102 Comments

This here: "Every day a little more of 'the news' is people telling you what you must not believe, what you shouldn’t permit yourself to think, what conversations are to be considered out of bounds, and on and on and on. As a secondary consideration, the news is sometimes about things that happened. Step away from that garbage from time to time."

One of the great surprises and disappointments of my career has been to watch as so many people ostensibly in the First Amendment business so readily embrace censorship and government propaganda. It really wasn't so very long ago that journalists regarded government pronouncements with skepticism. Question authority. Question everything. And now . . . who are *you* to question *anything*?

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This is why the name of my blog is distressedliberal.com. It’s a term coined by Naomi wolf. And this is why at a medical freedom rally an older guy was wearing a t shirt that said “the 70s called. They want their Question Authority t shirt back”

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Cheers and encouragement from a social conservative who understands that in the coming times, there will be a new Liberalism or Democratic Socialism that takes the lead on the left. You're in for a lifetime of struggle to establish that new platform and party, but, it must be done. Glad you know about Naomi Wolf, and hope you also do about Bari Weiss. https://pomocon.substack.com/p/bari-weiss-on-the-new-founders-america?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2 You might also like my most recent essay, "Repentance of Repression."

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I want the t-shirt the older guy has!

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Yeah, and remember the ages of the best of those journalists.

Now, look at the ages of the piss poor sh!t we've got now.

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The job of a journalist, for which I trained at Columbia, is TO ALWAYS QUESTION EVERYTHING. Especially if it originates in the government. Especially if there is a budget attached to it. When did reporters forget this? What was the zero domino? Anyhow, I’m off to disconnect in the Caribbean. Be well.

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My brilliant journalism prof at CMU (he was a newspaper guy in the 70s) told me, "Know this: they always lie." He's been right for 40 years.

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Who was it?? I went to CMU and live in da burgh now lol.

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Oh no kidding! Dave Demarest. Loved him. Worked for him while I was there.

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I figured it was Demarest! 😅

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Srsly, we should start a "here's how you actually do journalism" course. But then no one graduating would get a job hahaha!

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ha! Hero of mine

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Jan 5, 2023Edited
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It’s all part of the process. It occurs to me that the guy out of FLA probably understands contention and might be a good prospect. The process is designed to do just this.

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🙌

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Exactly this!

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Welcome back! Great article :)

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Chris, I do not want you coming back to us with your description of third degree burns, singed lungs, and dried up eyeballs, so listen up.

How to be warm.

Hit the campsite. Pick your spot for the tent. Light a big fire there.

Now light a smaller fire opposite where your tent entrance will be, or downwind, whichever makes more sense. After you have eaten and washed up, get a arm-width branch and rake the big fire over to the other fire. Don't miss any hot coals. Shovel an inch of soil over the hot ground, and lay out dry bark, dry leaves, dry grass, or ground sheet across the hearth and erect your tent. The heat will radiate slowly up into your tent all night and you will even be warm in the morning.

No need to thank me. A small RPG for Xmas will do.

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Ohh, I like this.

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After societal breakdown, finally resulting in a showdown between the separation of the reds and the blues, I will remember this if I should find myself in the wilds, securing shelter, while reconnoitering at my designated rendezvous with the red resistance.

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I kinda suspect red and blue in every country will evaporate and be replaced by down-to-earth survivors who regard all hierarchies with suspicion. Between then and now, I am going to become isolationist until I see how it all pans out. But I do enjoy the irony of a low tech fire ground bed. We are all going to learn about real living, and real values. Happy hunting, Hamdeedee.

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Yes, only the hard-headed, hard-edged, independent, I'll think for myself, thank you, prepared for the worst, head on a swivel, skeptical types with a deep strain of cynicism running through our veins will have the chutzpah and courage to survive. You're either with me, or you're agin me, and I'm prepared for either one. Same to you, Tony💪👊

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Yup. You got it in a nutshell, Humdeedee.

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brilliant!

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Nice job with the little stove, pile of proper sized wood ready to go.

Just west of Lone Pine is pretty country. Pics prove it right? :D

But I had the same experience; a few days away from the MSM narrative and it's all the more jarring on re-entry. The decoupling really helps even the keel.

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Love it. Just the kind of Reset I need. I'm going to make time for some winter kamping and "burn wood like a German environmentalist" :)

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Glad you were able to get away & be warm too.

I love road trips & seeing trees, mountains, waterfalls & anything outside!

I've been watching the news & wondered why?!?!

You summed it up exactly!

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I learned long ago that when a horrendous incident occurs and the first thing out of the mouths of authorities is: 'we know it's definitely not ....' it's code for: IT DEFINITELY IS WHATEVER WE JUST TOLD YOU IT ISN'T--go back and look at the initial reporting of almost every US based terror attack by a Muslim starting with Ft. Hood and you will see the pattern. Obviously they've been doing this since at LEAST the JFK assassination, so it seems like an oldie but a goodie from the MSM's playbook...Happy New Year by the way!

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"Workplace violence."

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Chris - that's awesome with the cold weather camping!

Missed you and was honestly wondering and hoping all was well, glad to see that it is. Yes, taking a break from the worldly craziness is a good thing to do - get connected with nature, that would be the good stuff! I would suggest that we all take time, smell the roses or deal with the harshness of Mother Nature, both are good to do!

May God be with you and your family for 2023 and beyond!

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Welcome back! Glad you were able to get away.

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I am envious! Damn, I love the outdoors! What beautiful country...✝️...thank you for sharing...very cool!

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No problem, been occupied with the Kabuki theater of a shit show in the US house humiliation of McCarthy losing over, & over, & over again, 6 times so far, yet, they almost didn't adjourn last night, since the Dems all voted NOT to! Best part, the chair asked after the time to vote was up, "does anyone want to change their vote? 🤣😂😱

Listening to the online, play by play from various conservatives, for each vote, was hilarious too.

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You look like a Dad. 😉😊😋

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EXACTLY

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Looks like a capable reliable type.

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Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air. OK, so you weren’t in the ocean this time, but you get the idea.

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Welcome back Chris and happy new year. Haven't done any winter camping in many years but you are inspiring me to try. The stove seems risky in theory but looks like you've got a pretty workable model; I might opt for either sub-0 ZenBivy or adapted van (neither of which I have and both of which are above budget...). Anyway, we need you as the fight goes on and the once "question authority" types Ben B. notes become the authoritarians. As a historian, do you think that the period of the journalist as outsider and questioner of official narratives was more myth than reality or is the current period the anomaly? ,

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Myth, with one leg in reality. The current period is an anomaly for the intensity of the bootlicking, but the cheerleading for authority is not entirely new. Journalism used to be a low-class trade rather than a profession for kids from private school backgrounds, and it was less obviously disgusting before the Taylor Lorenz period, but still.

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“Every day a little more of “the news” is people telling you what you must not believe, what you shouldn’t permit yourself to think, what conversations are to be considered out of bounds” = perfection.

Thanks for being the voice of reason around here (i.e. in the culture and its wars) and welcome back!

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"...burned more wood than a German environmentalist..." Beautiful. I'm stealing that - quidquid bene dictum est ab ullo, meum est.

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