noir – dark arts criticism

A friend visited the other day and suggested we watch the 2008 HBO documentary ‘Cat Dancers’. The film is about the eponymous dance troupe which used big cats like tigers and leopards in their act, and was ended abruptly after two deadly freak accidents. My friend wanted me to watch it because he thought I would find the main character’s  flamboyance humorous. In the end, that wasn’t the case so much as that I came away with an unshakable, almost obsessive perception of (at least negligent) homicide.Very few on the internet seem to see it the same way as I do, with the exception of a comment here and there.

It makes me wonder if because of the similar features in themes of death, sex, and documentary techniques – my brain has contorted Cat Dancers into a ‘Forensic Files’ episode, where the husband is almost always guilty, and an assignment of culpability is to be expected. 

Continue reading “My brain converts the ‘Cat Dancers’ documentary into a ‘Forensic Files’ episode”

I’ve been trying to parse how James Randi’s work for the Chinese government in order to suppress Falun Gong in 1999 could be tied to a Russian information warfare strategy. I might have a possible ‘full spectrum’ explanation involving the controversial ex-US Republican Congressman, Dana Rohrabacher.

In order to understand the issue better, I found myself watching the documentary ‘Human Harvest’ (2013) online recently which focuses on claims and statistical evidence that China has killed tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners and used the organs in a lucrative international organ transplantation scheme; effectively profiting from the eradication of political dissidents opposed to the Communist Party in China.

While on the surface, the idea of a government wholesale slaughter and sale of organs has the ring of a conspiracy theory, the film does provide a persuasive argument to support its claims.

In general, I was emotionally moved by the film as I watched it, and at times experienced significant anger and sadness about the suppression of spirituality as portrayed (including the associated repression of Muslim Uighurs and the film’s direct association of the Falun Gong situation with Nazi anti-Semitic atrocities). However, at other times (such as the recorded calls to Chinese medical centers), I felt I was being hoaxed to be honest. When Dana Rohrabacher came on screen as the US government champion for the Falun Gong in the concluding segments of the film, I had a bit of an “aha!” moment.

Continue reading “If Dana Rohrabacher was ‘Putin’s Favorite Congressman’ why does he hate the Chinese Government?”

Noting that the FBI was focusing on madame-figure Ghislaine Maxwell in its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein – and noting the many parallels in the cases of Epstein and Anthony Bourdain as they relate to the ‘weaponized suicide’ conspiracy theory paradigm – I looked a bit into Maxwell and was very surprised how easy it was to link her family to Russian intelligence. In addition, as an update I’ll note defector John Mark Dougan’s role in the Epstein case which makes me close to completely certain the conspiracy theories tied to it can only logically be the artifacts of a Russian information operation.

Ghislaine Maxwell’s father was the shady businessman Robert Maxwell, who operated a publishing empire which he’d embezzled hundreds of millions of British pounds from before his 1991 death (a death also surrounded by conspiracy theories). In life, he was rumored to be an asset of intelligence agencies like MI6, Mossad, and even the KGB. It doesn’t seem contested he had high level connections in Britain, the US, Israel, and Russia which he maintained.  

Continue reading “Ghislaine Maxwell’s Family is the Missing Link in Attributing Jeffrey Epstein ‘Weaponized Suicide’ Conspiracism to Russia”

In September, the European Parliament passed an official resolution recognizing both Soviet and Nazi culpability for the start of World War II in relation to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which included a “secret protocol” for the division of Poland. The resolution affirms that while Nazis have been held culpable for their role in WWII, the Soviets largely avoided such criticism and it is important to remember the tragic history of Europe so it is not repeated. This declaration was met with apparent anger and a disinformation campaign from Russia and even Putin himself.

Over the past few months the story has grown, with the Russians presently focused on the presumed anti-Semitism of the Polish ambassador to Nazi Germany as being the actual cause of WWII. This seems a game of rhetorical ‘whataboutism’. Russia’s position is essentially an illogical argument that Poland itself started WWII – by amplifying a potentially insignificant apocryphal story and ignoring all the other factual evidence to the contrary.

It should be obvious that Poland is in a very difficult position as Russia’s neighbor. Historically, I think this seems to be because like Russia, Poland is ethnically a ‘Slavic’ nation; however, as opposed to the Orthodoxy which is practiced by most Slavs (and has been the basis for many Russian civilizational and geopolitical ideas even during communism) Poland is predominately Catholic.

Continue reading “Poland didn’t start WWII, Russia did (and they would start WWIII too)”

I immediately had the feeling in my gut that I was being suckered after being bombarded with online images of the so-called “Baby Yoda” from the new Disney+ streaming service anchor show, The Mandalorian. I am pretty sure I know why (because I had a dog).

The concept of ‘neoteny’ is related to evolutionary physiological adaptations which promote more juvenile features in mature animals. This is an oversimplification, but in a psychological sense, humans seem to like dogs and babies in large part because of this phenomenon. (It is also apparently related to human sexual selection.)

So not to entirely lump Disney in with the likes of Russia and Michael Avenatti for its practice of the dark arts of psychosocial influence – but in a way, I think I can make an argument that despite its cuteness, the Baby Yoda is clearly a marketing ‘active measure’ from the Dark Side to sell Disney+ subscriptions in line with Disney’s MO for character design.

Continue reading “Baby Yoda: A Marketing Force from the Dark Side?”

I have to admit that my work on beloved skeptic James Randi is probably my most “cuckoo”. I don’t think the theory is entirely wrong, but I have some new information which changes my perspective somewhat and might tie him to more of a Chinese Communist agenda in information war than a specifically Russian one. That is not to say those groups are mutually exclusive, but there may be more evidence at least for his historical employ by China and in China’s interest.

To recap my findings on James Randi (born James Hamilton Zwinge in 1928 in Canada), he is a professional magician and pseudoscientific debunker of spiritual beliefs. His style of skepticism hearkens back to the legacy of Harry Houdini and Orson Welles who were both magicians (and who also at times apparently supported Russian secret police services). Randi frequently calls himself a “conjurer” which by Latin definition means “conspirator”.

Continue reading “‘Communist Pervert Creep’ James Randi: Chinese Asset?”

There seems to be good evidence that pro-Russian conspiracy theorists  often utilize what I call “weaponized suicide”. As I think of it in ‘information warfare’, it is not like someone who walks into a crowded market with a bomb vest and detonates it. It is rather how actual suicides of controversial figures associated with sex crimes can be turned into populist conspiracy narratives which undermine the political establishment (in this case, the US government).

I think these kinds of conspiracies have interesting features to discuss because the ones I’ve observed affect both ‘left’ and ‘right’ political conspiracism. This is the kind of ‘divide and conquer’ or ‘schizowarfare‘ approach to conspiracy I often observe with Russia and their useful idiots.

Although I suppose this theoretical tactic of weaponized suicide would not be limited to an association with sex crimes (such as the case of Vince Foster, which would be more associated with financial conspiracy), perhaps in a Freudian sense in the modern day, the sex-linked conspiracies have better potential for mainstream virality and mass-appeal.

Here, I’ll touch on three examples, two of which I have previously written on. 1.) The case of Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the so-called DC Madame, 2.) the case of Anthony Bourdain, and 3.) the case of Jeffrey Epstein.

Continue reading “Epstein Didn’t Kill Himself: ‘Weaponized Suicide’ as a Full Spectrum Conspiracy Theory”