Blogs @ Relative Progress

Oxymoron’s have a long and illustrious position in the American Lexicon, and in the hearts of Americans alike. It’s a verbal hypocrisy for the American soul that matches the political hypocrisy in our media.

So when you think about it, our love and use of oxymorons makes sense and is “seriously funny” and “terribly good”. But here is the “Brutal Truth”; There is one Oxymoron that threatens the entire fabric of our society… It not only threatens the sacredness of our 1st Amendment, but has a chilling effect on the long standing concept of the presumption of innocence, which was codified by law in America, through the 5th and 14th amendment. Of Course, I am talking about Cancel Culture.

To cancel is to decide, or announce, that a planned event will not take place. Culture is the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group. In other words, it is the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement, regarded collectively.

As infuriating as it is for a child of the 70’s to not see the Bush’s, or Clintons, or bank bailout buffoons get “cancelled” in the 90s and ‘00s, it is in the glow of this bitterness that we illuminate this clash of freedom of expression, and the moronic trend sweeping the dark alleys of the internets as cancel culture attempts the fool hearted quest to stop the world from being offended.

Tony Hinchcliffe is a comedian. He’s had a long-lasting career that has spanned from 2007 until now….and how long it lasts from here depends of how effectively our society can cancel culture. Comedy itself has a hallowed history, has been redefined in the test bed of post world war America, and has become an American gift to the world. It is the forum of using humor, deep thought, and critiques as a way to speak truth to power.
From the days of Lenny Bruce and George Carlin to Richard Pryor and Dave Chappelle, modern comedians have had a tendency to piss off the establishment. They have wielded their thoughts as weapons; empowering many audience members in the process. But with this latest descent into cancel culture, these thoughts may soon, in turn, slay these truth “warriors”.

One such moment is upon Mr. Hinchcliffe. He is currently in the headlines for making comments that were in “poor taste” when taken out of context ,and given little to validate a trait or even an opinion held by Mr. Hinchcliffe… When the comments were spoken, he was on stage as a comedian; not in an interview, fomenting hate against our Asian brothers and sisters. But to me, poor taste is turning your back on not only your profession, but also, your colleagues as well.

In the game of comedy, it is a grind; one that most of us are too scared to ever consider engaging, let alone sympathizing with. To put yourself in front of a diverse crowd of people and to be as vulnerable as a human can get, knowing you will be judged, and the only joy comes from making others involuntarily laugh, is daunting to say the least. That spontaneous laughter is the only guiding light for these wayward shamans.

It is not only the grind, but there is a strong sense of seniority, and an appreciation for the older comics by the younger comics. The earned respect, vice versa, is mutual and usually expressed by the line up. It is the 1st form of validation for a young comic when a headliner invites you on the lineup. You have openers, middles, and features who close the show. So when a feature/closer asks a young comic to open, it’s a big deal. So, when speaking of poor taste, Peng Dang oozes with it; which brings us back to May 11th, 2021 in Austin TX.

After a brief set, in which Dang plays to all the low hanging Asian Stereotypes, as well as common digs at Muslims, and our fair skinned brothers and sisters in America, he brings up the feature: Tony Hinchcliffe.

As mentioned before, Tony is an established comic, which usually means he has carved out his audience. They have a relationship. No middleman…Just Artist and fans.
As a young comic you get to perform to their audience. Win win for everybody… But Peng decided to become a victim merchant, A victim marketer. He understood the attempt at humor on that comedy stage, and instead of allowing for artistic freedom, he choose to virtue signal… and that is in poor taste.

You see, all jokes…bad and good…come from the same birth. While Tony’s riff of a joke wasn’t the best example of wit and skill… it was an obvious joke that dealt with a burgeoning narrative (TM) topic: Asian Hate in America.

Because I am familiar with Mr. Tony Hinchcliffe, I took the joke as a statement on that and kept it moving, but when pressed to condemn as poor taste, I am reminded…Funny or not, the comedian was being courageous; which is what I demand from comedians.
As our society evolves, this one trend, that started as the punishment for #metoo perpetrators, now threatens to allow the powers that be the ability to cancel any divergent thought, and eliminate some fundamental law concepts that span almost 200 years; all for the promise of not being offended.

In a world where just a few philanthropists could end world hunger for just a small fraction of their wealth, when we gaze at our phones fully understanding the lives of the kids that labor to make that product, and as we march towards global fascism, it may be time to realize being offended is still allowed….and welcomed as it usually is, a rock covering up some deep seeded insecurities and misunderstanding of what tolerance actually means

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The Armenian Council for Truth in Journalism Adjourns When Brock Willett and I started this show in March of 2020, I don’t think we had any idea what we wanted it to be, or what it would eventually become. The title was born from a random joke that my dad would use when I was a kid. Anytime he was frustrated with opening a bag of plumbing parts or anything else that was tough to get into, he would say that it had been “hermetically sealed by the Armenian Medical Association”.

Some of you boomers might make the connection to The Firesign Theatre, a surreal comedy troupe which did wild radio broadcasts throughout the late ‘60s, but when I co-opted the phrase, and turned it into a smart-ass response to Facebook commenters, who called out my satirical stories on Farmington Tribune for being fake news, my only frame of reference was my father.

After a year and a half of lampooning the media, and making the public spin with our ACTJ verified bull crap, I felt it would only be right for our team to make an honest effort at understanding the country which had become so integral to what we were doing. I filed the paperwork and started Tribune Media International LLC with an ambitious goal of creating a satirical documentary in Armenia. The basic idea was a bit of a reverse Borat approach, where we would lampoon the stupidity of Americans whilst highlighting Armenian culture.

With this goal in mind, Mr. Willett, Vladimir Koshevoy and I went to Armenia in October 2019. We went to “seek the Council”. That trip turned into everything it should have been, and nothing we expected. Perhaps I’ll give a detailed account one of these days, but for now I will just say it was both terrifying and beautiful. The few of you who already know the details, are fully aware. The rest of you will have to wait for the book. But I digress.

We were asked often what we were doing in Armenia. As I would begin to explain how our fake news stories were “independently verified by the Armenian Council for Truth in Journalism, I was consistently unsure of how the joke would be received. Time and again, those in the Caucasus region immediately understood the humor. It was then that I realized the joke was much older than my father’s quips, born from The Firesign Theatre.

“Radio Yerevan” jokes had been used in the USSR as a way of speaking truth, in an atmosphere of extreme censorship, and totalitarian thought policing. If you’ve never heard one, I highly recommend that you Google it. The point here is that in going to the other side of the world, the joke had come full circle. We had truly found The Armenian Council for Truth in Journalism.

This new found understanding inspired Brock and I to push harder at the idea of documenting the realities of places that remain misunderstood in America. 3 months later, we went to England, Ireland, and Scotland to further perfect our abilities as satirical documentarians. We were preparing for a trip to Ukraine, but life had other plans, and the world was shut down for coronavirus.

With little other option, I somewhat begrudgingly allowed Brock to push me into starting a podcast. I will forever be thankful for his insistence. As the year went on, and the BLM protests began, it seemed only proper for us to take a more concerted approach to being “proper journalists”. We recognized the world was changing, and it was obvious that we would need to change with it. Between June and August, the number of guests we had was unreal. The workload consumed me, as we moved from 3 shows per week to broadcasting every day. We were blessed with regular contributors, such as Blake Heckler, Travis Thorpe, Brian Battle, and Dan “The Manager” Sledzinski.

With Jae Shin killing it as our producer, the show began to find it’s sea legs. In between our inebriated rants, and our rapidly changing understanding of the world, some amazing discussions were had. We broke down racial division, coronavirus lies, and the political propaganda. This absurd pace was kept until Brock went to Ireland in August, intent on immigration to the Emerald Isle.

No longer in the same time zone, his ability to co-host was essentially gone.

The show would have surely died, were it not for Thaddeus Preston. His intelligence and analytical perspective of the world was the perfect counter to my anarchist nihilism. He hopped right into the firing line, and has remained dedicated and steadfast for the last 9 months. As we approached the November election, we were all excited to to temporarily wrap, and take a vacation from daily broadcasting. The election special was an absolute mess of old contributors, random miscreants, intelligent debate, and drunken bullshit. When we ended the broadcast, Trump had won the election, and we were all ready to take a break, but much like how the pandemic had derailed my plans to go to Ukraine, the universe had other plans.

The next three months compelled me to travel to various places around the country, documenting the movement to “Stop The Steal”. I’ve never been comfortable around those who would worship a political figure, but as I found myself imbedded in the heart of MAGA, I found a new understanding of these cultish Trumpers for which I had always had disdain. These were normal, hardworking Americans. They weren’t the racist mouth breathers of mainstream media lore. They were the heart and soul of the American dream, and they were distraught at the notion that their republic was dying. They were willing to speak out, regardless of the derision. The movement was not what I had been told. As I followed the story, I found myself in the streets of DC, live-streaming and documenting the Proud Boys. Once again I was reminded of the lies of the mainstream media, who worked tirelessly to characterize the group as some sort of bastion of fascism and racist hatred. Once again, the reality was much different than the snake oil lies of the establishment press. Nearly every ethnicity was represented by this self-proclaimed “drinking club with a patriotism problem”, and I often wondered if they were the last bastion of free men, in a rapidly deteriorating American empire.

As I attempted to highlight reality for my politically diverse following, it became apparent to me that the propagandists were in full control. I watched as some long-time friends turned against me, calling me a fascist, and spewing vitriol for reporting a narrative which didn’t align with their biases. To say it was disturbing is an understatement. It broke my heart to realize that the perspective and consensus I had tried so hard to foster in the previous months, was quickly breaking down in the face of reality. The fallout from January 6 only solidified my understanding that the establishment media, at the whims of the power hungry oligarchs who pull their purse strings, was realizing their ultimate goal of dividing America, and plunging us into civil war. Psychological warfare is a bitch.

So now, nearly 6 months after the events at the Capitol, with press credentials in hand, I can look into the past and see so much for what it truly is. Like taking a hike, through the San Juan Mountains, I can look back at each peak and valley that brought me to this point, fully aware of how painful, or enjoyable each step has been. I can reminisce on those who’ve walked with me along the way. I can mourn for those who took a different path, perhaps never to be seen again.

It has sometimes been said that life is a series of mistakes, ultimately leading to our death, but when I think about this experiment; this ACTJ, I can’t help but think that a certain amount of divine intervention has been an intimate part of each and every ill-conceived decision. I’ve walked the path which was laid out before me. Regret is not an option.

As we move this Council into the next iteration, I’m reminded of the writings of J.R.R Tolkien. We’ve long compared our struggle to bring truth to a wider audience to the fool’s hope that the ring could be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom. Though the odds may be against us, I take heart in the fact the Lou Starski has been there with me since the journey began. He probably thought I’d forgotten about him, but this hobbit would be nowhere without my own Samwise Gamgee. Good luck finding someone with a better heart.

There is no map for the quest for truth. All we can do is keep moving forward. Determination is required, and the daily destinations are completely unknown.

Like Gandalf once said: “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

The Armenian Council for Truth in Journalism adjourns on May 20, 2021 at 10pm EST

We are in a bubble. From NFT’s to SPACs based on weird physic projected to be profitable in 2050, the pumping of the M2, M3, MZ money supply has to find a sink. Increasingly that monetary sink is Dog Money!! Dogecoin (Dog Money) emerged in 2013 as a joke. A fucking joke Fam!! It was created by Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus to satirize the growth of altcoins by making the doge internet meme into a cryptocurrency. So if more “Stimi” checks keep coming, you may want to look at this as a sound investment because your Fed notes are about to be trash.

DISCLAMER!!!!

This post is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a solicitation, offering or recommendation of any security, commodity, derivative, investment management service or advisory service and is not commodity trading advice. You will lose all your fiat if you do not not do you necessary due diligence are seek the advice of a trained financial advisor that most likely doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing.

…. Otherwise YOLO!!!

Yes I have awoken once again today and decided to continue railing against hivemind thinking because I used to buy into that bullshit and feel like I’ve escaped from a prison. In hindsight I see how toxic it all was, and how it misled me to betray my values.

You want to talk about microaggressions, look no further than the constant attacks against the individual. You log in, you get the daily briefing of what you’re not allowed to talk about today, how to talk to who, who you’re allowed to associate or agree with, what you’re allowed to believe. And it’s all enforced by fear of retaliation.

It is designed to destroy you on a fundamental level and turn you into an easily reprogrammable machine. Once the individual is destroyed, you have nothing left inside yourself that is worth protecting, so you willingly give up every right you have. The individual is nothing. By nature you are nothing, you are powerless, you are selfish, and the hivemind will reject you for any ounce of individuality that is not pre-approved. So if you are codependent like half the fucking world seems to be, you’re going to be constantly seeking acceptance through denying your own nature.

Is that how you teach empathy? If you drain someone of their humanity and replace it with a list of rules and procedures to follow, are you really teaching empathy or are you actually draining them of their capacity to feel empathy at all? It replaces the capacity to love with the duty to conform. In my honest fucking opinion, that is not giving power to the people. That is making people powerless and giving the power to an external entity that is so easily exploitable by the ruling class. How many people have social anxiety because everyone views social interaction like they’re putting on a show? How many people feel weak and powerless over their own mental and physical health? How many of you think you need to vote for corrupt war mongering politicians because electoral politics is your only option? We’ve been trained to believe that we are powerless and need some external entity to save us, even though those entities abuse and poison us.

We are pieces of shit and need some external entity to love and accept us, even though those entities demand that we deny ourselves. We’ve been trained to believe that healthy habits are dismissive pseudoscience and we have no real power over our mental and physical health. We feel like shit because we have neglected ourselves and are dying inside. Vices and bad habits are branded as self care, while healthy habits like sunshine, whole foods, exercise and socializing are viewed as chores. That’s how much we value ourselves.

Just yesterday I was whining about wanting to give up but i awoke today, put on my little bullshit pseudoscience crystal necklace that reminded me that I’m not powerless and I control my own reality. So I’m gonna go try to revive my plants that withered while I was feeling sorry for myself the last couple days. Wishing you all the strength to be yourself and break free from cultural narcissism.

From the Desk of Russian Bot 2.0

The European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs released a draft report on the direction of EU-Russia political relations, which calls for the establishment of “a transatlantic alliance to defend democracy” with the United States.

It seems as though President Biden’s bag man may have misplaced the memo while he was smoking Parmesan cheese, on his way back from a rendezvous with the mayor of Moscow.

In his first day in office, the fresh Prez of Prendee halted construction of the keystone pipeline. Surely, the hack attack that definitely wasn’t perpetrated by anyone other than Russia, couldn’t have been foreseen, but in a clear cut effort to put the kibosh on Putin’s use of energy, as a means of furthering his influence in Eastern Europe, the Biden administration has decided against sanctioning the company in charge of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will deliver 970 billion cubic ft. of natural gas from Russia to Germany, per year. It’s unclear as to how much wealth this announcement will put into Putin’s pocket, but we are sure he has his pinky up to his lips as a general precaution.

Russia is bad mmmkay?

With Elon Musk furiously tweeting his way to acquiring the entirety of Bitcoin, the founder of Tesla is beginning to behave a lot like Nathan Mayer Rothschild, in the aftermath of Waterloo. Waterloo….hmmm…Water Lou Starski?

Hold the banks, and get ready for a helmet sticker, because in order to be eligible to work without face coverings, employees must register as vaccinated, with a copy of their COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card.

Indian cases that had peaked at 28,395 on April 20 plummeted nearly 80% to just 6,430 on May 15. Deaths peaked May 4, and now they are also down 25%.

It’s important to remember that the FDA has not approved ivermectin for use in treating or preventing COVID-19 in humans. Ivermectin tablets are approved at very specific doses for some parasitic worms, and there are topical (on the skin) formulations for head lice and skin conditions like rosacea. Ivermectin is not an anti-viral (a drug for treating viruses).

Never mind the disclaimers, there’s an insurrection to sell, and some house republicans are implying that it never occurred. The audacity is astounding, but even more disturbing are the words of the President formerly known as Orange Man: “Republicans in the House and Senate should not approve the Democrat trap of the January 6 Commission. It is just more partisan unfairness and unless the murders, riots, and fire bombings in Portland, Minneapolis, Seattle, Chicago, and New York are also going to be studied, this discussion should be ended immediately. Republicans must get much tougher and much smarter, and stop being used by the Radical Left. Hopefully, Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy are listening!”

David Plouffe knew the gig when he made this tweet on June 13, 2016: “It is not enough to simply beat Trump. He must be destroyed thoroughly. His kind must not rise again.” TDS is as prevalent as ever, and perhaps America can still find a way. Hold on to your butts.

The Council convenes on May 19, 2021