#thomas_l_knapp

The Blog

Political scientist Robert Higgs has offered a compelling breakdown of why democracy is fake, and elected "representatives" are actually illegitimate.

In countries with millions of people with disparate interests, Higgs writes, representative democracy is a "practical impossibility". This casts serious doubt on the claims of western states that they are legitimate and that others, led by "dictators", are illegitimate.

Politicians are "inveterate liars" who prove democracy is fake

Higgs offered the following powerful analysis that should be seen by anyone with an interest in criticisms of democracy:

So, what possible intelligence can voters exercise in casting their ballots? They can vote in accordance with the appeal a particular candidate’s promises hold for them, but relying on candidates to carry out their promises would be childishly foolish. Anyone who pays the slightest attention to politics knows that politicians are inveterate liars; many would sooner lie than speak truthfully even if the truth did not thwart their purposes, because lying would be more congenial to their true, dishonest character. Thus, voters can do nothing more than throw ideological darts, casting their ballots for the candidate who makes the most appealing noises, has the handsomest face, or displays peacock-like the most fabulous partisan posturing.

Full analysis: The Hot-Air Barrier (Independent Institute)

Democracy is fake, and highly prone to start wars due to mass ignorance

Explaining that the promises of politicians are consistently broken, Higgs also wisely argues that elected politicians lie biggest when it comes to foreign policy. Citing that members of the public have some grasp of domestic affairs and are less prone to fall for lies on domestic issues, Higgs contrasts this with the fact there is "no practical limit to the enormousness" of the lies politicians can tell about foreign countries. Politicians trying to start wars often have an easy time, Higgs points out, due to "the general public’s near-complete ignorance of foreign lands and the political, social, and economic conditions that prevail there". Thus, democracy is fake in its present form, and is used to legitimize the murder machine the west has become when dealing with oppressed countries. Violent western governments repeatedly cite spreading their fake and insulting democracy as the reason they are going to war, even when the goal of their wars is to install dictators and put millions of people under the threat of arrest or torture.

Demo-skeptic chorus shouts out that our democracy is fake

Praising Higgs' analysis, antistatist writer Thomas Knapp said Higgs always "tells it exactly like it is" (KN@PPSTER). L'Ordre: Democracy is fake The Mont Order, to which Thomas Knapp is a friend, also acknowledges western democracy is fake in its code and encourages people observing the Mont Order code to have no faith in it. This view can be called demo-skeptic, a rarely used term denoting a simple lack of confidence in liberal democratic institutions and states.

People saying #newworldorder or #nwo are misusing IR phrases without training @hjbentham https://t.co/SgJQAJOfz3 pic.twitter.com/z3HMo7jY6k

— The clubof.info Blog (@ClubOfInfo) February 24, 2016

The Blog

Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign planted an "inside sources" article at Politico supposedly anticipating the Clinton campaign's defeat in New Hampshire.

This is the suspicion of Thomas Knapp writing at his KN@PPSTER blog. Knapp notes how Hillary Clinton "responded" so promptly to so-called "rumors", saying "I'm very confident in the people that I have. I'm very committed to them; they're committed to doing the best we can." Knapp wrote, "The Clinton campaign planted the Politico story, then offered the "response" so that no matter how things come out in New Hampshire tonight, their bases are covered. They've got preemptive explanations for whatever they decide to do." In sum, therefore, the Clinton campaign quickly planted articles and responses to make the impact of their defeat seem less severe in the public eye. Whether Clinton is going to lose the larger battle against opposing Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders is not clear.

The Warmonger Elite got slaughtered tonight in New Hampshire. #feelthebern #MontOrder

— The Wave Chronicle (@WaveChronicle) February 10, 2016

The post at the blog quotes The New York Times where it is stated that in New Hampshire at least, Bernie Sanders was destined to be the victor "by a lopsided margin" due to being considered "honest and trustworthy" in contrast with the lying Clinton. This trend favoring the election of honest political leadership, after years of cynical lies and manipulation by warmongering state figures towards the public in the US, is comparable with the rise of Jeremy Corbyn to lead the Labour Party in the UK. Thomas Knapp is the Director of the Garrison Center and a member of the digitized Mont Order society, who developed a code of values in late 2015 that briefly sums up the collective philosophy of its membership.

Anti-Assad forces losing and desperate: The BlogDifferent analysts are of the view that the rebel groups oppos... https://t.co/1KonPfjk8r

— The clubof.info Blog (@ClubOfInfo) February 9, 2016

The Blog

Thomas Knapp, head of the Garrison Center and a member of the small Mont Order* from where this blog makes many reports, recommends a major biographical book on US Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Knapp posted the recommendation on his KN@PPSTER blog on Wednesday, including a link the Amazon purchase page. Bernie, authored by Darcy Richardson who is a friend of Thomas Knapp, is an immense 400-page work. Knapp encourages followers of Sanders and of the US Presidential race in general to read the book, because "You think you know Bernie Sanders, because you've half-attentively followed the Democratic presidential horse race. But you probably don't know Bernie Sanders at all." He acknowledges, however, that the biography is only likely to reinforce whatever people have thought about Sanders, whether good or bad. This particular book stands out from other works relating to Sanders, due to its length and its detail. * The Mont Order itself does not actually embrace any political figure, as its code requires it to only support critiques and narratives in the media rather than any electoral platform

#MontOrder's @naughteeismaxim, @WaveChronicle and others: #Oregon militants should #gohome https://t.co/qz1HCDjyZM pic.twitter.com/ekGsNjyz68

— The clubof.info Blog (@ClubOfInfo) January 24, 2016

The Blog

Members of the Mont Order society offered their theories on the actions of political militants who took control of a US Federal-owned Wildlife Refuge in Oregon and are holding it "by force of arms".

In sum, the Mont Order denounces the militants and believes they need to "go home". While members are not necessarily standing with the US government if it eventually detains or eliminates these militants, as some members of the political left seem to be, Mont bloggers and activists see the militants' actions as unjustified.

Wave Chronicle Editor Mike Dodd was strongest in condemning the Oregon militants, stating there is nothing noble or worthy in the cause these militants claim to represent. What they are doing amounts to "dumb white hicks being dumb white hicks", he stated. The Wave Chronicle has already made its opposition to the militants clear in a post, which refuted the less condemning posts at The clubof.info Blog and the KN@PPSTER blog.

Thomas L. Knapp, Garrison Center Director, clarified that he doesn't know enough background on the militants and their prior activities to justify their specific actions. They "have done more than "protest"", he wrote in to the Mont Order. Clarifying where he stands, he stated, "In order to decide whether or not I could support that, I'd need to get a better understanding of their grievances, and of what steps prior to this they took to seek redress of those grievances." Perhaps closest to the actual events was NaughteeisMaxim, a news media curator and Mont Order member. He agreed with the Wave Chronicle's judgment, writing "dumb fight, dumb issue, wrong time", and emphasizing the fact that the militants are not even from Oregon, but are outsiders and are harming the local community, causing unnecessary tensions. He ridiculed the militants, who are ranchers, and their grievances by arguing, "Personally I'm not for some freaken cow rights to graze in Wildlife Refuge Areas and it should be fenced off to keep the cows out of the wet lands, they can graze everywhere else around the area but ranchers must pay for the privilege to graze on BLM land." The Wave Chronicle wisely points out that the issue of lead poisoning of children by the authorities in Michigan is a "worthy battle" rather than any issue of farmers' property rights, as appear to be at the heart of the bizarre Oregon standoff. NaughteeisMaxim argued that the militants should "go home", which is also the name of a campaign aiming to evict the occupying militants from the public-owned Wildlife Refuge.

Referendums like the one in #Crimea prevent wars. How about this for #Kashmir?: @LOrdreNet https://t.co/7sQy1KkUyf pic.twitter.com/7HRqQtPn11

— The clubof.info Blog (@ClubOfInfo) January 20, 2016

The Blog

Antistatist writer Thomas L. Knapp, also a Mont Order society member, wrote on 4 January on the stand-off between militia members and Federal authorities at a facility in the US state of Oregon.

Knapp sympathized with the militia members in his short commentary, but stopped short of declaring any support for their actions. He contrasted them with law enforcers, seeing Federal officers as somewhat more arbitrary and dangerous than the militiamen themselves. Stating that there is nothing especially different from the Occupy movement or the Black Panthers about these members of the public who choose to defend themselves at occupation-type protests using firearms, Knapp offered the following commentary:

any time any group puts itself in opposition to the existing state, I have to root for them at least a little. And I certainly don't favor the feds moving in and murdering them over possession of a building that the feds built with stolen money on stolen land. If there are no good guys here, there can certainly be better and worse guys. 

Read more at http://knappster.blogspot.com/2016/01/concerning-oregon.html#BVEOpTICZASWGSi4.99

Overall Knapp backed the view of Kent McManigal in a post an another blog. However, he did object to the characterization of these militiamen as "terrorists" by some left-wing commentators, arguing "Some state leftists are making a big deal about these protesters being armed (and, for that reason, are calling them "terrorists")". Knapp pointed out that left-wing groups have also protected themselves with firearms, and it is worth remembering that "terrorist" is more commonly a right-wing slur in US politics rather than a left-wing one. Petition: Google must end its censorship A post at Beliefnet's Mont Order-linked L'Ordre blog also responds to the militiamen's protest actions, but focuses more on the aspect of social media commentary saying the gunmen escaped being called "terrorists" because they were white (despite an overwhelming outcry against them over social media that indeed called them terrorists). The post tried to refute this theory, saying ignorance about Islamic clothing and writing has a greater role than skin color in the public image of what a "terrorist" is in America. Catalyst: A Techno-Liberation Thesis (book) Other Mont Order-affiliated writers are much more critical of the militiamen, regarding them as "nut jobs" and questioning how they hoped to accomplish anything at a deserted facility in a forest.

Read our popular op-ed, "#Superpower suppresses #technology" from @hjbentham in 2014. http://t.co/CkwK5E2Nt7 pic.twitter.com/UBDTgsJ3mh

— The clubof.info Blog (@ClubOfInfo) September 30, 2015

The Blog

In an open letter to the Platform Committee of the US Libertarian Party, Garrison Center director Thomas L. Knapp called for the party's platform document to remove a vague justification for denying the freedoms of immigrants.

Currently, the Libertarian Party platform mentions "a credible threat" as a suitable reason to refuse immigrants entering the United States. Knapp and others were concerned that this created the grounds for "authoritarian" misinterpretations of the document. Some Libertarian Party supporters, according to Knapp, were interpreting the platform's wording as a justification for rejecting immigrants from entire social, ethnic or religious backgrounds, seeing them as a "threat". However, this search for exceptions to freedom and excuses to treat people as inferior would not increase freedom, and is in fact more threatening to liberty than the current US regime and its policies. With Libertarians having an obligation to be the party of minimum government, Knapp points out that it would be absurd for them to be perceived to argue for a more vigilant national security state than already exists.

#MontOrder blog: Libertarian National Convention 2016: An Open Letter on Borders and Immigration... https://t.co/fgPpWUuKC8 @thomaslknapp

— Mont Unofficial (@MontOrder) December 18, 2015

Thomas L. Knapp, also known by the online nickname KN@PPSTER, is a member of the Center for a Stateless Society think tank (C4SS) as well as the dissident Mont Order society. His open letter to the Libertarian Party can be read here and can be endorsed by your signature here.

#ErenErdemYouAreNotAlone, Twitter cries as tyrant #Erdogan tries to silence critic https://t.co/RdASvQM35D #Turkey pic.twitter.com/4H6FeQsPG0

— The clubof.info Blog (@ClubOfInfo) December 19, 2015

The Blog

Garrison Center director Thomas L. Knapp has commented on the irresponsible and provocative way some media, in particular the Daily Mail, responded to a recent terrorist incident in California.

Media quoted some residents from the scene of the crime in San Bernardino, California. Some of them were reported stating that they knew "middle easterners" were receiving many deliveries and working at night, but that they did not report it to law enforcement for fear of racial profiling. Knapp was quick to point out that they were correct: their refusal to racially profile the killers for having dark complexions cannot be blamed for the killings. Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27 committed what is now considered to be an ISIL-inspired terrorist attack on US soil on December 2 using pipe bombs and semi-automatic weaponry. Both were eliminated by US security forces at the scene of the crime, but had managed to murder 14 civilians during the tragic events. Earlier on The clubof.info Blog: US wants a terror attack to justify spying Thomas L. Knapp, who goes by the nickname KN@PPSTER and is also part of the Mont society which recently declared a revolutionary value system in October, wrote on his blog Friday that the media's biased comments amount to "encouraging everyone else to go batsh*t insane if a swarthy new neighbor orders too much stuff from Fingerhut". KN@PPSTER argues the reports were presented in such a way that they imply racial profiling is an acceptable standard for judging someone's guilt and reporting them to the police. This much is apparent in the comments section of the Mail article, in which users condemn "political correctness" for enabling the attack. In full, the director offered this commentary obtained by The clubof.info Blog's network:

If you think your neighbors tinkering in their garage at night and receiving lots of packages is "suspicious," you're paranoid... And if your reason... is that they look like "middle easterners,"... what you are doing is racial profiling...

Further information can be found at knappster.blogspot.uk

Handing #Syria to primitive #terrorists is "desired outcome" of #neocons: @SophieGeeking https://t.co/l5tKz5f5ZM pic.twitter.com/b7rNRM3K3E

— The clubof.info Blog (@ClubOfInfo) December 6, 2015

The Blog

Reports show an increasingly muddled and desperate regime in Turkey clashing with Russia, because of the defeats suffered by Turkish-backed terrorists at Russian and Syrian hands in recent days.

Despite being pushed out of the battlespace by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) backed by Russian airstrikes, the failing Western-backed militants in Syria are clinging to the Turkish border for survival. Here, they depend on streams of men and equipment from the Turkish regime to continue the terror against the people of Syria. Recently, in full view of the world's media and global powers, Turkey shot down a Russian jet bomber inside Syrian airspace. Turkey claimed the bomber violated Turkish airspace for a few seconds, but Russia denies this. Even worse, there is evidence that terrorists supported by the Turkish regime murdered an unarmed Russian pilot who escaped the burning aircraft, and later joked on video that they should have tortured him. What followed was the Turkish regime's muddled, hypocritical and conflicting rhetoric over the incident with the Russian jet. Turkey is known to have rejected Syria's reasoning for shooting down Turkish jets that violated Syrian airspace, but has followed even more hostile rules of engagement against Syrian and Russian jets. In addition, rather than speaking directly with Russia about the incident, Turkey instead called a NATO session, where it cowered and begged for US protection from Russian retaliation. This protection is extremely unlikely, given NATO's record of only defending US interests and ignoring the interests of lower-ranked allies such as Turkey. Writing at Counterpunch shortly after the Russian-Turkish air incident in Syria, analyst Mike Whitney noted that Turkey is trying to provoke greater NATO involvement in Syria, possibly even trying to instigate NATO-Russia military buildups in the Syrian territory. The problem here is that Russia is only acting in accord with international law, legally approved within Syria's airspace, while the NATO side is motivated by the political fantasies of conquest and regime change in Damascus. The rest of NATO is aware of the danger, but Turkey seems to be acting radically and unpredictably in Syria, even by US standards, and may attempt to drag NATO on a war of conquest.

Seeing the danger of having an unpredictable NATO state that wages war on the Kurdish people and shoots down Russian planes, Garrison Center director and Mont blogger Thomas L. Knapp recommended Turkey should be suspended from NATO.

The US, as expected, came out in support of Turkey's right to protect its "border", despite the US and its allies violating Syria's borders and breaking international law on a daily basis. The US and Turkey continue to keep the Turkish "border" wide open in order to supply men and materiel to terror groups inside Syria, despite their hollow rhetoric about the sanctity of borders when it serves their own security. According to its hypocritical claims, NATO thinks it is okay for war to be waged across the Turkish border into Syria, but unacceptable for there to be any violation of Turkish territory. On one hand we see the West dismissing the borders of non-Western states or even planning to dissolve them. On the other, we see the West aggressively protecting its own national borders from even a tiny, seconds-long violation. In line with the cult of Western supremacy, the West's definition of "self-defense" continues to only be about the security of the American regime and its puppet states.

The @nytimes editorial board explained that mass #surveillance is useless against #terrorism https://t.co/2kFPqIRWAC pic.twitter.com/HpQvNWCnHz

— The clubof.info Blog (@ClubOfInfo) November 25, 2015