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Stegiel's avatar

Once upon a time conversations regarding politics could go on for hours in a Mission Cafe. Then entered the customer with cellphone and laptop and conversation vanished without saying goodbye.

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Joseph Robinson's avatar

We need a chain of Substack Cafes, each owned by local coops, where electronic devices are eschewed in favor of (civil) human discourse, with all its complexities. I don’t know if you were talking about a place in SF Mission District, but if you were, it was emblematic of many other “coffee houses of philosophy”... all suffering same fate. I used to take them for granted.

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Stegiel's avatar

I ran a cafe in the Mission and haunted others. Sacramento too I haunted one but while the young affluent urbanites came some old time remained. In SF the cafe now is anything but talk.

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Joseph Robinson's avatar

Cool. Miss it all. In farm country now.

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Stegiel's avatar

Braver man than I. I stayed urban. On the other hand by transit bucolic West Marin is only 90 minutes away.

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Richard Seager's avatar

I was trying to figure if we had anything similar. But we don't, the closest we came is the local pub although these tend to barns in NZ. Australia does them a little better but the UK does them even better still. 70s Poland probably did cafes pretty well from what I've read and in fact some of my more interesting conversations have been in pubs or cafes there or the UK.

NZrs & Australians tend to have shied away from such discussions or talk but maybe that's changing now.

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Richard Seager's avatar

Although not if last nights experience was anything to go by. Discussion of a contentious topic in Australia (the Voice) not wanted. The guy was only interested in imparting the fact that he was Aboriginal as it wasn't very easy to see (in the least) and that the only possible vote was "yes". There's a referendum at play here last day to vote being this coming Saturday for those wondering. The left has been convinced, to a degree, that they are voting to enforce their views on race on everyone else but really what is at play is everyone's rights although the actual reason for the referendum is very vague (something WEFy for sure).

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Joseph Robinson's avatar

Thanks for the fyi on your election ending Saturday. There are local issues mirrored in many other parts of the world... we in the States might need to know how you all handled it.

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Richard Seager's avatar

NZ voting for a new Government & we hope that Winston Peters party gets some ability to ameliorate what looks to be a National Party (conservative) government. Australia is being gaslit on a referendum on the same day, which for the left is all about racism but for everyone else it looks to be WEF backed, and hopefully that referendum is roundly defeated. The Australian media is chronic in its one sidedness on it.

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Stegiel's avatar

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2023-10-11/israeli-officials-refuse-investigate-veracity-claims-mass-beheadings-kibbutz

The Nayirah testimony about babies being killed in incubators by Iraqi soldiers hoax was made on 10/10/90. Yesterday’s “40 babies beheaded” story was 33 years to the day.

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Joseph Robinson's avatar

Good choice... balanced reporting. The attack on Israel has been shocking and heart wrenching just like our 911. But the vast number of coincidences on 911 has awakened some to the signs of false flag attacks. Some reports from Israelis have shown many security breaches that “would never happen” - but coincidentally did - just in time for the attack.

Voltaire said “Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” With 911, “Iraq did it” was the absurdity, and 1.3 M dead Iraqis the atrocity. If this attack on Israel is false flag, would the resulting atrocity be Iranian dead?

Balanced reporting reveals facts we need to know.

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Stegiel's avatar

Exactly why podcasts exist. Soon though as in Canada regulation will set in.

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Richard Seager's avatar

A country that allows its best to speak will be the country that comes to the fore in this tyrannical world. The dystopian controlled hive mind is stupid.

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Stegiel's avatar

Yes, like aristocratic hive minds before WW1.

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Tarn - mutual eye-rolling's avatar

Can see the reticence of Brett and Efrat to talk about TPTB; I am sure that when not speaking publicly they would not be so hamstrung.

Us commenting here on Stegiel's Substack have a greater freedom, being little people, anonymous mostly and of no consequence.

Yet Brett and Efrat, both with large audiences and not anonymous, who need to weigh their words and moderate their views, seem both to have developed their thinking by talking with each other even in this self-censoring podcast.

It does take courage being a "lone wolf" but a skulking mouse approach would be harder. As conspiracy theorists we try a lot of ideas on for size, and those scoffing of us try to ridicule us by their focussing on a theory that we might well have moved on from. That confuses the scoffers.

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jacquelyn sauriol's avatar

a semi free space in which we can at least....

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Richard Seager's avatar

Well other than the content Efrat is very easy on the eyes...

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