….and it is wreaking havoc on the ground.

One of the best TV series ever!

First saw it as a kid when it was the summer replacement for The Jackie Gleason Show in '68. The series was repeated when I was in law school on KQED.

I remember that in Canada they taught a college course on it. I ordered some of the class materials. Patrick McGoohan said he found it humorous how people thought it was so heavy with multiple levels of meaning. Patrick and one or two other guys wrote all the episodes over a three day weekend.*

*Edit: Only the series finale was written over a weekend.

That was a pretty productive weekend! It's amazing what can be accomplished with a lot of LSD and no sleep

The show was developed over several years and was deep with several layers of satire and exploration of political and psychological meaning. The last episode was written over a few days unfortunately because it was cancelled and robbed the series of the payoff it deserved.

I think it is still one of the most original and profound things to have aired on TV and along with The Singing Detective and Peep Show and Breaking Bad, my all time favorite.

With you on Peep Show. Mark's face alone cracks me up. Top notch comedy series.

I just watched 'The Prisoner' again a couple months ago. Fantastic.

Still remember when they showed it on KQED and then had a panel discussing it. Early '80's?

That was fun.

Like the word “8ball,” there are two Ls in “balloon.” https://t.co/MN1HQT0s8u

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) February 4, 2023

Rover was the all-time most creative villain/enforcer character... And now he's out on the loose, fomenting world war 3! Bad boy, Rover!

The Prisoner also has a great soundtrack, mostly by Ron Grainer, themes in mid-60s English baroque pop, featuring lots of brass, would sound great with a marching band, was there ever a Cal Band Prisoner show? Excerpts from the triple LP release which came out about 20 years ago:





and of course the main theme:

Patrick McGoohan Explains The Meaning Of The Prisoner, A TV Classic


https://stuffnobodycaresabout.com/2018/06/14/meaning-of-the-prisoner/

*I haven't read this yet. Yeah, it must have been final episode written in a weeekend.

bearister said:

---

Patrick McGoohan Explains The Meaning Of The Prisoner, A TV Classic


https://stuffnobodycaresabout.com/2018/06/14/meaning-of-the-prisoner/

*I haven't read this yet. Yeah, it must have been final episode written in a weeekend.

---

Thank you for that. Always wondered how he came up with the last episode and why he had number 1 to be who he was.

dajo9 said:

---

Like the word “8ball,” there are two Ls in “balloon.” https://t.co/MN1HQT0s8u

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) February 4, 2023

---

Ha ha, Cocaine Jr must get his dumbness from Daddy.

GoOskie said:

---

dajo9 said:

---

Like the word “8ball,” there are two Ls in “balloon.” https://t.co/MN1HQT0s8u

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) February 4, 2023

---

Ha ha, Cocaine Jr must get his dumbness from Daddy.

---

swalwell with the tweet of the year. hahaha!

Balloon wasted:

The USAF has released this photo of a person found floating in the ocean along with debris from the balloon and is asking the public for help identifying him:

How is life in hypocriteland today?

Wow. The US military just confirmed in an official statement that there were at least THREE Chinese spy balloons that flew over the US when Trump was president. Trump kept it a secret and did not shoot them down.

The Republican narrative just imploded. https://t.co/omCLkiTZ4Q pic.twitter.com/F9j4AMvrpL

— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) February 5, 2023

" The Republican narrative just imploded."

The Republicans cannot engage in any conduct that would lose them even one vote….and that is why they sit around and giggle every time Democrats come up with evidence proving how fundamentally Republicans hate America and what it stands for.

Republicans stand for one thing: A minority having absolute power over the majority….and achieving that goal by baiting working class people into supporting them, against their own best interests, by disguising their goals in the wrapping paper of religion, guns, patriotism, racism and homophobia.

bearister said:

---

" The Republican narrative just imploded."

The Republicans cannot engage in any conduct that would lose them even one vote….and that is why they sit around and giggle every time Democrats come up with evidence proving how fundamentally Republicans hate America and what it stands for. Republicans stand for one thing: A minority having absolute power over the majority….and achieving that goal by baiting working class people into supporting them, against their own best interests, by disguising their goals in the wrapping paper of religion, guns, patriotism, racism and homophobia.

---

Nice summation.

I need someone to help me stop laughing before I pop a hernia ... https://t.co/jmdduoxvPQ

— Will Schryver (@imetatronink) February 5, 2023

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRGrrASu/

Interesting take

I dont use TikTok.

Its owned by the Chinese and is used for surveillance of Americans. In fact, BOTH sides of the aisle in Congress agree with this as fact.

Apparently, you're quite comfortable with this .... given your repeated use of TikTok in your posts in this forum.

DiabloWags said:

---

I dont use TikTok.

Its owned by the Chinese and is used for surveillance of Americans. In fact, BOTH sides of the aisle in Congress agree with this as fact.

Apparently, you're quite comfortable with this .... given your repeated use of TikTok in your posts in this forum.

---

Blah blah blah
If your scared go to church

going4roses said:

---

DiabloWags said:

---

I dont use TikTok.

Its owned by the Chinese and is used for surveillance of Americans. In fact, BOTH sides of the aisle in Congress agree with this as fact.

Apparently, you're quite comfortable with this .... given your repeated use of TikTok in your posts in this forum.

---

Blah blah blah
If your scared go to church

---

You use TikTok as a surrogate in the majority of your posts rather than expressing yourself with your own words.
And I'm not the only person that has pointed this out to you on this forum.
It's lame and terribly weak. No one here does it but you.

Worse than that, you have no idea who controls TikTok.

Your knowledge base is poor.
So you're back on ignore.

Spy Balloon Cold Open - SNLYouTube Saturday Night Live5 minutes, 49 seconds1 day ago

Best line by the General: it got past are primary line of defense, the Space Needle.
Best line by the balloon: Great, now I'm Joe Biden's Osama.

The Mightiest Army in The History of All Known Galaxies used a
$ 380,000 Sidewinder missile launched from a F-22 to shoot...

... a balloon.

— Pepe Escobar (@RealPepeEscobar) February 6, 2023

To nobody's surprise, Pepe Escobar is a paid Russian propagandist. No longer surprised how often that happens with Putin88.

Quote:

---

The United States State Department's Global Engagement Center (GEC) has identified several outlets that publish or republish work by Escobar as being used by Russia for propaganda and disinformation.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-2020State-30][30][/url][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-2022State-31][31][/url] In 2020, the GEC stated that both the Strategic Culture Foundation (SCF) and Global Research, two online journals where Escobar's work has appeared, acted as pro-Russian propaganda sites.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-JB2020-32][32][/url] According to the GEC, "Pepe Escobar began writing articles for Global Research in 2005 and ten years later became an SCF author.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-2020State-30][30]
[/url]
Escobar has also been a commentator for RT and Sputnik News; both outlets were highlighted in a 2022 GEC report as members of "Russia's disinformation and propaganda ecosystem."[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-2022State-31][31][/url] Ukrainian journalist Volodymyr Yermolenko describes Escobar as an example of "anti-Western intellectuals" hosted by RT, adding that Escobar suggests "dividing Ukraine between Poland and Russia."[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-33][33]
[/url]
In 2012, Jesse Zwick at The New Republic asked Escobar why he was willing to work with RT; Escobar replied, "I knew the Kremlin involvement, but I said, why not use it? After a few months, I was very impressed by the American audience. There are dozens of thousands of viewers. A very simple story can get 20,000 hits on YouTube. The feedback was huge."[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-NR2012-34][34][/url]

On February 25, 2022, the Spanish newspaper ABC criticized Escobar's Sputnik comments concerning Ukraine and other topics, calling them "the usual ones of Russian disinformation: 'Yankee' imperialism, NATO excesses, Russian victimization."[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-2022ABC-35][35][/url]

---

Unit2Sucks said:

---

To nobody's surprise, Pepe Escobar is a paid Russian propagandist. No longer surprised how often that happens with Putin88.

Quote:

---

The United States State Department's Global Engagement Center (GEC) has identified several outlets that publish or republish work by Escobar as being used by Russia for propaganda and disinformation.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-2020State-30][30][/url][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-2022State-31][31][/url] In 2020, the GEC stated that both the Strategic Culture Foundation (SCF) and Global Research, two online journals where Escobar's work has appeared, acted as pro-Russian propaganda sites.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-JB2020-32][32][/url] According to the GEC, "Pepe Escobar began writing articles for Global Research in 2005 and ten years later became an SCF author.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-2020State-30][30]
[/url]
Escobar has also been a commentator for RT and Sputnik News; both outlets were highlighted in a 2022 GEC report as members of "Russia's disinformation and propaganda ecosystem."[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-2022State-31][31][/url] Ukrainian journalist Volodymyr Yermolenko describes Escobar as an example of "anti-Western intellectuals" hosted by RT, adding that Escobar suggests "dividing Ukraine between Poland and Russia."[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-33][33]
[/url]
In 2012, Jesse Zwick at The New Republic asked Escobar why he was willing to work with RT; Escobar replied, "I knew the Kremlin involvement, but I said, why not use it? After a few months, I was very impressed by the American audience. There are dozens of thousands of viewers. A very simple story can get 20,000 hits on YouTube. The feedback was huge."[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-NR2012-34][34][/url]

On February 25, 2022, the Spanish newspaper ABC criticized Escobar's Sputnik comments concerning Ukraine and other topics, calling them "the usual ones of Russian disinformation: 'Yankee' imperialism, NATO excesses, Russian victimization."[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-2022ABC-35][35][/url]

---

---

That's a pretty broad definition of paid Russian propagandist. It doesn't pass muster even though you really want it to.

Unit2Sucks said:

---

To nobody's surprise, Pepe Escobar is a paid Russian propagandist. No longer surprised how often that happens with Putin88.

---

Seems to be par for the course when it comes to him.
As you say, not surprising.

Given his contacts in Russia, you would think that he'd be busy trying to help out quake victims in Syria.
But I guess he's too busy posting and bashing the USA on his twitter account to do so.

You'd have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to see this guy's Agenda.
He's right there with Putin88.

Pepe Escobar (@RealPepeEscobar) / Twitter

Unit2Sucks said:

---

To nobody's surprise, Pepe Escobar is a paid Russian propagandist. No longer surprised how often that happens with Putin88.

Quote:

---

The United States State Department's Global Engagement Center (GEC) has identified several outlets that publish or republish work by Escobar as being used by Russia for propaganda and disinformation.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-2020State-30][30][/url][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-2022State-31][31][/url] In 2020, the GEC stated that both the Strategic Culture Foundation (SCF) and Global Research, two online journals where Escobar's work has appeared, acted as pro-Russian propaganda sites.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-JB2020-32][32][/url] According to the GEC, "Pepe Escobar began writing articles for Global Research in 2005 and ten years later became an SCF author.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-2020State-30][30]
[/url]
Escobar has also been a commentator for RT and Sputnik News; both outlets were highlighted in a 2022 GEC report as members of "Russia's disinformation and propaganda ecosystem."[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-2022State-31][31][/url] Ukrainian journalist Volodymyr Yermolenko describes Escobar as an example of "anti-Western intellectuals" hosted by RT, adding that Escobar suggests "dividing Ukraine between Poland and Russia."[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-33][33]
[/url]
In 2012, Jesse Zwick at The New Republic asked Escobar why he was willing to work with RT; Escobar replied, "I knew the Kremlin involvement, but I said, why not use it? After a few months, I was very impressed by the American audience. There are dozens of thousands of viewers. A very simple story can get 20,000 hits on YouTube. The feedback was huge."[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-NR2012-34][34][/url]

On February 25, 2022, the Spanish newspaper ABC criticized Escobar's Sputnik comments concerning Ukraine and other topics, calling them "the usual ones of Russian disinformation: 'Yankee' imperialism, NATO excesses, Russian victimization."[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-2022ABC-35][35][/url]

---

---

^McCarthyism in the 21st century.

Cal88 said:

---

Unit2Sucks said:

---

To nobody's surprise, Pepe Escobar is a paid Russian propagandist. No longer surprised how often that happens with Putin88.

Quote:

---

The United States State Department's Global Engagement Center (GEC) has identified several outlets that publish or republish work by Escobar as being used by Russia for propaganda and disinformation.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-2020State-30][30][/url][url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-2022State-31][31][/url] In 2020, the GEC stated that both the Strategic Culture Foundation (SCF) and Global Research, two online journals where Escobar's work has appeared, acted as pro-Russian propaganda sites.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-JB2020-32][32][/url] According to the GEC, "Pepe Escobar began writing articles for Global Research in 2005 and ten years later became an SCF author.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-2020State-30][30]
[/url]
Escobar has also been a commentator for RT and Sputnik News; both outlets were highlighted in a 2022 GEC report as members of "Russia's disinformation and propaganda ecosystem."[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-2022State-31][31][/url] Ukrainian journalist Volodymyr Yermolenko describes Escobar as an example of "anti-Western intellectuals" hosted by RT, adding that Escobar suggests "dividing Ukraine between Poland and Russia."[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-33][33]
[/url]
In 2012, Jesse Zwick at The New Republic asked Escobar why he was willing to work with RT; Escobar replied, "I knew the Kremlin involvement, but I said, why not use it? After a few months, I was very impressed by the American audience. There are dozens of thousands of viewers. A very simple story can get 20,000 hits on YouTube. The feedback was huge."[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-NR2012-34][34][/url]

On February 25, 2022, the Spanish newspaper ABC criticized Escobar's Sputnik comments concerning Ukraine and other topics, calling them "the usual ones of Russian disinformation: 'Yankee' imperialism, NATO excesses, Russian victimization."[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Escobar#cite_note-2022ABC-35][35][/url]

---

---

^McCarthyism in the 21st century.

---

Perfectly understandable for a foreign-born American to fail to see the difference between the anti-communist McCarthyism and criticism against people who spread foreign-sourced and funded misinformation which is designed to damage America.

Obviously there are some parallels - Putin is trying to resurrect the Soviet-style authoritarianism but he is aiming to do so without having to deal with socialism's central planning and messy faux-egalitarianism. This way he gets to keep his kleptocracy without apologies and doesn't have to worry about the bread lines. I'm sure it tickled your heart to hear Putin's recent praise for Stalin, another mass murdering authoritarian who cloaked his crimes in false rhetoric.

dajo9 said:

---

How is life in hypocriteland today?

Wow. The US military just confirmed in an official statement that there were at least THREE Chinese spy balloons that flew over the US when Trump was president. Trump kept it a secret and did not shoot them down.

The Republican narrative just imploded. https://t.co/omCLkiTZ4Q pic.twitter.com/F9j4AMvrpL

— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) February 5, 2023

---

This "hypocrisy"/Trump did it too narrative fell apart quite quickly.

From the WSJ:

"After the Pentagon disclosed last week that it was tracking the balloon that the Air Force shot down Saturday off the Carolina coast, defense officials said that there have been prior intrusions over the continental U.S. At least three of those occurred during former President Donald Trump's term in office and once previously under President Biden.

Those previous balloon flights were much shorter in duration, possibly explaining why some went undetected at the time, the senior administration officials said. One official said that much of the information on the flights was pieced together later.

"This information was discovered after the prior administration left," one of the officials said. The official said that intelligence agencies are preparing to brief key figures in the previous Trump administration.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-decision-to-delay-shootdown-of-chinese-balloon-questioned-11675616189?mod=hp_lead_pos2

I've seen separate claims that the other flights were "near" Texas and Florida - possibly not over and possibly not even within the US territorial waters. This is not clear yet, but given how the defense department already misled, it wouldn't surprise me. .

So this is Biden admin disinfo. First have pentagon officials release partial information on background - omitting the key part that the Trump admin had no knowledge of the alleged overflights - and then let the unquestioning lap dog press do their thing for several days.

BearGoggles said:

---

dajo9 said:

---

How is life in hypocriteland today?

Wow. The US military just confirmed in an official statement that there were at least THREE Chinese spy balloons that flew over the US when Trump was president. Trump kept it a secret and did not shoot them down.

The Republican narrative just imploded. https://t.co/omCLkiTZ4Q pic.twitter.com/F9j4AMvrpL

— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) February 5, 2023

---

This "hypocrisy"/Trump did it too narrative fell apart quite quickly.

From the WSJ:

"After the Pentagon disclosed last week that it was tracking the balloon that the Air Force shot down Saturday off the Carolina coast, defense officials said that there have been prior intrusions over the continental U.S. At least three of those occurred during former President Donald Trump's term in office and once previously under President Biden.

Those previous balloon flights were much shorter in duration, possibly explaining why some went undetected at the time, the senior administration officials said. One official said that much of the information on the flights was pieced together later.

"This information was discovered after the prior administration left," one of the officials said. The official said that intelligence agencies are preparing to brief key figures in the previous Trump administration.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-decision-to-delay-shootdown-of-chinese-balloon-questioned-11675616189?mod=hp_lead_pos2

I've seen separate claims that the other flights were "near" Texas and Florida - possibly not over and possibly not even within the US territorial waters. This is not clear yet, but given how the defense department already misled, it wouldn't surprise me. .

So this is Biden admin disinfo. First have pentagon officials release partial information on background - omitting the key part that the Trump admin had no knowledge of the alleged overflights - and then let the unquestioning lap dog press do their thing for several days.

---

Thanks for clearing up the media misinformation that the peanut gallery here fell for hook, line, and sinker. Anything, no matter how sparsely supported, that confirms their owns biases seems to pass as fact.

I think I was read the episode Living in Harmony had some LSD influence in it.



*Perhaps one of the first cardboard cutouts (that later became popular…including Cal fan cutouts).