brilliant quote. "Everybody has a plan, until they get punched in the face".
The left is going knucking futz! Of course there will be a big stink.
And their hold on the media which tried to convince us otherwise is imploding.
Is it because Left only get Main Stream Media news ?
Also, I believe, that Satan has a strong-hold on the Democrat Party. Pray for them!
I commented yesterday about a gentleman I know yelling at me for ten minutes about how horrible everything was and how it wasn't "godly" for these things to be happening (he is a reverend) he was HOPELESSLY confused as to what is happening. I couldn't honestly understand how he could only be getting this completely one sided idea as to what is occurring unless he ONLY listens to MSM. Or (unbeknownst to me) is beholden to USAID $ for his ministry. Who knows? Either way it caught me way off guard as I normally don't have those sorts of conversations at work but thought he was a conservative (godly) guy. Meh!
People who only listen to MSM have a totally different set of facts. They think they know what is going on because their MSM sources tell them what to think. And the many things that you and I hear and read about, they often know absolutely nothing about it other than the leftist spin. Even now with all the fraud exposed of what USAID is funding, you might assume that those people know about it too. They most likely don't. You simply can't break through that barrier with real facts. It is kind of like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. The good witch tells her should could have gone home all along, but she had to find it out for herself.
Correct, Melissa, and that's the reason we can't even have a rational discussion with them. The brainwashing runs deep. We are just talking past each other because we can't even agree on the basics about reality.
Melissa - yes, the curtain had to be pulled back all the way for Dorothy and her friends to see who was pulling the strings.
I have a dear relative who lives nearby, and she only believes what the TV tells her. I have tried to have serious conversations with her about things, but it's just not possible. She truly has TDS, with all it's accompanying symptoms.
Several liberal boomer women I know are enthralled by Heather.
https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/trump-derangement-substack-profit-analysis
As I read the Bible (up to Acts 16 this morning, only started this serious, continuous read in April '23), I have come to wonder how many pastors have never read the Bible in its entirety. That might explain this pastor's confusion.
There are lots of pastors out there who are more or less self made - non-denominational churches with a 'make it up as you go along' approach to doctrine, but they are charismatic, have good people skills, and build congregations around what I call 'cafeteria Christianity' - picking and choosing what to adhere to. Non denominational is the fastest growing segment, and I 'get' that many denominations have their issues, mine included, but there is something to be said for formal training, and some level of oversight that a formal denomination has.
Cafeteria Christianity. That is a fine metaphor. Thank you; I intend to use it as needed.
The term "Cafeteria Catholics" has been around for decades....
What could be more schismatic than a denomination that only has one church congregation in it?
Looks like msm is already starting to crash without usa.i.d. bucks! 🤞
Please Lord, please help Trump's Adm. get the truth out.
I have been asking, for several months, daily, that those who don't know Him/don't love Him/hate Him may do a 180. Before it's too late for them. Before He exercises His justice.
I believe His justice is rapidly approaching us.
It's his party of demon-mongering useful idiots.
Also from places like reddit, tiktok, etc. My daughter graduated HS as a conservative but had started going down rabbit holes on places like reddit and 4chan and who knows where else (we did monitor and control what they were doing online until they got to 17/18 and at that point it became a 'pick your battles' thing and decided that as long as they were getting good grades and staying out of trouble that they had good enough judgement) and started picking political fights with me in her early 20s' and is a full on TDS/Bernie bro adherent in her early 30's now. She was never one for watching TV other than she loves old movies and classics, she never watched the news shows. She's an introvert as is her hubby - they don't get out much so I think most of her radicalization came from online forums and such. However, lefty relatives my age or older (turning 60 this year) do watch MSM and use those talking points and share that crap on social media. So I think it's a little of both - we all have circled the wagons in our own little echo chambers and there are few common things that we can gather around.
It is stories like this that make me grateful for that baseball scholarship my son got from a catholic university. I was always grateful for it as it kept him here in town, local to me and able to go to many games, but I am fairly certain it helped him avoid the indoctrination that is so common these days in universities. They just don't do that there as the entire school is run by the Sisters of Charity, and is still to this day fairly conservative. He's 35 and probably worse than I am about conservatism. Grateful!!
Same it seems in my world too. The left (a part of which I used to consider myself) is doubling down and seems blinder than ever.
BUT you eventually saw through it. We all have our 'wake up' stories (it was Ross Perot for me in 1992) so hoping and praying that more and more do have those wake up moments.
Same.
What this well-spoken man says NEEDED to be said. Now, itn needs to be heard - and judging by the number of 'likes', it is being heard. Will it be UNDERSTOOD? That's the question....let's hope so.
Can't drain a swamp without a fight...
Preempted by civil unrest, or undone when the pendulum swings the other way.
Elon has stated that making the changes permanent is on their minds; and I have learned that it is unwise to underestimate Elon and The Donald.
He said it was the only solution and I guess we have started seeing it, at least at the border but I can assure you that if the way it has been for the past three weeks…they are more than ready for what’s coming.
That last clip was great!
I hesitate to say it - still - but I wonder whether the majority of us did recognize something unusual was happening - that the world we grew up in (born in the 50s) was fading away, first slowly but in the past several years, much more rapidly. But we couldn’t put a finger on it, as has been said, and “they” made it seem we were the ones who were out of touch, stupid “old fogeys” hopelessly stuck in the past. That shut us up for a while but COVID was too much, and then normalizing pedos and LGBTQ+ and the trans cr@p they’ve been inflicting on our kids! We have all been being victimized, and then censored when we spoke out. Thank God there are still sane people - MANY more than they’d like you to believe - who want our Country, who want our world BACK! And who are willing to fight for it! God Bless America - let us be a bright, shining Light - a covenant Nation with the Almighty.
Are you sure the majority of people aren't falling for this? My husband and my relatives are still swallowing it hook, line and sinker.
Do you mean those “fake staged protests”? That’s sad.
My heart broke for him.
I suspect we are witnessing either the demise or re-imagining of the US. Perhaps a bit of both.. buckle up- either way we're in for a bumpy ride!
Seems like plenty are falling for warp speed 2.0, biometric surveillance grid, more support for the zionists, etc.
Exactly…this post is one of Jeff’s best. Truly exposes so many things
I definitely agree, we (me and my wife) have been reading C&C since the beginning and I can assure you that with out Jeff’s mental sanity and incredible sense of humor, we probably wouldn’t be living here anymore.
Just as a comment, yesterday my wife tells me,
“ If I would tough four years ago that I couldn’t wait to watch the daily briefing for the President press secretary, just to catch and confirm what I read at C&C in the morning “
I would think that I’m crazy.
Thank You Jeff and C&C Community.
GODSPEED.
Hah! I, too, have been checking the whitehouse.gov site several times daily, checking Karoline Leavitt's most recent expose, what Jesse Watters or Harris Faulkner (have you noticed how many of these public-face women are wearing a cross around their necks?) have to say, or listening to the Congressional grillings....in part to see what asses these Democrats are....
It is noticeable right, Christian everywhere now.
The DemonRats always lie to us about their numbers and supposedly we always were less than them…
I knew traveling around the USA back roads that that was a big big big lie.
No cabbage or tanmala flags in any regular home or farm.
They are done.
Lord, may thy will be done. And it appears that His will is being done! Now. Now--in our lifetimes. In our lifetimes? The Hebrews lived in Egypt 400 years. In the desert 40 years. Before the Messiah ~1000 years? All glory to our God. Thank you, Lord God. And thank you for your gift to us of your son, Jesus Christ.
This! I haven’t watched this many consecutively ever before. 🤣👍
Amen! My husband often complains that the younger generation is co-opting our generations music and asks them why they don't have their own.
My grandson only listens to Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Perry Como, Andy Williams,……my grandson is 17.
Once I played their music to him, it was over for his generations music. He says there’s nothing to compare it to.
And he’s right.
CStone - that's amazing, and quite astounding to me.
Classical music, I heard it everyday til I left home. It stuck.
Truth---I (brought up with classical music on my mother's stereo and under my own little fingers) happily listened to popular music from age 12-20. From then on, my junior year in college, classical only. Must confess that a change of boyfriend was part of that. Still with him.
I'm a boomer, but grew up hearing all these and they are my staples. Husband grew up with the Chieftans and lots of choral music--we never listen to "current" stuff. I have a lot of Christian music that I play when exercising, and there is some contemporary worship I like, but the choral stuff is so rapturous . . . hard to beat many voices in harmony. Even contemporary Christian music is kind of static . . . I still listen to Love Song and Maranatha Music. And Cat Stevens and Joni Mitchell.
Heck, my dad had a reel to real tape recorder, and every Sunday, a local station would play a musical he would tape and replay over and over. How many kids have ever heard the soundtracks from the, "Oklahoma", 'Hello Dolly", "Flower Drum Song", "Desert Song", and one of my favorites that had an all too brief run because it came out in 1963, "Mr. President".
I bought a Time Life full set of Broadway musical soundtracks when I was a teenager, because in high school we sang all the scores you mention. I had the collection for decades. One of my favorites was "Lady in the Dark" with Gertrude Lawrence and Danny Kaye. <grin> Years ago I asked a young woman if she'd ever seen "The King and I" on TV. She was clueless. "Sound of Music"? Nope. I was floored.
Yul Brenner. Siam, before Thailand. Yeah, these kids have no clue.
Jeff, so well said! Thank you for piecing together the source of our discontent. It reminds me of Narnia when the frozen ice began to crack and the snow began to melt as the evil queen's spell was broken, and warmth and light and life began to flourish again. Life has slowly been being choked out, and now it's beams of light are starting to again burst forth! I can feel it too. I am finallybeginning to feel joy. What unprecedented times we are living in! And what grace God is shedding upon us!
What a lovely description of what most of us are feeling, Mazel Lee!
I hesitate to go out to eat in any restaurant anymore. They are usually 'blaring' current, horrible music. Makes one lose an appetite fairly quickly.
Yep. Stopped at a great local burger place last year. But the stupid 80's metal soundtrack ensured I would never do so again.
There's only so many million times I can hear the same ol' Bon Jovi or REO Speedwagon songs.
My oldest, age 40, once remarked (when he was in HS) he only liked the music old dead guys played: Jimi Hendrix, SRV, etc. Now he can crank out Crazy Train with the best of them ❤️
Our 20 something children all listen to our 80s classic music. They know today’s music is garbage.
Music is a huge part of my life. Music in the 80’s was a vast improvement over the acid rock of the 70’s. Much, if not most, of the new music today is terrible. Tyler Swift 🤢…. but there is really good Alternative Rock being release. I live outside of Chicago and we have a radio station called WXRT. They release new music every Thursday. We lived out of state for awhile and WXRT was one of the things we missed. You can find them online. Your children might like it. They feature a year on “Flashbacks” every Saturday, but if it’s from the 60’s-mid 70’s, I rarely listen.
Sorry, but I disagree. The'70's brought us David Bowie, and so many other greats. I think rock peaked in the '60's, and then each subsequent decade was slightly degraded, until by 2000, it was stable, and poor.
Don’t leave out the sixties with the Beetles and Motown, two extremely influential genres.
I think I said the '60's were the peak of rock and roll, in my humble opinion.
That’s okay. You can disagree. My husband constantly points out music from the 60s and 70’s that I like, but music triggers memories and much of the music brings about bad memories.
As a late boomer, we would never have considered listening to the music of our parent's generation (I remember my mother singing "Zing Zing, Zoom Zoom, my little heart goes boom", "Hi Lilly", "Abba dabba dabba said the monkey to the chimp" not to mention the music of the rat pack.). Now I go to the doctor or the dentist and get to tell the hygenist that the music they are playing was popular 50 years ago when I was in high school. One replied that they couldn't play modern music, that it wasn't "appropriate." I have been wondering what happened to creativity in music - how did it disappear? Then I remembered that they don't sing about love and marriage any more. Women's lib managed to ban it, along with having or caring enough about children to stay with them for a few months after they are born. Sad.
It’s all about vulgarity now.
Not really, I know many original composers who have incredible songs that will never be heard. Today's music industry is beyond corrupt. Just look at " the best Country album" this year..
My young missionary son sent this to me “ check out Suzanne Ostler Shippen
she is our pianist for the mtc choir who creates gorgeous arrangment of the songs we sing including songs like how great thou are in which you can here the rolling thunder in song in the way she rewrote it. Also includes organ.”
I am going to get her music.
That’s exactly what I meant though. If it’s actually creative and worthwhile, it doesn’t get any play or support 😕
You GOT THE TRUTH!! There's no love left! No truth! No loyalty! No trust! No Christ among the masses only dead oligarch idols.
But do you know where you WILL find new and vital and interesting modern music? In the Worship Music / Christian Music space. There is some really beautiful and inspiring music being written by young people right now
I find it sad. We have a library of tv shows from the 70s, 80s and 90s that my husband and I grew up on that we show to our sons aged 10 and under. They love them. We originally started it out of necessity when they were little due to the insidiousness of current children's programming but its turning into a way of life for them. The only saturday morning cartoons they watch are the old style ones on the old local channel (MeTV) but otherwise they stick in a TMNT disc or garfield, batman, etc. There is nothing good now. And we find out its not us, its the culture. That's kind of a relief.
Would you share favorites? We are doing something similar. No TV. Only carefully curated videos. So I'd love recommendations!
MacGyver (original, duh) has been excellent. Theres a few that have a greenie message but we mostly avoid those, or we might watch them and critique it. But hes always the hero, he always helps others, he always uses his wits, the good guys always win, etc. Classic boy stuff. Our 9 yrold has a mullet because he wants to be MacGyver :)
Star Trek Next Generation is also great for similar reasons.
The Muppet Show from the 70s
Classic Looney Toons, Tom & Jerry, Superman/Batman (90s), Animaniacs, TMNT, Classic Scooby Doo (60-70s), Garfield (90s), Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (a rare gem from 2000s)
Those are the ones off the top of my head. The great thing is most shows are completely out on dvd now and pretty cheaply. Animaniacs and looney toons are the ones that are a bit hard to find complete, but the volumes are cheap on places like thriftbooks. Happy viewing!
Thanks so much, you've given me new ideas to look into!
💯
My granddaughter plays high school basketball. They were all warming up to MY music from the 80s. When I walked into the gym... Not looking too bad, the music playing was Back in Black. And I was rocking my black jacket. I even asked if they had permission from us to play our music... haha. But I also love Vivaldi.
You won't like it. They didn't like it!
You literally took the words right out of my mouth! I’m 60 and my husband is 70 and I read C&C out loud every morning. Today, I could barely get thru it as a lump in my throat grew. I have said many times that we (he and I) would be okay (though not the golden years we had dreamed of), but I had so much anguish and worry about our kids and their lives. I now have so much hope with President Trump at the helm! He kept saying (back when) that “…the best is yet to come!” …and maybe this is what he was talking about!
Exactly this! I had most of the parts in my head. Now I can see the web they create. I couldn't connect them all before this. Even the music part....my husband's band played locally. Cover songs from 70-2000's. We were always so intrigued that the 20and 30year old crowds knew all the 50 year old songs by heart! When we were that age, that would be like going to the bar to hear songs from the30's!!! To the point on fashion, we both still buy clothes that are basically the same as we wore in the 90's. There they are...in the store. I have known for decades about medicare/Medicaid payor mix because I managed an icu and dialysis unit. Private insurance bases their structure on it as well. Obamacare came in with other control metrics....payment was reduced if quality surveys fell below 97% ( questions like was your food warm, did the nurse answer your call bell fast enough,did you feel safe,was it quiet enough to rest). We are also docked if not enough staff are vaccinated for flu,or covid. We get docked if not enough nurses went back to get advanced degrees( titled the 80 x 2020 rule..meaning 20% of RN's refusing would work bedside care, the other 80% were intended to move to outside hospital and replace the doctor shortage with PA'S and nurse practitioners as they anticipated the influx of patients from age,chronic illness and immigration.( The hospital and the union have literally pushed me nearly weekly since Obamacare passed to go back to school. I am already past retirement age and no way I'm spending $25000 to get a 75 cent an hour premium for the next year or 2.) Everything is on line, virtually no clinical patient contact and consists of social construct management theory and statitistics. Bam you got your masters in a year or 2. You're only $50000 in debt.. I haven't seen a movie that's less than 20 years old except for a few Christian movies because 10 minutes in I'm disgusted. I can't listen to newer music because it's either the same electronic noise with some whining, rap or the lyrics are pure filth. The news is just the same fact less opinionated crap. The good news is it's lead me back to Christ, church, community and reading. And it lead me HERE. Jeff, you amaze me every day. I thank you for your insight and humor. You attract an equally amazing audience with insights I also enjoy and even cherish. As bad as everything seems, I find hope here every morning.
Yes! I tried to tell families during convid that they needed to fight the hospitals or avoid them entirely or their loved one would die. I had only one friend who actually believed me and avoided the convid protocol even though she had pneumonia and was an inpatient in a small hospital. It saved her life.
I am aware of the Medicare BS as I do the MC billing for the chiro office I work in. We are non-par so we and the patients get dinged and reduced coverage. Makes me angry.
I find the current medical system abhorrent and I avoid it. I am a very late boomer and I do not play any of their sick-care, BS yearly check games nor do I focus on disease.
I focus on health and positive mental attitude.
New movies mostly suck-way to much violence and sex (deviant stuff especially). New music, if you can call it that is awful. I listen to 70's and 80's stuff-many genre's.
This was a great stack! I feel completely vindicated for what I have been sensing/feeling/believing now for years. Way to go Jeff!
Interesting thing about Medicaid/Medicare that I found out in 2021: there is a regulation that says that nursing homes and hospitals cannot deny visitors for Medicaid/Medicare patients. (Obviously this rule was in place before covid, but it's a federal rule, and we were counting on staff not wanting to jeopardize their Medicaid/Medicare funding.)
My friends and I protested outside a facility that was forcing our elderly friend to wear a mask to visit her even more elderly friend in that nursing home. I wrote on my sign that they were breaking the law, and I listed the regulation. It worked for a while. Some of the staff said it was okay for her to visit without a mask. My other friend went along for moral support. But as soon as that other friend quit going, they started insisting on masks again for our elderly friend, and she just went along because she didn't want the hassle. 😢
The requirement for almost every profession to get advanced degrees is all about the money and additional indoctrination. The Democrats are in cahoots with the universities.
I've been saying for years that all they do are sequels, and all the old music is new again. And now we know why....
Right? I’ve complained that there is nothing creative in the movie world, just keep rehashing the same stories. I think this is why independent studios have suddenly taken off. Things like The Chosen have exploded.
Angel Studios is another investor owned studio that produces quality films. Most of us are small amount investors. We can rate trailers [actually longer than trailers] and watch movies when they are streamed or get cheaper tickets for the movies.
I can't wait for Speed 24....
lol
Probably 30 years ago, my mother gave me "Speed" on VHS as a gift. I remember looking at that box and I had no interest in watching it. I soon threw it in the trash. Why would anyone watch that crap, let alone want to own a copy? Then came the sequels . . .
I looked up the movies that came out in 1995 and was shocked, no wonder it seemed like we went to the theatres every weekend growing up! Even most of the crappy movies are a good time. We've not had that many decent movies come out in the last 10 years much less 1!
https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?title_type=feature&release_date=1995-01-01,1995-12-31
Sling blue is streaming Goonies on Feb 8 at 5 pm on E!. I have the DVR set up. My kids watched it almost every time it came on and I loved watching it with them.
We watched the movie Emilia Perez and it is so amateur-ish, the songs are so bad... and it occurred to me that USAIDS may have funded this film and also the money to push it on the public with 13 Academy Award nominations.. It never made sense that Hollywood would collectively say this film is "the best film of the year" and push it with marketing so hard. I'm thinking now that its funding must be from USAIDS, or another cut out of gvt. money and I REALLY want to see/hear that Columbian musical... heh The Bee should get recordings for us to enjoy.
Emmies, Grammys, academys, Pulitzers- all bs.
I would love to see the Bee’s version!!
Agree. I was just going to say the same, but you beat me to it. Jeff, I don’t know how you do it. I love the way you anchored this piece in the frozen state that has descended upon us since 9/11. The “arts” are dead, and so is journalism, “science”, and so many other fields.
I’m choosing hope. Will this clean up effort underway last? Will we prevail? We don’t know the answer, but the only thing we can try is to try our best.
Art and SCIENCE! Literature! ALL GONE! ALL DEAD! There's no love left! No truth! No loyalty! No trust! No Christ among the masses only dead oligarch idols.
And architecture - Tucker likes to rail that we don't make beautiful buildings any more. I frankly never really noticed, and now I can't 'unsee' it. Some of these apartment complexes going up all around look more like prisons than homes.
My husband was given a book called, “Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon” by David McGowan. I haven’t read it, but it’s about the amount of people in the music industry in the 1960’s whose parent was in the CIA.
Also have read that. It fits well into the history of the CIA which concluded at some point in the 1950s that it had to find some way to prevent actual communism from coming to America. So, it decided to create a kind of cultural rebellion among young Americans that could absorb any real disruption to society by going to Hollywood and fostering music and film that only appeared to challenge the establishment , while also being part if it. And thus, the 60s happened. It was all part of a plan: long hair, sandals, free love, hatred of all things establishment, and hippies.
YES! Have not read the book but someone in the C&C comments last year led me to his blog post https://centerforaninformedamerica.com/inside-the-lc-the-strange-but-mostly-true-story-of-laurel-canyon-and-the-birth-of-the-hippie-generation-part-i/ The book is also available online at https://archive.org/details/weirdscenesinsidethecanyonlaurelcanyoncovertopsthedarkheartofthehippiedream2014b/page/n15/mode/2up Spent several nights last year reading through it randomly, books online is not really my thing. No idea if the book is still available to buy, but am constantly behind and have several others I have bought but not yet read. Fascinating stuff though.
OMG-McGowan writes some bombshell truth about the music industry and how the hippie culture was co-opted into garbage like Charles Manson. There is a whole subject to study. So much CIA manipulation going on in the rock n roll industry in particular. McGowan will make your head spin!
Dave McGowan went down a very dark and winding rabbit hole.
There's a lot of data out there now. Online. Truly "conspiratorial" stuff but very well documented.
(I went down there too. Read the book Joanne.)
Interesting...
I didn't like it and the whole first part and culture made me sick. I never thought our culture was getting better as I have aged and being "stuck", as I am a sixties child, had the best and worst and much seemed to get worse. I mean they really tried to sell US first paint for clothing without even one fig leaf! Nasty. The culture has moved... Naked and unafraid of Godly judgement in every arena. We ARE in a PIT and minds are so shrunken live with trauma cortisol that I can't see it's so dark, can't see my own hand in front of my face" dark. I do know this mental collapse. I'm living it. I don't care to exercise my creative instincts anymore.
Exercise your creativity. The world needs it!!
Yes!
I so agree. What a hugely important post. This sentence in particular is brilliant: “Morally worse, USAID is also the part that we inflicted on the rest of the world, a bureaucratic neurotoxin that has paralyzed global culture and science for a quarter decade now, a poison that killed, maimed, and destroyed — all in the name of virtue-signaling humanitarianism.”
Reminds me of The Matrix. Reading JEFF‘s analysis of the cultural stagnation and us being frozen in time is so eerily reminiscent of that movie. The brains of the souls in the matrix - set in the 80’s - when everything was comfortable and familiar. That movie aleays gave me chills.
That's exactly what Elon said...our world was like being in the Matrix.
Indeed!
Really a great article. I've suspected for years that almost everything that's defined our culture for the last 30 years (news, movies, TV, music, education, etc.) was propaganda. Actually, I just got into a "discussion" about it last night with a family member, lol.
As Jeff points out, it's all been one big "same" rehash. (My guess at a before-times date is around 2000.) But that is not how markets work. In a true free market, companies compete for customers, which means proliferation of different products. Options tailored to different segments of the market. There would never, ever be a sea of sameness without someone manipulating the market.
I didn't know the mechanism by which it was funded and controlled until this USAID exposure. USAID is the funding mechanism for the propaganda and the DOJ has been the enforcement arm. USAID pays organizations that craft or uphold the government's narrative, threatens to cut off anyone who won't comply, and pays others to squash the free thinkers. Those who don't acquiesce to the soft persuasion from USAID find themselves targeted by the DOJ.
And it's all ending. Imagine real creativity and innovation happening again. Combined with lower taxes and less regulation, we will see an explosion of productivity.
RU: I pray you are correct in that it is ending. If it is not then Jesus needs to bring it, asap.
Agreed. Excellent work 👏