Joining me for this discussion is Guillermo Jimenez along with regular guest Pearse Redmond. We talked about three recent examples of the crossover of popular culture and politics – the film The Interview, the attack on Charlie Hedbo magazine in Paris, and American Sniper. We talked about how the popular dialogue around these events has diluted and degraded the notion of freedom of speech, and outline a more careful and refined version of the same idea.
Launching in April of this year The CIA and Hollywood is a new series by Pearse Redmond and Tom Secker. The first season will have seven episodes where we will mostly focus on modern films, with guest appearances on five of the shows.
The full list:
Episode 1: The CIA and George Orwell
Pearse and I introduce the series and look at how George Orwell’s two major works – 1984 and Animal Farm – were both adapted into 1950s films by the CIA for propaganda purposes. Using files from MI5, the CIA and the FBI we outline in detail the people involved in the productions and how they fit into a wider picture of what was going on in Hollywood at the time.
In the first guest episode we welcome Guillermo to talk about Robert De Niro’s lengthy connections to the CIA. From Wag the Dog, where he plays a character based on CIA Entertainment Liaison Chase Brandon to the Meet the Parents film franchise which was assisted by Brandon, to his epic rewriting of CIA history in The Good Shepherd, De Niro has for nearly 20 years had some kind of relationship with the Agency.
Episode 3: The CIA and The Recruit – Guest: Aaron Franz
From one screen legend to another, Aaron joins us to discuss The Recruit starring Al Pacino. This film was co-written by Chase Brandon and the character Pacino plays is clearly based on Chase Brandon. This tale of a young man inducted into the secret world of the CIA is a perfect set up for inducting the audience into that same world, though what we find there is simply more layers of manipulation and doublethink.
The film that predicted the entire Edward Snowden story is next on the list, when Adam joins in the discussion. The Gene Hackman character, based on a role he played in the 1970s thriller The Conversation, foreshadows everything about Snowden, including his name and where he grew up, and the film’s depiction of mass surveillance has much the same effect on audiences as Snowden’s ‘revelations’ some 15 years later.
Episode 5: The CIA and The Social Network – Guest: Thomas Sheridan
The only film featured in this series that was not explicitly sponsored by the CIA, but which bears all the hallmarks of CIA involvement. Thomas Sheridan joins us to examine this fictionalised account of the founding of facebook, possibly the world’s greatest ever surveillance tool. We examine Aaron Sorkin’s career and the key information he left out of his screenplay about the early investors in facebook.
Episode 6: The CIA and Charlie Wilson’s War– Guest: Sibel Edmonds
One of Chase Brandon’s final films mythologised one of the most important events in understanding modern history – the Soviet-Afghan War and the CIA’s support of the Mujahideen. Sibel lends us her expert knowledge as we dismantle this piece of CIA unhistory – which is also scripted by Sorkin – and construct a true version in its place.
Episode 7: The CIA and Argo
To round of this season Pearse and I take a look at the Oscar-winning Argo, produced by the unholy trio of Clooney, Heslov and Affleck, all of whom have long-standing ties to the CIA. We examine the film not only as a deliberate mis-telling of real historical events but also as a celebration of the CIA’s very useful relationship with the Hollywood dream factory. We reflect back on what we have learned through doing this first season, and briefly explain what to expect from season two.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I am no longer associated with Sibel Edmond, or BoilingFrogs/Newsbud. I think she is a con-artist and a petty and vindictive individual. If you want to know more about why I broke off all ties with Sibel you can find out more here:
On this week’s episode we continued our roundtable discussion on Gladio B with Sibel Edmonds and Tom Secker. Picking up where we last left off, the three of us explored some of the reasons for Russia’s presumed intransigence in the face of mounting NATO and Gladio operations in their backyard. As a case study for this we looked at Ayman Al Zawahiri’s little-discussed imprisonment by the Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in Chechnya in 1996 while traveling with four diplomatic passports and a laptop. We discussed why the FSB captured him as well as why they let him go. Tom provided the context of the geopolitical situation in Russia at the time, and how this directly relates to the FSB’s actions with Zawahiri; with a defeated Soviet Union, Russia had to bide its time and begin to piece together what the new NATO strategy represented. Sibel expanded on this by discussing similar “diplomatic” incidents that she saw take place while at the FBI, dealing with foreign nationals caught in counterintelligence operations in the US using “diplomatic passports” who, like Zawahiri, were quietly released back to their home nation.
Later we explored the recent uptick in violence in Chechnya and how this relates to an increase in NATO operations meant to destabilize Russia. I discussed how fragmented ISIS is and how easy it is to turn on the Chechen terrorist movement’s switch. Tom asked both Sibel and me how we thought we ought to feel towards the Chechen terrorist movement: Should we support them because of their desire to seek independence from an authoritarian state? Or instead, should we oppose them as they are a tool of NATO power? Sibel explained how the choices are always the lesser of two evils, and how both NATO and Russia are bad choices. Sibel explained Gladio’s desire to break up areas such as Chechnya and Dagestan into autonomous states so that ultimately chaos will reign supreme. We talked about the prospects for Chechnya to become one of these autonomous NATO-backed nations complete with Gulen-style schools and a Gulen power base. Sibel later spoke about the threat of Russian nationalism to Putin’s tight grip on power. Sibel explained that while NATO despises Putin, they ultimately need him in place as the alternative; strong Russian nationalism would be much more detrimental to the Gladio Deep State. We ended the conversation on a philosophical note when Sibel asked Tom and me whether we would want to live in a unipolar world dominated by NATO, or in a bipolar world dominated by NATO and Russia. This was a wide-ranging discussion that ended with more questions than answers, so we will be continuing our roundtables on these topics — and more — next month.Quick note: There is a special announcement at the end of the show about a new podcast series that Tom and I are working on. It will be dealing exclusively with our research on the CIA and Hollywood and should be out in about two months. Check out Porkins Policy Review for more updates on this.
Quick note: There is a special announcement at the end of the show about the new podcast series that Tom and I are working on. It will be dealing exclusively with our research on the CIA and Hollywood and should be out in a bout two months. Check out Porkins Policy Review for more updates on this.
“The TOR Project promises its users a modicum of privacy protection from would-be information gatherers, both small time crooks and nation-state cyber-security agencies. But do these promises hold up to scrutiny? And who is behind the TOR Project itself? And why did a TOR developer recently doxx a critic on Twitter? Joining us today to dissect this onion stew is Pearse Redmond of Porkins Policy Review.”
On this installment of Porkins Policy Radio I was joined by Aaron Franz and Adam, co-hosts of Themes and Memes, for a discussion of the sci-fi thriller film Snowpiercer. Dealing with the aftermath of a geo-engineering disaster, the surviving population of Earth lives on a highly advanced train that circles the world once a year. While the rich and powerful live in the front in perpetual luxury, the tail section is composed of the poor who plot a revolution to take over control of the train. Aaron, Adam and I break down many of the interesting themes and messages that this movie introduces. We take a look at the inclusion of chemtrails in the beginning of the movie, and at how this is part of an ongoing trend in Hollywood to inject conspiracy-culture elements into mainstream cinema. We move on to the socioeconomic model that Snowpiercer presents, as well as the fascist-corporatist world that the film imagines. We then take a look at the transhumanist aspects of this film, namely the worship of the “eternal engine,” as well as the idea of a “train” in general. Later we consider the core theme in this film: the idea of revolution. The three of us explore how the notion of revolution is popping up more and more in contemporary films, and how Snowpiercer differs in the cookie cutter version Hollywood usually presents. We go into depth about how the revolution in this film has been completely orchestrated by the evil Wilford, who operates the Snowpiercer in order to fulfill his eugenics agenda. We focus on how the film puts the audience in a difficult situation, where it begins to question its own morals and philosophy in the face of the complete destruction of mankind. We end the conversation by discussing the death/re-birth ritual that is the culmination of the movie, and at whom this may be targeted.
Snowpiercer full movie (This streaming version is in three parts but has English subtitles for the sections with Korean dialogue. Unfortunately the subtitles appear through out the entire film)
“Once more my good friend Pearse Redmond of Porkins Policy Radio joined me to discuss the latest series of Homeland, the CIA’s pet TV project. We looked at how the show has been rebooted in this season, with a much more aggressive and ambitious purpose both in mythologizing past events and predicting future ones. From 9/11 to the ISIS beheadings to drone strikes to The Lone Gladio, this is typically wide ranging conversation on one of the most important shows currently on TV.”
On this week’s episode Traces of Reality’s contributing editor Danny Benavides joins us once again to discuss the mass disappearance in Iguala, narco-cartel reorganization and the prospect for a “Mexican Spring.” We begin the conversation by discussing what actually transpired last September in the city of Iguala, in southern Mexico. Danny explains who the Normalista students are and why, in fact, they were in Iguala. Danny and I explore the complex web of connections and familial relations between Iguala Mayor Jose Luis Abarca, his wife Maria de los Angeles Pineda and the Guerreros Unidos cartel, as well as the Mexican military. Danny breaks down how the mass disappearance, and the players involved, represent a microcosm of the endemic problems Mexico faces today. Later we discuss the reorganization of the narco chessboard that we have seen happening in the past few years. Danny explains how the arrests of high-level narco leaders and the destruction of large cartels like Sinaloa, La Familia, and Caballeros Templarios have led to the rise of smaller but equally effective cartels and drug gangs. Later Danny presents his own theory as to what may have happened to the missing 43 students. Unlike the official narrative that places blame solely on “rogue policemen” and Guerreros Unidos, Danny explains how this might actually be a diversion to distract people from a much larger conspiracy, possibly involving the military. We then explore the large-scale protests that have been taking place in Mexico, and whether or not these represent the beginning of a Mexican Spring. We discuss the similarities between these protests and the student protests of 1968, both of which involved agents provocateurs attempting to subvert and disrupt the movement. We end the podcast with a look at a recent Wall Street Journal article which revealed that US Marshals, disguised as Mexican troops, have been participating in operations with the Mexican military. While this is not too surprising, Danny and I explore what it really means — how this is yet another cog in the massive money-making scheme that is the illegal narcotics trade. This is a long podcast with lots of important facts, details, names and threads that require further investigation, so have pen and paper ready so you can continue this research for yourself.
On this week’s episode we spoke with our good friend Tom Secker the host of ClandesTime. Tom and I discussed John Frankenheimer’s 1964 classic, Seven Days in May. Made at the behest of John F. Kennedy, this incredible film follows a Marine Colonel’s efforts to stop a military coup from being implemented by a right-wing cabal led by the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General William Matoon Scott. Set amidst Cold War paranoia, Seven Days in May is in many ways one of the original truther films. Tom and I discuss several themes within the film that mimicked real life events: the fact that this film makes explicit mention of the parallel structure known as “Continuity of Government;” the fact that this movie mentions, in quite specific detail, the Mount Weather FEMA facility nearly fifteen years before its existence would ever be know to the American people. We move onto some of the real life coup d’etats within American history and how they relate to Seven Days in May. We focus on the alleged “Business Plot” against FDR and how it was ultimately foiled by General Smedley Butler. We also speak about the attempted Reagan assassination and how this really represented a coup by militarist neocons such as George Bush and Alexander Haig. We explore the real-life inspiration for the antagonist in Seven Days in May, right-winger General Edwin Walker, and his connection not only with the JFK assassination, but also with his role in supporting the narrative that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman. Tom and I also get into the reality of who Kennedy was, and give our takes on why in fact he was murdered in Dealy Plaza. Later we move onto the numerous bizarre connections between director John Frankenheimer and the Kennedy family. Lastly we focus on Frankenheimer’s relationship with the RFK assassination, as well as Seven Days in May producer Edward Lewis’ foray into conspiracy culture. Let me just add that Seven Days in May is truly a spectacular, one-of-a-kind movie. There is nothing I can think of that really comes close to it in terms of bravery and substance. So please do watch the film before listening to this podcast.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Tom and I are no longer associated with Sibel Edmond, or BoilingFrogs/Newsbud. I think she is a con-artist and a petty and vindictive individual. If you want to know more about why I broke off all ties with Sibel you can find out more here:
On this special thirtieth episode of Porkins Policy Radio we welcome back Sibel Edmonds and Tom Secker for a roundtable discussion of The Lone Gladio and Operation Gladio B. Tom starts us off by exploring some of the themes brought out in The Lone Gladio with respect to main character Greg McPhearson; will we ever see a “rogue agent” within the CIA take on the agency? How does the oft-used concept of “blow-back” fit in with the murder of Greg’s lover Mai? Sibel discusses in detail the problems with blow-back as they exist in popular discourse, and explains how unintended consequences of covert operations are almost always intended by those implementing them. Later we move on to the endgame scenario for Operation Gladio: Sibel explains how the “Pakistanization” of Turkey is in fact a goal of the Gladio Deep State network. Sibel talks about how beneficial it is to the Gladio operators to have a weak and divided Turkey. We discuss the new face of ISIS, Georgian-born jihadi Tarkhan Batirashvili and his striking similarity to one of Sibel’s characters in The Lone Gladio, Yousef Mohammad, as well as the real life story of Ayman al Zawahiri. Rounding out the conversation is Sibel’s analysis of the current geopolitical situation with Russia and NATO. Sibel goes into detail about the reality of Putin’s power, and gives her opinion as to why Russia has not been more confrontational towards the encroaching NATO presence in its own backyard.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I am no longer associated with Sibel Edmond, or BoilingFrogs/Newsbud. I think she is a con-artist and a petty and vindictive individual. If you want to know more about why I broke off all ties with Sibel you can find out more here.
On this week’s episode we had the great pleasure of speaking with the one and only Sibel Edmonds of Boiling Frogs Post. Sibel is, of course, a former FBI linguist and whistle-blower who had the draconian State Secrets Privilege enacted against her, essentially classifying her entire life. Sibel joined us to discuss her brand new novel, The Lone Gladio, which elaborates on many subjects discussed in her memoir Classified Woman: The Sibel Edmonds Story. This modern spy thriller deals exclusively with the Deep State and the secretive NATO/CIA/MI6/Pentagon program know as “Operation Gladio B.” Sibel and I discuss her decision to portray the CIA characters not as James Bond-style heroes, but as the dark, complicated, and often brutal people they truly are. Sibel also goes into detail about the geopolitical aspects of her new novel, which we explore, including how nations such as Georgia (featured prominently in The Lone Gladio) are being used by NATO and Gladio operatives as a launching ground for false-flag terror in Russia and around the globe. We also go into how Gladio B came about in the early 1990’s. Sibel explains how language, culture and religion were manipulated in Central Asia and the Caucus region in order to create the very terror groups that we claim to be fighting today. We finish off our conversation by exploring who is at the top of this destructive pyramid of control and terrorism. The Lone Gladio has reinvented the spy thriller as we know it. For anyone interested in the mechanics of the Deep State and its relationship to false flag terror, drug trafficking, media manipulation, blackmail, sex trafficking and more: Please go out and purchase a copy of this book! Honestly, this is one of the most important books to come out in decades.