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I never listened to Art Bell but in the mid 90’s I rented a room in northern BC from a cousin who worked nights logging as an owner operator of a Feller Buncher. Working 12 hour shifts out in the woods at night with no one else around, he was an avid Art Bell lister. We would occasionally talk about the guests Art Bell had and occasionally buy books of some guests. Some of my favourite memories of that time of my life, drinking coffee and speculating on the nature of the world.

the conspiracy theory’s of the 90’s seemed mostly harmless. They spread slowly, amongst your friend group, and they involve aliens, “the man” and other completely unprovable claims. It is interesting to see the threads connected between area 51 to ruby ridge to what ever is happening with society today.

https://youtu.be/94J0Yzgb5c4

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Nothing to do with Art Bell but had to say Thanks for Maria Muldaur......and the great Canadian guitar solo in the song.

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Oh man, Art Bell takes me back. I used to work at the Mr Sub counter in a gas station in an industrial area that stayed open til 3am to catch the night shift 'lunch', then I'd head over to visit a friend who worked in a shop's tool cage and just hang out. I was surprised to hear about Art Bell on Flamethrowers because frankly the folks on midnights listening to Coast to Coast were a lot less angry than Rush (or the people calling into him) was on WJR every afternoon. It never occurred to me to connect them. Thanks for expanding on Bell's walk back from all that.

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Every time conspiracy comes up, I remember Matt Taibbi's long-held point that "all the really big conspiracies are out in the open" - made around the time the Iraq War had been proven to be based on a pile of shameless lies at the top, the Global Financial Crisis was instigated for personal profit, by people trusted to run banks.

What conspiracy was more open and obvious than the Afghan War Lies? For 20 years, they kept insulting our intelligence with another report that we were just months away from turning the tide to making Afghanistan peaceful and safe for all. The politicians asked for these lies, the highest Generals obliged with solemn reports. And nobody was punished when all was revealed to be known to be lies all along, every mid-level officer rolling their eyes as they completed them to order.

The public kind of put up with a lot of such bullshit - we are working on care-home conditions, we are working on the drug crisis, we are working on climate - because all ends of the political spectrum are pretty much agreed upon continuing to bullshit, save those crazy extreme left-wingers who never win power.

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