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2020: Year of Conspiracies, Real and Imagined (Unpopular Opinions Contained Herein)
The word “unprecedented” is going to need to be replaced, don’t you think? At this point, it’s pretty much worn its welcome out with me. I could really stand to do with some good, old-fashioned precedent rather than the continuous string of horrors this year has served up.
But stressful times can have the effect of separating the wheat from the chaff, and this year is no exception. We’ve seen considerably greater quantities of chaff (such that my hide is chafed)this year, especially with regard to the emergence of bogey-men in the form of conspiracy theories. This may be unpopular, but this series (for which @westernchauvinist gets partial credit) is about airing your unpopular opinions in a sort of… annual vanity bonfire. And I’m burning with the desire to make myself unpopular.
Today I have unpopular opinions concerning three conspiracies: One true, one false, and one that is… possible. Let’s get this one out of the way right now:
Donald Trump lost the election fair and square.
Don’t give me your sad-sack, shop-worn-from-2004, Randi-Rhodes-wannabe conspiracy theories about Diebold – excuse me… Dominion – Voting machines and software stealing the election from Donald Trump. They didn’t. You have zero credible evidence for a vast conspiracy involving thousands of individuals spread across entire states, in multiple counties and municipalities who are all so clever and smart that they somehow changed only the votes of 5,000,000 or so Americans such that Trump lost… but large numbers of Republicans nonetheless won.
That isn’t to say that there aren’t individual instances of voter fraud that crop up where a cagey daughter of a dowager votes for their aged parent in the manner they perceive to be all that is good and right. Or random precinct captains who engage in hinky business at the margins in an attempt to put a thumb, toe, or elbow on the scale. These things happen. They are unjust and when uncovered need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
However: none of that occurred in sufficient quantity as to swing the election in favor of Joe Biden, and there’s no logical necessity that all such marginal fraud was pointing in the same direction, either. An elaborate conspiracy isn’t required to explain the President’s failure to expand his coalition beyond his fervid base. Watching the President tell people to inject disinfectant in response to the ongoing pandemic might have had some bearing upon their decision to not vote for him. Or was that a joke? I can never keep up with how many moves ahead of the game he is today and his many japes.
If you examine the results of the election, you’ll notice that in many places, the President ran ahead of the Republican Senate candidate in that state, and there are many places (like Maine) where he ran significantly behind which should tell you that people were plenty willing to split their tickets. Not at historically high levels, but at statistically believable ones which sometimes even favored the President. Nowhere is this more evident than a state like Georgia, where David Perdue received 49.73% of the total vote, compared to Trump’s 49.26%. In the Senate Special Election, Republicans received 49.37% of the vote in total, slightly ahead of the President.
This is not evidence of a fell conspiracy to turf Trump out. It’s evidence of the fact that the more suburban a State’s electorate was, the less popular the President was compared to down-ballot Republicans. The more rural the state? The President tended to pace ahead of those same Republicans.
This is a bad conspiracy theory that needs to die. The President lost. Republicans didn’t, however. Perhaps there’s a message there we can build on?
But if that’s a fake conspiracy, are there real ones to worry about? What if I told you…
There exists an international cabal of pederasts consisting of people placed at the highest levels of well-respected and powerful organizations who have for decades perpetrated their crimes under the nose of law enforcement officials and within the very framework of the legal system itself.
You’re probably thinking right now: “I know what he’s talking about! Buell is joining QAnon!”
Sorry to disappoint. The truth is considerably worse than that fake conspiracy twaddle. Unfortunately, this conspiracy turns out to be all too real, is extremely horrifying, and centers on none other than… the Catholic Church.
What’s even more amazing? They admitted the conspiracy was real. Don’t believe me? Read the report, issued on November 10, here. When I say “reading this document is unbelievable” I literally mean that it beggars the imagination. How something like this could happen in a modern, civilized society is truly beyond my capacity… until you consider that some conspiracies are true.
At the center of this web of lies (to the extent that this abomination has a “center”) are no fewer than five Popes, 4,000 priests, (that we know of) multiple Archbishops and a bunch of Cardinals, who acted in concert (either wittingly or no) over the course of five decades to protect and promote through its ranks, men like George Pell. Also, the subject of this report: one Theodore McCarrick, the Jeffrey Epstein of the Catholic Church, who rose from the rank of Monsignor all the way up to Cardinal whilst furling about himself a systematic and illegal conspiracy, involving thousands of victims across dozens of nations whose lives will never be the same.
If the Executive Summary is insufficient to turn one’s stomach, I recommend fast-forwarding to page 39 where what I can only describe as “textbook grooming behavior by a serial pederast in a position of trust” is detailed. Keep in mind: this behavior was known about and alleged by witnesses as far back as the ’70s yet routinely swept under the rug, principally because of McCarrick’s close ties to large, influential, and rich Catholic families. McCarrick was repeatedly described as intelligent, affable, and hard-working, but also as an important and influential fundraiser, so the possibility of him being a criminal of this nature — plying children with alcohol and brazenly molesting them in their homes and on overnight excursions or abusing fellow priests — was, shall we say, outside of the Overton Window?
What is striking about this is just how closely the experience of “Mother 1” described in the report was replicated in parishes across the country… almost as if many of these abuser priests shared knowledge of their illicit activities and covered up for one another in some sort of conspiracy of silence that only really began to come to light in 2002 and beyond.
If you’re a fan of irony, consider the contrast between this situation and the “Satanic Panic” of the ’80s and ’90s which saw a sort of mass hysteria over “ritual sexual abuse” supposedly carried out by secretive covens of Satanists. The accusations were lurid; thousands of innocents were allegedly slaughtered in the course of carrying out these ghastly rites, with the accusations culminating in the false prosecution and ruination of the owners and workers at the McMartin Preschool before the panic was, thankfully, extinguished. Imagine, if you will, the delight of priestly perpetrators of such non-ritual yet very real abuse as they watched this drama play out on television and just how convenient it was for them that the energy wasted on this fruitless exercise spurred on by overzealous Church Ladies (today we might call them “Karens”) likely had the effect of discrediting potential accusations against them. They probably laughed and laughed at the bizarre confluence of events in which the media in concert with their vocation ended up burying even deeper the stain of their evil.
I mentioned that the conspiracy involved the legal system itself, because of course it had to. The perpetrators – no doubt under the watchful eye and assistance of various authorities in the legal system whom they had cleverly coopted and befriended – devised a system of binding Non-Disclosure Agreements to go along with payments to victims doled out by the Diocese in which the abuses took place, forming a legal “hall of mirrors” from which the light of their perfidy could not escape.
In 2017, I eulogized my Grandmother on this very website. It was painful to contemplate her loss, but I was forced after reading the bulk of this report to think again about my Grandmother, who always gave the “widow’s mite” to her local parish. To be frank, I’m glad she’s gone if only because it would make me sick to think of her horror and shame at seeing what that mite, given for years, had a hand in perpetrating.
This conspiracy was allowed to exist and grow to monstrous proportions precisely because people wanted to believe the best. Not the worst. Just make sure that the power of belief doesn’t overpower your rational faculties.
I’m sorry to be so maudlin, so I’m going to end with something I’ve touched on before which is a bit more fun…
It’s very likely that secret agencies of the US Government possess definitive knowledge that non-human intelligences are in control of vehicles that routinely violate our airspace and harass our military fighter jets.
Maybe this opinion isn’t unpopular anymore, yet there it is. No matter how weird 2020 has been, one of its more striking scenes had to be when the admission by the government that UFOs are real was met with a sort of yawn from the general public.
The CIA clearly thinks something is up — this is a link to their listing of declassified UFO photographs, which is nothing particularly explosive, given that they’re low resolution, grainy photocopies of the originals.
I promised a conspiracy, but isn’t this one sort of “out of the bag” at this point? It would be hard to keep something this titanic secret for long even if you a) read in as few people as possible, b) enacted strict compartmentalization of information, and c) outsourced many of the secret parts to private-sector vendors who can control their workforces with strict NDAs… there’s that word again. And to the extent that these procedures seem to have been followed, it has nonetheless broken down.
We already know about the existence AATIP program from the 2017 NYT revelations featuring Lue Elizondo and Harry Reid, but what we don’t know is whether there were antecedent programs. We also know, for instance, that the government has claimed (rather obliquely) to be in possession of “meta materials” possibly from a crashed UAV (unidentified aerial vehicle) and that Navy pilots and vessels have unequivocally recorded encounters with UAPs in several spectra, including visible light, infrared and radar; vehicles which exhibit flight characteristics impossible to square with currently understood notions of aeronautical engineering. So where’s the conspiracy?
It should go without saying that possession of such technology would place its owner in the position of having a type of strategic superiority in geopolitical matters unlike anything we’ve seen in world history… so you’d better believe that somebody at the Pentagon is interested in looking into this, and with a secret budget of over $50 billion, a couple million dollars here or there falling in between the military’s couch cushions ending up funding these highly compartmentalized research programs doesn’t seem incredible.
I know, this isn’t much of a “conspiracy.” But that’s the best I can currently come up with given the evidence we have in hand.
For my part, I want to remain as agnostic about this question as possible. If somebody asked me: “do you believe in UFOs?” my response would likely be that my beliefs about this or any topic have nothing to do with it. The facts as I apprehend them are:
Craft displaying extreme flight capabilities have been reported and recorded by highly credible witnesses for decades;
World governments give contradictory answers about these phenomena, which means there’s probably little cooperation;
No private individual seems to have credible, physical evidence of one of these craft in their possession;
There is no direct evidence that the source of these craft is extraterrestrial and not merely a highly advanced US R&D project:
There is precious little evidence that these “craft” are even “craft” at all and not an exotic weather phenomenon we cannot explain;
The government knows about these phenomena and understands that it is something real but is trying to gain a better understanding before going off half-cocked and possibly causing a major panic, and lastly;
There seem to be national security implications from studying these UAP which prevent the government from candidly admitting what they are.
But there is some good news: If it is true that these craft are actually controlled by non-human intelligences it seems unlikely they’re all that interested in us. And who could blame them? Are we all that interested in the comings and goings of ants? Obviously not. Ants are lucky if, upon being sighted in my lawn, they are not immediately exterminated with extreme prejudice… and the difference in intelligence and technological know-how between ants and us and a race of beings capable of interstellar travel has to be about as great, if not greater.
To advanced intelligences, we’re probably not that interesting, and that’s an underappreciated blessing.
Bring on the unpopularity.
Published in Religion & Philosophy
You know what. I really need a block post button for ricochet and the ability to ignore people.
You could just, you know, just not comment on posts you don’t like.
It might be useful, but if blocking a post/user means you miss the debunking, it may not be worth it.
Good post. Here’s some nice conspiracy music.
What a concept.
I too am unconvinced of the Dominion theory. But there is more evidence of conventional modes of election illegalities than I earlier expected.
https://ricochet.com/822533/keeping-track-of-election-fraud/#
Do You think that before UFOs pass by Earth the aliens lock Their doors?
Shawn, this was a good post, but I feel compelled to note that George Cardinal Pell’s conviction was overturned by the High Court of Australia, which noted, “…there is a significant possibility in relation to charges one to four that an innocent person has been convicted.” And again in another paragraph, “In relation to charge five, again making full allowance for the jury’s advantage, there is a significant possibility that an innocent person has been convicted.” (Paragraphs 118 and 127.)
I’ve not yet read the McCarrick report (I may do so this evening) so I don’t know if that was addressed in it.
I am tired of being lectured to by people who have never even been a poll clerk on elections. I have run for and won and currently hold office. The USA own state department, could not certify this election. That is a fact. But I am a conspiracy theorist.
I would note that a brief perusal of the various catalogued accusations is nonetheless unlikely to yield sufficient votes to flip enough states to alter the outcome of the election.
Most of the claims are somewhat diffuse and, more importantly: Ignore the possibility of voter fraud working in the direction of the President. Given the rather high level of motivation of many of his followers, I would not rule that out as a potential offset to some of these claims, even if they ended up panning out.
If it were an election in some other country, you mean. Yes that’s correct.
My mother has been a poll worker in multiple elections, I have been a representative to the Republican State Convention of Colorado, Douglas County, and the 18th Judicial District.
Please. Tell me again how I know nothing about how elections work and why it is incredibly difficult to fake such numbers when poll watchers of both parties are typically working such counting operations?
I think the stolen election people are doing what the global warming people do: the existence of voter fraud doesn’t prove Trump had the presidency stolen from him anymore than some minor warming trend proves we must take drastic measures to stop a supposed catastrophe.
There is a lot of evidence that Pell was railroaded by a zealous prosecutor looking to burnish his own reputation.
I have always believed that aliens was the cover story for what actually happened at Roswell. Now that some things have been declassified, I’m almost certain of it.
As far as the Trump section, you have to be willfully blind to ignore the evidence. Whether the evidence is compelling is a different discussion. While it can be hard to do, you should give a listen to Mark Levin on the subject.
Right. It’s the “We must destroy the Constitution to Save the Constitution!” argument.
Even if Biden totally stole it, breaking the law to “right” that wrong only gives cover for the Left to do worse next time, as they seek to undo what they will claim as a stolen election.
See Also: End of the Roman Republic.
I am just going to leave this here.
I was aware that his conviction had been overturned, but as in many of these cases I find that the justice system of any western country is at a severe disadvantage compared to defendants (generally) and particularly when there is a broad gulf of time between the alleged misconduct and the subsequent prosecution.
It is worth examining the motivations of the accusers in such situations in order to ensure that their actions are not fueled by the simplest lust: for gold. But in most of these cases, and in Pell’s in particular, the alleged victims would have had a great deal to lose reputationally and socially for their having claimed such abuse.
Given the lurid example of McCarrick and his globe-trotting ways, I find this provides additional credibility for the claims against Pell, given that the problem seems to have been rooted at the institutional level, and was not an isolated incident or individual causing problems.
Like “pro-choice” dogma?
You don’t appear to be aware that the Electoral College elects the president. One does not need to change 5M votes. A much smaller number in three states would suffice. And my wife saw a similar fraud in action back in the 2006 Illinois primary.
That “institutional level” you address is and was a problem rooted in US seminaries. Australia was a rather different matter.
It’s enough to flip AZ, MI, and GA. Where the evidence points specifically to Biden votes.
But that includes the Crowder allegation, which I’ve heard far too little about. I’d love to see some confirmation or refutation if there is any. And it includes the Just the Facts analysis, which is more sociology than criminal forensics. So it supports a theory that illegal votes made a difference, and it supports future electoral reform, but does not do much if anything to support overturning the results.
Yes, there are major limitations to this evidence. But even the limitations have limitations. With the allegations in PA and GA that affect more votes than the Biden lead, it does not mean Biden won on illegal Biden votes. But it does means we do not know he won on votes that were legally cast and legally counted.
I’m still not aiming to change the results–not that I would mind if that could be done. I’m more interested in future reform, and in knowing the truth as much as possible.
The truth is out there, bro.
Uh – no. Seel also: Anita Hill, Christine Blasey Ford.
The “great deal to lose” argument is usually weak tea in these matters, and discounts other possibilities in play. Lucre is likewise a less common motivation than is often thought – notoriety and the perks of being a celebrity “victim” of a vast conspiracy are often much much greater rewards. Which does actually lead back to your first unpopular opinion and who is now claiming to be an innocent victim of a vast conspiracy… with “a lot to lose”…. narcissism is often your first best answer.
After reading the McCarrick Report, it seems likely to me (although the scope of it is more or less limited to wrongdoing in the US) McCarrick made a habit of recruiting Priests in foreign countries whom he would then request be sent to the US on some pretext and then engaged in his well-planned pattern of seduction and abuse upon them. Several of these priests were forever changed and clearly damaged when returning to their home countries.
It seems impossible to contemplate that a man who was so brazen as to fondle children in their homes under the watchful eyes of their very parents would have limited his depredations to US soil alone – in fact, one could imagine that his activities outside of the country far outstripped those within.
The issue as I see is is that this informal network of homosexual/pedophile priests all knew and socialized with one another due to word (no doubt) getting around. Where there is smoke there has been all too much fire, and I would be very suspicious of Pell given the overturned conviction and (unfortunately) time distant nature of the accusations.
Thanks for the tip.
I am aware the the Electoral College meets to elect the President, particularly given that Trump failed to achieve a popular vote majority in 2016.
In all seriousness: Was this really necessary? I could say “I was trolling” and to a certain extent I was. The point is not that Trump needed all 5 million votes to win, but to point out the incredibly good fortune the President had in 2016 to win despite that deficit.
Now let me ask you: Given that Trump failed in that manner in 2016 yet won anyways, how do you interpret that victory? I think was pretty lucky. And it would have taken an even BIGGER stroke of luck on his part to overcome the vote deficit he racked up in this election.
You missed the parts about Republican poll watchers being excluded? Maybe that explains your… “confusion.”
If the evidence of fraud in several states was only “minor” you might have a point. But it isn’t, so you don’t.
Several of Pell’s accusers remain anonymous. I believe this is due to a peculiarity of Australian criminal law which affords such protections to victims, but I could be wrong.
Anonymity is at direct odds with the desire for narcissistic vainglory.
Big margins in California and NY mean nothing in the other states.
Part of the problem there is that if Biden-type people are allowed to win even due to “temporary” fraud, the capacity for fraud is far less likely to be dealt with in the future. Because it helps the people who won, and they would have no desire to change it.