Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

Time Stamps for the Interviews: Scott Stedman and Sophie Pierce Interview - 04:28 Charles Hugh Smith Interview - 53:30 Part 1: Sophie Pierce and Scott Steadman on OnlyFans fraud allegations - https://parallaxviews.podbean.com/e/scottsophie/ Part 2: Charles Hugh Smith on Deutsche Bank's "Age of Disorder" report - https://parallaxviews.podbean.com/e/chsmith/ A Parallax Views Two-for-One Double Feature... First Up, Journalists Scott Stedman and Sophie Pierce of Forensic News join us to discuss their recent work detailing allegations of fraud, theft, and other corruption by the newly popular modeling website OnlyFans and its mysterious owner Leonid Radvinsky. Sophie and Scott wrote a collaborative article "OnlyFans Faces Allegations of Fraud, Theft" that was published at Forensic News last month. Sophie, who is completing her Senior year at Seattle University while writing for Forensic News, explains how popular OnlyFans is amongst Generation Z and relates her experiences of interviewing OnlyFans models and users. Additionally, she shares a fascinating story about the strange data insecurity she expierenced courtesy of OnlyFans when she created a profile on the website as part of her investigation of it. Scott fills us in the OnlyFans enigmatic owner, Leonid Radvinsky, and the multiple lawsuits and scandals he has been embroiled in over the years. In fact, one OnlyFans content creators has argued that Radvinsky has been involved in shady activities involving drugs and Scott, although not jumping to conclusions, believe there is much more to Radvinsky, who has deftly avoided media attention, than meets the eye. Then... Charles Hugh Smith of the Of Two Minds blog, which ranked at #7 on CNBC's list of the top alternative financial websites, and author of A Hacker's Teleology: Sharing the Wealth of Our Shrinking Planet joins us to discuss a Deutsche Bank report by Jim Reid warning of a forthcoming "Age of Disorder" that will disrupt and reverse the trends of globalization over the past few decades. For the unfamiliar, Deutsche Bank, which has come under scrutiny in recent years due to it's relationship with President Donald Trump, is the #17th largest bank in the entire world. As such it is important to understand this report and what it is saying. Charles fills us in and also discusses how this report ties into the generational cycles theory of historian Peter Turchen and Nicholas Nassim Taleb's thinking about fragility and anti-fragility. Charles believes we are living in what could more accurately, in his estimation, be called an "Age of Uncertainty" and details how we reached this point of grotesque economic inequality where the top 0.01% own more than the bottom 80%. Can we move in a different direction? Charles thinks so, but not through past ideologies that were popular in the 20th century. This Episode Brought to You By: The War State: The Cold War Origins of the Military-Industrial Complex and the Power Elite, 1945-1963 by Michael Swanson of The Wall Street Window

On this edition of Parallax VIews, Wade Davis is one of the world's foremost anthropologists and ethnobotanists. He's traversed the globe covering topics like Haitian Voodoo in The Serpent and the Rainbow, the wisdom of ancient in The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters to the Modern World, the World War I era British expedition to Mount Everest in Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest, and most recently the culture and beauty of Columbia in Magdalena: River of Dreams: A Story of Colombia. Recently, in a piece for the Rolling Stone, Davis turned his attention towards understanding the dire moment the U.S. has been facing in light of political turmoil and polarization coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic or coronavirus crisis. The piece is entitled "The Unraveling of America: How Covid-19 Signals the End of the American Era", but should not be mistaken as a celebration. Rather, Davis laments what he believes could be the end of the American century if the U.S. doesn't choose to look in the mirror and reflect about the need for social democratic reforms. From his purview, the U.S. has become ensconced in a dangerous form of thinking that has led to greed being heralded, citizens becoming atomized, and stark polarization creating a divide amongst the American people. On this edition of the program we discuss his thoughts on this further as well as delving into the idea of conservatism, how his anthropological work informs his values and thinking, and much, much more. This Episode Brought to You By: The War State: The Cold War Origins of the Military-Industrial Complex and the Power Elite, 1945-1963 by Michael Swanson of The Wall Street Window

On this edition of Parallax Views, much attention has been given to the issue of fake news and its permeation of the United States and Western Europe. However, it is worth keeping in mind that the infodemic is not a uniquely U.S. or even Western European dilemma. In fact, the problem exists in Eastern Europe as well. Academic and journalist Maria Cernat of The Barricade joins us to discuss the rise of COVID-19 conspiracy theories and fake news in Romania, and the political situation in Europe, on this fascinating edition of Parallax Views. Maria, who specializes in media and communications research, offers an insight into how the highly religious country of Romania faces similar issues to the U.S. in regards to fake news. At the same time, there are some unique aspects to the pandemic conspiracy theories arising in Romania, specifically the role elements of the Orthodox Church, whose clergy are paid by the Romanian state, play in spreading such paranoia. Maria believes that the problems facing Romania in regards to fake news have to do with structural issues such as economic inequality and the failures of the education system. It is not enough, she argues, to just say "people are stupid". Rather, she points, to deeper seated issues as leading the the current infodemic. In addition, we discuss the political situation in Romania, Romania's relationship with Russia, the extreme poverty facing many Romanians (including children), and a news story about Romania's recent purchase of U.S. Patriot missiles. From Maria (Minor Correction She Wanted to Make): I listened to the conversation again. I made a mistake: I said the there is no way for the premises to be false and the conclusion true, the correct formulation is : there is no way for the premises to be true and the conclusion false. Slip of the tongue... This Episode Brought to You By: The War State: The Cold War Origins of the Military-Industrial Complex and the Power Elite, 1945-1963 by Michael Swanson of The Wall Street Window

On this edition of Parallax Views, we get a "State of the Media" address from the veteran muckraking journalist Ken Silverstein of Washington Babylon. Ken has a lot of criticism for the approach of the press in the era of Trump, even though he himself has a great deal of contempt for Donald Trump and the way the current sitting President has attacked journalists over the course of the past four years. Before getting into that, however, Ken gives a background on how he became involved in journalism and his mentor Alexander Cockburn of Counterpunch fame (although it should be noted that Ken founded Counterpunch prior to Cockburn's involvement). From there we delve into: - Ken's thoughts on social media; the uproars over Matt Taibbi's recent op-eds; thoughts on what's been called "cancel culture" - Is there a lack of accountability in journalism?; the strange story of an Iranian who was asked to become a spy for the U.S.; the Democratic Party's movem right especially since the Bill Clinton Presidency and Rahm Emanuel's comments about 2020 being the "Year of the Biden Republican"; Ken's thoughts on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and "The Squad" - "The Trouble With Jeffrey: On Trump, The Atlantic, Goldberg and Cannon Fodder", Ken's recent piece on Jeffrey Goldberg's Atlantic piece alleging, vis-à-vis anonymous sources, alleging Trump's disrespect of troops at a cemetery; Ken's issues with Goldberg's piece and that fact that John Bolton did not corroborate the story; Goldberg's argument for why the sources needed to be anonymous; Goldberg's history of neocon warmongering during the Bush Administration and the Iraq War - The Donald Trump/Stormy Daniel affair and the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky; the focus should be on power imbalances and hush money not the sex with porn stars - Trump's fights with the media and vice versa; Trump being seen as "authentic"; the media's strange focus on matters such as Trump's eating habits - Has the press coverage of Trump been reckless at times?; Ken's thoughts on the Russiagate story - Ken's controversial take on the death of Jeffrey Epstein as outlined in his piece "The Jeffrey Epstein Non-Conspiracy Theory"; Ken clarifies that he does think there's questions about the Epstein case but questions the conspiracy narrative around his death This Episode Brought to You By: The War State: The Cold War Origins of the Military-Industrial Complex and the Power Elite, 1945-1963 by Michael Swanson of The Wall Street Window

On this edition of Parallax Views, much has been made about the role of money in the outcomes of political elections, at least within . In academic disciplines, however, this has often been seen as heresy. In fact, some view it as nothing more than conspiracy theory. And, truth be told, it would likely be overly simplistic to argue that a small handful of shadowy individuals select the two Presidential candidates every four years in U.S. elections. However, political scientist Dr. Thomas Ferguson, Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Boston,  dispenses with such oversimplifications while also making the case, through his extensive empirical research, that, yes, money in politics DOES, as a matter of fact, influence electoral outcomes. After receiving his Ph.D at Princeton University, Dr. Ferguson went on to teach, for a time, at MIT. During his academic travels he delved into the history undergirding FDR and the New Deal. In doing so he developed an alternative model to understanding elections that challenged the median voter theorem. This came to be known as the investment theory of part competition, which Dr. Ferguson elaborated upon in his landmark book Golden Rule: The Investment Theory of Party Competition and the Logic of Money-Driven Political Systems, he joins us on this edition of the program to discuss this theory, how he came to developing it, and his thoughts on the 2020 Presidential election pitting Republican incumbent Donald Trump against Democratic nominee Joe Biden. In the course of our conversation we also discuss: - Rahm Emmanuel's declaration that 2020 would be the year of the Biden Republican - Thoughts on the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wing of the Democratic Party and the development of small donor power in elections - Why conspiracy theories have become so popular - The stunning defeat of Joe Kennedy by Ed Markey in the Massachusetts Senate race - Thoughts on the panic-laden Deutsche Bank report by Jim Reid warning investors of an "Age of Disorder" - And much, much more! This Episode Brought to You By: The War State: The Cold War Origins of the Military-Industrial Complex and the Power Elite, 1945-1963 by Michael Swanson of The Wall Street Window

On this edition of Parallax Views, authoritarianism has been a hot topic since the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency of the United States in 2016. But there's actually a rich history of social science studies interrogating the dilemma of the authoritarian personality. In fact, according to our guest on this edition of the program, there's over half a century worth of research on the authoritarian personality type. John W. Dean, a former White House Counsel under President Richard Nixon who testified to Congress in the Watergate hearings, joins us to discuss his new book, co-authored with Bob Altemeyer, entitled Authoritarian Nightmare: Trump and His Followers. In this fascinating conversation, John and begin by referencing the work of Hunter S. Thompson and his idea of "Fear and Loathing" in politics being apropos of the current zeitgeist. John then details the different types of authoritarian personality types: social dominators, authoritarian followers, and "double highs". We discuss each of these type and how, despite key differences between them, they have coalesced in the era of the Trump Presidency. In this regard, we take some time to delve into the connection between Right-Wing Authoritarianism and the evangelical Christian Right. John makes the case that these types of authoritarian personality types are either impossible to persuade or, at the very least, very hard to persuade. In other words, converting authoritarian personalities may prove a Sisyphean task. We also discuss conservatism, the GOP, and right-wing authoritarianism. John relates how Authoritarian Nightmare is a sequel of sort to his previous book Conservatives Without Conscience. The prequel to Authoritarian Nightmare, John says, was actually a planned collaboration betwen John Dean and 1964 GOP Presidential nominee Sen. Barry Goldwater. I ask John a bit about his time as a "Goldwater conservative" and John gives some anecdotes about Barry Goldwater in this regard. According to John, Goldwater was disillusioned with the direction the Republican Party was going in by the time of the Reagan Presidency in the 1980s. John argues that Goldwater was unfairly smeared as a racist, nativist conservative, but in reality was more or less  a libertarian. Jumping off from this point, John says that he can't really fault the GOP entirely for it's authoritarian voter base and that the base informs the make-up of the Party rather than the other way around. Before wrapping up John and I discuss whether Trump and his followers can really be considered conservative and if the GOP today is representative of a movement related to the historical tradition of political conservatism. We also chat about the similarities and differences between Richard Nixon and Donald Trump in this regard. All that and much more on this edition of Parallax Views. This Episode Brought to You By: The War State: The Cold War Origins of the Military-Industrial Complex and the Power Elite, 1945-1963 by Michael Swanson of The Wall Street Window

On this edition of Parallax Views, I recently appeared on the Along the Line podcast, an affiliate of our friends at Project Censored to discuss the importance of alternative media. Dr. Nolan Higdon, Nicolas Baham III, and Janice Domingo were gracious enough to have me on the program and I think we had a good chat about the need for alt media during this election season. This Episode Brought to You By: The War State: The Cold War Origins of the Military-Industrial Complex and the Power Elite, 1945-1963 by Michael Swanson of The Wall Street Window

On this edition of Parallax Views, Georgia is faced with an unusual electoral situation following the resignation of Senator Johnny Isakson's 2019 resignation.  Since that time Kelly Loeffler has acted as Isakson's replacement until a November 3rd, 2020 special election, or "jungle primary", which will decide who gets Isakson's Senate seat. One of those candidates is Hegelian philosophy scholar and prolific author Prof. Richard Dien Winfield. Winfield previously made a foray into politics in 2018 when he made an attempt to run as a U.S. Representative for Georgia's 10th congressional district. During that time Winfield became known for being the one candidate pushing for a Federal Jobs Guarantee. He joins us on this edition of the program to discuss his run for Senate as well as to outline his ideas about freedom, the social bill of rights, and why we need a federal jobs guarantee as outlined in his tremendous new book Democracy Unchained: How We Should Fulfill Our Social Rights and Save Self-Government. Among the topics discussed: - Environmental crises facing America including the current wildfires; personal health and environmental health as a right that must be ensured not only for ourselves but also future generations; dealing with climate change and the Green New Deal - The question of Reparations for descendants of slavery and victims of Jim Crow; Winfield's unique answer to the question of Reparations may surprise you -  A lengthy discussion on Winfield's federal jobs guarantee platform; why does he believe it is so necessary? - Running for Senate in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic - The issue of public education; the right to an education - The influence of philosophy and the idea of W.F. Hegel on Winfield's thought - Wealth inequality and income inequality; a fair minimum wage; taxation and fair taxation - Winfield's criticisms of Universal Basic Income (UBI) This Episode Brought to You By: The War State: The Cold War Origins of the Military-Industrial Complex and the Power Elite, 1945-1963 by Michael Swanson of The Wall Street Window

On this edition of Parallax Views, was 9/11 preventable? Our guest on this September 11th anniversary edition of Parallax Views, Mark Rossini, who worked as the FBI's point man in the CIA's Bin Laden Unit (aka ALEC Station), makes the case it was in his piece "In Re: 9/11". As an FBI agent working in ALEC Station alongside fellow FBI agent Doug Miller, Mark became privy to the CIA's monitoring of two 9/11 hijackers, Flight 77's Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, and a "Terror Summit" in Kuala Lumpur, Malyasia from January 5th-8th, 2000. Through their monitoring of these activities, the CIA discovered that the two future 9/11 terrorist had VISAs to the U.S. When Doug Miller wrote a report on the summit, however, the CIA told both he and Rossini not to send it to the FBI. For 19 years Mark Rossini has been troubled by the question of WHY the CIA did not share this vital bit of information with the CIA. His conclusions, which were independently corroborated by National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism Richard Clarke, is that elements of the CIA made a catastrophic decision after the Kuala Lumpur Summit that they kept under wraps to preserve their own careers and reputations. This decision, which Rossini makes a strong circumstantial case for having occurred, involved an illegal recruitment operation and Saudi Arabia's intelligence services aka the Mabahith. Rossini believes that, if this circumstantial case is true, then 9/11 may well have been preventable. And yes, this is the same Mark Rossini featured heavily in Lawrence Wright's book The Looming Tower and as a character in the TV series of the same name. PLEASE READ MARK ROSSINI'S ANALYSIS OF 9/11 https://undicisettembre.blogspot.com/p/mark-rossini-inre911.html In this conversation we discuss: - The FBI's John O'Neil, known as Bin Laden's arch-nemesis (who, after leaving the FBI shortly before 9/11 perished in the towers on that fateful day) and the conflicts between O'Neil and the CIA, specifically former BIn Laden Unit head honcho Michael Scheuer - The concept of "The Wall", which many believe led to botched communications before 9/11 between the FBI and CIA, and why Rossini believes "The Wall" isn't a sufficient explanation for the CIA's withholding information regarding the Malaysia terror summit from the FBI - The relationship between the CIA and Saudi Arabia's Mahabith; the special relationship between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. - FBI agent Steve Bongardt and his angry email to Dina Corsi in July of 2001 regarding the CIA, FBI, and al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar; Bongardt wrote that, “Someday somebody will die—and, Wall or not, the public will not understand why we were not more effective.” - CIA Director George Tenet's comments pertaining to 9/11 - And much, much more. This Episode Brought to You By: The War State: The Cold War Origins of the Military-Industrial Complex and the Power Elite, 1945-1963 by Michael Swanson of The Wall Street Window

On this edition of Parallax Views, Donald Trump recently opined, in a now infamous with Laura Ingraham for Fox News, that Democratic Party Presidential candidate Joe Biden was being controlled by "people in the dark shadows". This, of course, should come as no surprise given that conspiratorial mutterings about globalist elites hellbent on destroying the United States of America has become a hallmark of Trump's base. In fact, one can find ideations of a paranoid variety amongst rather visible elements of the American right-wing going back to the day of Senator Joe McCarthy and the Red Scare as well as in right-wing media outlets and organizations like WorldNetDaily and the John Birch Society. Even prior to Trump, figures like Alex Jones and Jerome Corsi promoted what historian Richard Hofstadter referred to as "The Paranoid Style in American Politics". In the 1990's, the militia and "Patriot" movement were driven by fears that the Clinton administration, specifically after Ruby Ridge and Waco, would usher in draconian martial law with the help of agencies like FEMA or, in some theories, the United Nations. Interestingly, then First Lady Hillary Clinton was roundly mocked at this time for offering a paranoid alternative to the right's vision of dystopia being ushered in by her husband. There existed, she said, a "vast right wing conspiracy" to undermine Bill Clinton's Presidency. This, of course, was roundly mocked as the delusional rantings of a "moonbat" or "wingnut". But was Clinton's accusation completely unfounded? Has the American right-wing been projecting when it lobs allegations of unpatriotic and sinister plots against Democrats and the Left? Veteran journalist Anne Nelson makes the case in her new book, Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right, that the American Right, specifically through a sorely underdiscussed and shadowy organization, has been engaging in a certain kind of subterfuge that isn't far off from being a "vast right wing conspiracy". In this explosive new book Nelson, whose journalistic exploits includes covering the U.S. support of right-wing death squads in El Salvador during the Reagan Presidency, details the under-the-radar machinations of the Council for National Policy. Modeled as a conservative equivalent to the Council on Foreign Relations, a favorite target of right-wing paranoia, the CNP claims 501(c) 3 status. But, as Nelson notes, the CNP operates in a completely different way than the CFR. According to Nelson, it acts as a network that connects the right's ideologues to the money people that can fund their movements. Anne Nelson joins us on this edition of Parallax Views to tell the whole story of how this organization has sought to undermine democratic processes in the USA for decades. Among the topics covered: How three figures, Paul Weyrich, Morton Blackwell, and Richard Viguerie came together to help form the CNP with evangelical pastor and bestselling author of the Left Behind series Tim LaHaye as its President; Weyrich's curious comments on voting and the electoral majority; Viguerie's book Takeover: The 100-Year War for the Soul of the GOP and How Conservatives Can Finally Win It and the comments contained within it concerning Hillary Clinton's accusations of a "vast right wing conspiracy". - Putting the CNP in context; the war between supporters of the Barry Goldwater campaign and "Rockefeller Republicans" in the era before the CNP's founding; the Southern Baptist Church purges that preluded that CNP's founding; the arch-conservative Phyllis Schlafly, now the subject of the FX TV drama Mrs. America. - The Democratic Party's failures, including the neglect of "Fly Over Country" and the decay of the New Deal Coalition, that Anne criticizes in the book for leaving the CNP with a base to propagandize. - How the CNP ties into the U.S. support of death squads in El Salvador. - The CNP and the media; how the decline of media, journalism, and newspapers has created a fertile environment for the CNP's propaganda efforts; the deleterious effects of Ronald Reagan rolling back the Fairness Doctrine. - How connected are the Koch Bros. to the CNP?; how much of the CNP's agenda is driven by its financial backer's desire profits rather than religious beliefs of its idealogues? - The CNP vs. the CFR; the CNP's 501(c) 3 status - The CNP in the era of Donald Trump; the CNP's initial support of Ted Cruz over Donald Trump; the deal that the CNP cut with the Trump Presidency; the CNP's connections to the coronavirus pandemic through "America's Frontline Doctors" and Dr. [CENSORED] as outlined in her new Washington Spectator piece "Anatomy of Deception: Team Trump Deploys Doctors to Push Fake Cure for COVID" (see: hydroxychloroquine). All that and more on this edition of Parallax Views!  This Episode Brought to You By: The War State: The Cold War Origins of the Military-Industrial Complex and the Power Elite, 1945-1963 by Michael Swanson of The Wall Street Window