First, the good news: our IT specialists are finalizing the final touches of the new blog and, God willing, it should go live before the end of the week. I will make an official announcement when everything is ready, so don't worry about missing anything.
Second, today I have so much technical and administrative things to deal with and so many emails that I have to reply to that I will not post anything and leave an open thread for you to use as you wish. Depending on how things go, this might be extended until Tuesday evening.
Third, I want to use this opportunity to thank those who have donated to the Saker blog:
Via PayPal:
RC, CP, NM, RH, MD, PB, MF, FK, JP, MFA, JM, BR, JS, TS, LC, TPC, JV, MH,NR, LH, HS, JS, PP, ML, SB, SE, DK, RH, PG, RO, PP, MM, MM, RB, RA, JC, 2HF, KT, AR, HRS, KC, MD, AC, RS, DS, RF, NS, DB, HMK, PP.
Via Amazon:
PK, TW, S, SJ.
Via Snail Mail:
VR (sorry, no checks or money orders, so I could not cash yours), ET
and the following anonymous donors:
To all of you, my most heartfelt and sincere gratitude. Over the past months your help has literally made the difference between paying bills or sinking further into debt (we have no savings or pension of any kind).
Also, I want to deeply thank those of you who have sent me very kind and often very personal emails and letter. Two of the most often recurring themes in the emails and letters I get is a) many of you express an extremely strong feeling or rage and disgust with our overlords and rulers and b) many of you say "I wondered if I was alone or crazy with these thoughts". It is completely Orwellian to read this same statement over and over and over again, sent from people from all over our planet, from New Zealand, to Finland and from Canada to Argentina. It makes me feel that we are all the subjects of a planetary attempt at mind control and, frankly, I guess that we are. To all of you I want to repeat one more time that you are not alone and that, as David Rovics so beautifully sings it, "we are everywhere" and "we'll shut them down". Another amazing thing is how diverse "we" are: I get emails (and donations!) from Communists, Ron Paul Libertarians, anarchists, paleo-conservatives, all the imaginable flavors of progressives and liberals, Latin traditionalists, atheists, Muslims (Shia, Sunni and Salafi), Buddhists, and even a few Trotskysts. So while "we" do not necessarily agree on everything, or even on most things, we do exist as a "we" because we do agree on a number of crucial things such as a passionate quest for the truth, our rejection of any form of imperialism and our refusal to submit to the AngloZionist Empire and its New World Order project.
When I look at the apparent zombies which live around me, I know often catch myself thinking that maybe that "zombie" is not a zombie at all, but a member of that "we" community which has grown in response to the infinite arrogance and evil of the Empire. So that illusion of being alone in a world of zombies is just that, an illusion. Thank you for reminding me of that through your emails and letters.
Honestly, I often feel disgusted, despondent, bitter, exhausted and very lonely. The past months have been very hard on me but your support, in whatever form it took, has literally given me hope and energy to keep going. Not only do I believe that we will "shut them down", I am now even sure of it because the Empire has failed in its key task: to turn us into their obedient zombies.
Okay, I need to go to work on a ton of things now. So I will sign off for the rest of the day, possibly even into tomorrow, but I will keep moderating so please do use the open thread as you want.
Kindest regards to you all,
The Saker