179 Comments
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Vin LoPresti's avatar

High correlation between extremist crimes and past US military service. What a non-surprise. Imagine being a part of a scheme to inculcate you with the desire, drive and techniques to kill/maim innocents and piss on the rest of inferior humanity. And then something in your brain also tells you that you're employed by a criminal, maniacal organization which seeks to subjugate poor people probably a lot like yourself to the whims of wealthy faceless motherfuckers who would gladly feed you all to the slaughterhouse through the open ravenous maw of greed for another billion. Suddenly the cognitive dissonance explodes in your brain with unpredictable outcomes. Surely no one could have anticipated this.

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Lotus Martini's avatar

Now imagine that some shadowy organizations (a political police force, you know, like the Gestapo of yore, https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/116719-i-never-would-have-agreed-to-the-formulation-of-the) have managed to weaponize this by using psychotropics to manipulate these poor people into becoming radicals (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MKUltra), to justify the tightening of the regime of a fascist police state... wink, wink

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Sam's avatar

It’s a good point, but then why not go after those who sending poor people overseas to kill poor people instead of killing civilians that have no way to change the system?

The 50 people walking along Bourbon Street were not the guilty ones.

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Vin LoPresti's avatar

How does one logically explain the impulses of a brain horribly mutilated by the type of rubbish fed to it by hard-core militarist doctrinaire a-holes who believe in the pabulum they're shoveling into that brain? Logic of understanding an individual's actions fails, I'm afraid. Particularly when additional stress by "ancillary parties" (FBI etc.) is likely involved.

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Megan Baker's avatar

Why do people abused as children hook up with people who are equally cruel to them? Because they’re still trying to change Mommy or Daddy or both, and to do that they have to start with someone who treats them like shit the way their parents did. There is a real logic there, perverse as it is.

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FabChic's avatar

Have just subscribed to your stack as this comment hit me like a ton of bricks. Nothing to do with the current context; it explains my life…thanks, I think?

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Megan Baker's avatar

I don’t have a formal Substack up and running but hope to soon, so thanks for your interest. I didn’t do a good job in the above comment of connecting the behavior of child abuse survivors to Sam’s query, but the link is there. Humans do some perverse and terribly counterproductive things in response to trauma, whether that trauma comes from abusive parents or an abusive government. Perverse and counterproductive but with a real internal logic. At any rate, in light of your identification with my comment, I would recommend you read a book called “Reclaiming Your Life: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Regression Therapy to Overcome the Effects of Childhood Abuse,” by Jean Jenson. The foreword is by Alice Miller, whose book “The Drama of the Gifted Child” will likely speak very forcefully to you. It is a must-read for us survivors. I wish you all the best on your healing journey!

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Baz's avatar
Jan 4Edited

Ironically American citizens do not even need to be veterans of the military to wreak havoc - they can do it unaided - the gun death statistics are pretty alarming (not counting suicide) and the militarised police do a pretty good job too.

Bizarrely facilitated and enshrined in the holy Constitution which they all swear allegiance to.

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gypsy33's avatar

Hi Baz

My response may not be too popular here. While I do agree that there are far too many gun-related deaths in Amerikkka, I had an a-ha moment a few years ago.

I used to be the most anti-gun individual on the planet. I believed that no one should be able to own anything more deadly than a shotgun or hunting rifle. Handguns? Ban them all! Semiautomatics? WTF!

Then I realized that, unless there were a military coup, HOW are we supposed to defend ourselves against the Amerikkkan regime? We would be completely at their mercy! Rest assured that we are now well-armed.

As Mao said: Revolution comes only through the barrel of a gun.

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Baz's avatar

Hi Gypsy I like your name. My ah ha moment was: creating peace is very very difficult, conversely buying a gun in America is very easy.

Not surprising the US is a fully functioning militarised regime addicted to violence when it’s in the very DNA of its citizens.

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River's avatar

I could not agree with this comment more.

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LornaP's avatar

💯

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Ohio Barbarian's avatar

I'll tell you what's going on with the Zionist reporter, Caitlin. It's a gaslighting exercise. They want to scare the American people into giving up yet more of our civil liberties so they can "protect" us, and they especially want us to be Islamophobic because Israel.

The claim that two US Army veterans with over ten years of active military service each were ISIS operatives is preposterous without a lot of hard evidence to back it up. It is far more likely that they were manipulated by some 3 letter agency into doing these things in order to advance an authoritarian agenda, and the speed with which the gaslighting started only supports that hypothesis.

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Joy in HK fiFP's avatar

Thanks for pointing this possibility out, It's not like there is no history of FBI, etc., leading people into committing, or attempting to commit, crimes for which they can then be arrested. Who's to say there wasn't some of this going on in the background with these two? It certainly is worth looking into, in the hopes of either debunking that idea, or supporting it. Inconclusive may be the most likely outcome.

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martin's avatar

russian propaganda found a picture of the cyber-truck guy wearing an azov-t-shirt. they said he was a recruiter for that war.

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Ohio Barbarian's avatar

Well, at least the Russians are making a plausible connection. Azov Brigade, Banderistas in Ukraine...if the Green Beret dude was involved with that crap it it spells CIA.

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russian_bot's avatar

It's not the Russians who are making that connection. They are just citing the western sources. See the links I provided.

I think martin was using "propaganda" in jest.

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martin's avatar

confirmed, although keeping in mind there is an information war going on and also on that front i understand one has to retaliate when targeted. it sure seemed an azov t-shirt.

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russian_bot's avatar

"Propaganda" should not imply lying. "Information war", OTOH, is anything goes.

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russian_bot's avatar

And another Russian propaganda outlet - New York Post - publishes an article where on one picture he is shown wearing that shirt: https://nypost.com/2025/01/03/us-news/las-vegas-cybertruck-bomber-matthew-livelsberger-preyed-on-first-wife/

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russian_bot's avatar

"Livelsberger served in the Green Berets, highly trained special forces who work to counter terrorism abroad and train partners. He had served in the Army since 2006, rising through the ranks with a long career of overseas assignments, deploying twice to Afghanistan and serving in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and Congo, the Army said."

From AP - Russian propaganda outlet: https://apnews.com/article/trump-hotel-explosion-tesla-cybertruck-5c5a8fd13a50e2bcde46370ae926d427

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Whatistobedone's avatar

My thoughts exactly... I live in OH....maybe I'm in the barbarian club, too..."false flag" operations to justify unleashing the military on ALL of us....HE WILL DO THIS. Sorry for "shouting." BELIEVE Trump... and his band of pure evil destroyers of life...and sanity...

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Gerald Therrien's avatar

regarding the 'release the hostages' narrative: why is it that Israeli intelligence can locate any of their enemies for assassination, anywhere in the world, but they are completely unable to find any of the hostages – their own citizens, in Gaza, right there under their occupation? Or, maybe they don't want to find them?

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Kev's avatar

And Mossad directly receives pager orders from Hamas but had no idea that they were planning a wall breech. And then when the breech happens, no IDF response for 8 hours, allowing hostage totals to maximize.

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Indu Abeysekara's avatar

Good point Gerald Therrien, it is plausible that the zionist regime in Israel aren't at all concerned about the "hostages". At a time suitable to the regime they will all come out dead and it will be blamed on Hamas.

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JennyStokes's avatar

I have been saying for YEARS: stopping immigration won't happen in any country because the rulers (as Caitlin says) need cheap labour.

It's just a completely ridiculous propaganda to get support for either party.

Pity the poor immigrants.

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includeMeOut's avatar

Immigration was at a high point in the 80s under Reagan since the high tech boom required lots of cheaper labor. It has always been used as a cudgel of exploitation and to divide the working class using xenophobic rhetoric.

There is now a narrative out there that “illegals” are bringing in synthetic opiates. It may be true. When I floated the possibility that given the intelligence services history of funding off the books operations via drug running that it might be happening now in this case, it was met with silence.

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JennyStokes's avatar

I keep reading and listening to all the machinations of the supposed political classes and the intelligence sources.

I have no doubt that you were silenced.

We are nothing but people, to be continually abused.

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Contrarian 33's avatar

"Real power lies in the hands of the masses, and once enough of us get fed up with the status quo there won’t be anyone dumb enough to stand against us”. CJ today

Now that sounds like an extract from a book which could have been written by Hans Christian Andersen . Likely name......"Global Fantasyland", a.k.a. "The uncontrolled reign of King Trumplestiltskin", but could also be named "Power versus Apathy” (Power players versus apathetic population).

Summarising ….. “Close the door, the horse has bolted”

When you can buy an election result, and all it takes is money……

When you can kill a President with decent values…….

When you tolerate a President like Biden,owned by a foreign state…….

When un-American (disloyal) activities by the supporters of a foreign state are tolerated…...

When 86% go your government members are owned by another country……..

When all the White Western Christian governments support genocide……..

When both the political parties in these countries are identical…..

When 95% of all media is corrupt as well…….

When the real truth is never printed……

When you need 750 foreign military bases to control the world…….

When there is no world justice authority with any teeth…..and on and on…...

……one would have to say that there is a way to go before ' power lies in the hands of the masses’.

Example: Trump’s cabinet appointees. Let’s start with them. Confirmation by the US Senate?

A "laydown misere". TRUMP OWNS THE SENATE as well

(A misère bid usually indicates an extremely poor hand, hence the name. An open or lay down misère, or misère ouvert is a 500 bid where the player is so sure of losing every trick that they undertake to do so with their cards placed face-up on the table. Consequently, 'lay down misère' is gambling slang for a 'predicted easy victory'. TRUMP has a laydown misere. Undoubted.

A House and a Senate and a White House controlled by one side? "Power in the hands of the masses"?

Hardly.

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David Baird's avatar

The quote should read: 'Real power lies with those with their hands around the throats of the masses'. Once there are enough of us fed up with the status quo, that's when active repression becomes the essential element of the controls they have already in place. Sad, but true.

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noizeinyourhead's avatar

Caitlin likes to make asinine assertions now and then. Everyone does it. I am glad you called her out on that one. :)

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Susan Mercurio's avatar

I suggest the book From Dictatorship to Democracy by Dr Gene Sharp

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Uncle Grub's avatar

I would say “tools” not people.

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JennyStokes's avatar

Same thing!

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River's avatar

I mean...my neighbors are bringing in synthetic opiates. From their basement. Or meth. Probably both. I would completely agree though that with the long history of drug running by the alphabet agencies it could very well be happening now.

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gypsy33's avatar

To all viewers:

Please please PLEASE watch Kim Iverson’s take on these “terrorist” attacks. For starters, the ISIS flag on the vehicle was upside down. Either the driver was unaware that the flag was incorrectly placed ( and if he were ISIS, why would he be?)

OR

The flag was planted after the attack.

And why were there absolutely no barriers on Bourbon Street save one police car?

This reeks of an upside-down false flag event. NEVER EVER trust what the Amerikkkan regime attempts to make you swallow! ( See 9-11, the assassination of JFK, the USS Liberty.) Question, question, question!

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Vin LoPresti's avatar

I watched some on Rumble, gypsy, and my immediate reaction was: when an FBI talking head appears on your screen, your know for sure that the lies are flowing uninterruptedly.

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Indu Abeysekara's avatar

To gypsy33

Just a few questions that comes to mind. What exactly is ISIS? Was it not a creation of the CIA? Wasn't it the same outfit that was active in Syria being used by the US to regime change?

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gypsy33's avatar

Indu:

Yes, yes and yes!

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Jim's avatar
Jan 3Edited

The ‘reporter’ on the NOLA ‘terrorist’ piece, Jenny Taer, was her high school’s AIPAC representative according to her LinkedIn account. This is a Mossad op from start to finish.

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Mark Oglesby's avatar

When Caitlin writes "That can all change on a dime once the pitchforks and guillotines come out. Real power lies in the hands of the masses, and once enough of us get fed up with the status quo there won’t be anyone dumb enough to stand against us. And from there, creating a better system and a better world becomes very possible..." Yes, it's not only possible but inevitable. But herein lies the rub: In going down, will the Empire and its lackeys take the world down with 'em?

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Jacob Benjamin's avatar

People have been saying this for 100’s of years. It won’t happen.

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Chang Chokaski's avatar

1917 was PROOF that it DID happen! The 2 revolutions of 1917 (along with other events preceding it) brought down a 200+ year tzarist autocratic regime (Romanov Dynasty).

There are many other such events in history. For more information, check out "Revolutionary Movements in World History: From 1750 to the Present (3 vol. set)" [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1633266.Revolutionary_Movements_in_World_History]

Another good book to check out is: "Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements" by James Defronzo [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/259775.Revolutions_and_Revolutionary_Movements]

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Susan Mercurio's avatar

I would add From Dictatorship to Democracy by Dr Gene Sharp

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Indu Abeysekara's avatar

Chang, A few Caitlin's back I cited the 1917 October Revolution as proof that revolutions are possible - more to convince myself than anything else. And it did last for 72 plus years in spite of the undermining of US/West. Capitalism could never tolerate a threat to its hegemony. Also the Soviet Union would not have imploded (would have reformed itself? ) if Gorbachev wasn't so very naive and gullible as to trust the West.

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Chang Chokaski's avatar

>>"...And it did last for 72 plus years..."

Unfortunately, it lasted only for a few brief years until the death of Lenin. Stalin is what/who destroyed any chance of REAL socialism/communism in Russia.

Stalin has done more to damage the "image" of communism than any other leader. But few people bother to read REAL HISTORY. Too many people are biased, emotional, etc. to analyze history objectively.

>>"Also the Soviet Union would not have imploded (would have reformed itself? ) if Gorbachev wasn't so very naive and gullible as to trust the West."

The implosion of the Soviet Union was VERY COMPLEX (with multiple disparate factors and conjoining factors/events). People are STILL analyzing how and why the Soviet Union disintegrated (many debates here). I wouldn't put ALL the blame on Gorbachev. I primarily blame the WEST (and obviously Capitalism) for much of it.

But yes, you are right - Gorbachev (and Yeltsin, etc. including initially Putin) were naive in trusting the West.

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Mark Oglesby's avatar

Agreed, it's happened in the past, happened in the present, and will take place herein the US, but again, the rub?

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Chang Chokaski's avatar

>>"In going down, will the Empire and its lackeys take the world down with 'em?"

Who knows? Maybe. Maybe not. The unfolding of revolutions can be unpredictable. History often repeats itself, but it slightly different ways (as there are too many variables in play all asserting their own dynamic forces + randomness).

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Mark Oglesby's avatar

Agreed, as Chris Hedges makes the point, something takes place (small or large) and it grows and grows and grows. I am convinced that if We The People do not take this vile government and those backing it (the wealth class) down, it'll spell the end of the world as the US will not allow itself to be brought down by a foreign power: NEVER! It must be internal.

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martin's avatar

indeed, but us citizens are not up to it. totally tamed and confused (even the fascists).

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Jo Waller's avatar

The US is going down through lack of investment, the military ecoonomy, dedollarisation by BRICS and by sanctioning itself from the power house of China etc etc. It's bringing itself down just fine. However, I'm not sure the supranational companies will be brought down this way. Nor can they be brought down by Americans overturning their government. In fact they might even prefer it.

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Chang Chokaski's avatar

Very true!

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Megan Baker's avatar

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does sometimes rhyme.” Mark Twain

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Mark Oglesby's avatar

Jacob, you seem to forget that it happened here in the past, oh what was it? Of course, "our" revolution against the British. It can and will take place, but again, the rub?

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Jo Waller's avatar

Yes you had a revolution against the Brits, and took over their Empire and made an even bigger one!

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Susan Mercurio's avatar

You're conveniently overlooking the American Revolution.

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gypsy33's avatar

Sorry, Jacob, but:

What did the Americans do?

What did the French do?

I have three, count ‘em, three pitchforks ( having been a horse caretaker).

Oh, and an AK47.

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Jo Waller's avatar

Yeah reign of terror by authoritarian zealots. Bring it on.

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Jala's avatar

Do you also have drones that carry missles?

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Feral Finster's avatar

"Anyway, it didn’t happen, so that’s good."

Didn't happen yet.

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Ginnie's avatar

What's wilder is that the New Orleans attacker was American, he was born in Texas!!! What else do these motherfuckers want? But nope, he is still viewed as some kind of a foreigner because he is not white!! That's all this is about. MAGA like white foreigners just fine. None of them are complaining about the droves of Ukrainians living in the US and getting public assistance. They just dont like to see it from black and brown people and muslims especially seem to just be guilty by association.

Speak of which: now just having a Koran is seen as a sign or evidence of guilt of some kind. It is planted at the scene like a deadly weapon or evidence of some nefarious intent. WTF. The US has made more than 2 billion muslims the enemy. Senator Randy Fine from New York just openly tweeted about the "muslim problem" suggesting that it was "high time to deal with this fundamentally broken and dangerous culture."

No other group, religion or culture would be allowed to be spoken of in this openly racist, hateful, dehumanizing and eliminationist way, where US representatives openly call for its elimination, except Muslims of course.

They want to start a wider war in the middle east, decimate the region even more and go into Iran and for that they need to gin up anti muslim sentiments. That is all this is about. Letting a reporter walk into a supposed crime scene that clearly has not been fully assessed yet so she can spread anti muslim propaganda when she stumbles over his Koran, even though that man was an American, is like from a really bad dystopian sci-fi where the audience can easily see through the plot. In real life, people are actually buying all of this. Over 30 years of anti muslim rhetoric and war have made them all blindly believe that over 2 billion muslims are just bad people living with an inferior, barbaric culture that needs to be eliminated.

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Indu Abeysekara's avatar

Ginnie, You got it! Got what's wrong with the whole can of worms.

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Chang Chokaski's avatar

Very well said Ginnie! Thank you!

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Ron Hollis's avatar

The two military veterans at the New Orleans and Las Vegas attacks are examples of where military brainwashing leads to. It’s through their military training that they learn to kill and murder without remorse. Its playing virtual war games put to reality.

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Patrick Powers's avatar

That's true. And many policemen are war vets.

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DawnieR's avatar

Both NOLA and Vegas are connected.......

BOTH are False Flag PsyOps.

Both are TEXTBOOK PLAYS, from 'THEIR' Playbook.

It's obvious that both of these guy had MKultra-type shit going on.

There are several ways that 'THEY' can take over someones mind.

'Hearing Voices', as it were!

The Vegas guy......

A Green Beret.....so he SHOULD HAVE KNOWN that blowing up a vehicle, in front of a building, from the driveway, was NOT GOING TO DO MUCH DAMAGE.

If he had control of his own mind, he would have DRIVEN THE CYBERTRUCK IN TO THE LOBBY.

Now THAT would have 'done the job'.

And I like that 'THEY' chose a Trump property.......gives the PsyOp that 'extra special'!

It's Theatre for the masses!

I'm still waiting for the 'MANIFESTOS'!

One CANNOT have a major event, these days, without that all important 'MANIFESTO'!

CLEARLY......a PsyOp! Textbook!

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JennyStokes's avatar

Agree.

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dale ruff's avatar

What you say is possible but not clear or certain. "The man suspected of being behind Tesla Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas was a “big” supporter of Donald Trump and voted for him in November, a senior law enforcement official tells the Daily Beast.

That revelation came from an interview between Matthew Livelsberger’s loved ones and investigators, the source said. His family added that they believed the 37-year-old Green Beret." What is clear is that it all is unclear.

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Susan Mercurio's avatar

Do you really believe any "senior law enforcement official"?

I don't.

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DawnieR's avatar

IF he was, indeed, a Trump supporter......to me, that's even further proof.

Then this guy was selected by 'THEM' to carry out this deed.

The Deep State is more than one faction.

Trump IS Deep State!

But the Trump-hating side of the Deep State, has carried this Operation out.

If it (something/anything) makes no sense?

Then it's a PsyOp.

'THEY' love to throw out all sorts of info; true and false info (mostly false).

'THEY' do this to confuse people.....confuse people to the point where they 'give up' (stop paying attention and have no opinion on what has happened).

Confuse people to the point where they no longer care about 'getting to the bottom' of it.

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KHGUAN's avatar

Operation Mockingbird and Bush-era islamaphobia has been on for decades now; how the HELL is this dumbass society still fooled by this? The deep-state isn't even trying to innovate new tactics, they just rehashed the same ol' Neocon propoganda over and over again! Either the non-elite are that dense, or alphabet agencies are running out of ideas - I am really hoping for the latter and not to be terribly dissappointed by the former.

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dale ruff's avatar

Most Americans are no dumb but the problem is, they have no power. I find it despicable to blame the victims, as bullies do.

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Susan Mercurio's avatar

We, the citizens of the US, are also suffering from massive propaganda efforts. It's possible that it's creating its own form of MK-Ultra-like effect on the population.

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martin's avatar

well, you could say that tptb are infinitely smarter and thus true overlords. can't do socialism (certainly not communism) because god forbids it.

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Robert Billyard's avatar

These warriors are sent off to do the empire's dirty work and come home with PTSD, killing themselves and others. Compounded tragedies and quadrupled insanity.

It never occurs to us how the hate and violence of empires are internalized in our homelands.

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Susan Mercurio's avatar

It has occurred to Chris Hedges

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dale ruff's avatar

There is huge confusion between the H-1b visas, which are for professional workers, such as engineers or doctors, and the H2b program, which is for seasonal or temporary, usually "unskilled" labor.

H-1B are for specialty fields and while paid somewhat less than US peers, they command professional level salaries: "The regulations define a specialty occupation as requiring theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge in a field of human endeavor,[5] including but not limited to biotechnology, chemistry, computing, architecture, engineering, statistics, physical sciences, journalism, medicine and health (doctors, dentists, nurses, physiotherapists, etc.), economics, education, research, law, accounting, business specialties, technical writing, theology, and the arts, and requiring the attainment of a bachelor's degree " These are not the low paid labor we see roofing houses or harvesting crops.

These professional workers are favored by US corporations because in addition to making about 10% less (software engineers in Silicon Valley make $90-180K) they must be employed to sustain their visa and so are expected to work longer hours and are not free simply to quit (unless they have another job lined up). They do, no doubt, tho it violates the program rules, take the place of US professionals, who are more expensive and less compliant.

The two programs are very different and by no means should the professional wages of H -1B employees be considered "low wage" tho they re 10% lower than US professionals, who earn high salaries. Even Trump confused the two when he came out for the H-1b program, claiming he had hired many of such, when he meant he had hired the much lower paid H-2b seasonal and temporary workers (as maids, gardeners, etc).

American corporations (and I would add consumers) benefit from the seasonal program with lower wages (and often no alternative worker pool to draw from, as in harvesting crops) and cheaper food, cheaper housing, etc. American tech companies benefit from foreign professional labor because of lower wages (tho by no means low...well above median incomes) and more control over the workers.

There is no way in help that US farmers and housing construction corporations will allow their source of cheap labor to be deported. There is no way in hell US tech companies will allow the program that gives them cheaper labor with more control to be cut back. This is all part of the narrative to feed the manufactured anger of mostly white US workers that has been manufactured to "redirect anger and aggression towards targets of hatred (Goebbels/Principle of Propaganda 18) rather than at the corporations hiring these immigrant labor and offshoring their jobs.

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martin's avatar

it also deprives the global south of their skilled workforce (often educated with state funds). i heard rfk planned to send certain kinds of patients to the farms and then there's a possible expansion of the free labor incarceration-system. but even with the exploitation getting much worse, americans will not be able to get organised.

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dale ruff's avatar

Yes, INdia spends its money to educate its best and brightest and they come to the West, draining INdia of what it has produced. IN the US, the most wealthy group are the Asian INdians, with household incomes of $152,000, people who migrated from one of the poorest nations on earth (300 million living on $1 a day), a nation which needs its best and brightest.

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Chang Chokaski's avatar

>>"There is no way in hell that US farmers and housing construction corporations will allow their source of cheap labor to be deported. There is no way in hell US tech companies will allow the program that gives them cheaper labor with more control to be cut back. This is all part of the narrative to feed the manufactured anger of mostly white US workers that has been manufactured to "redirect anger and aggression towards targets of hatred (Goebbels/Principle of Propaganda 18) rather than at the corporations hiring these immigrant labor and offshoring their jobs."

Well said!

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dale ruff's avatar

Thank you!

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Indu Abeysekara's avatar

dale ruff, Thank you for stating the facts.

The unbearable tragedy of it all is that the politicians, corporations and oligarchs then cynically use the very same people they exploit as the race card to win elections!

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dale ruff's avatar

Trump showed that a skilled con artist can pick your pocket while persuading you they will hike your income. "Trump promised his tax cuts would boost wages by $4,000 -Inflation-adjusted pay growth rose only 0.09% following passage of the 2017 law."

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Timmy!'s avatar

Addendum: The US can’t produce enough physicians to meet the demands of the population for a variety of reasons - not enough STEM majors, the obscene cost of higher education and medical school, the number of years of education required for medical degrees, residency and so on. From what I gather, much of this is deliberate policy designed to raise costs and profits in the healthcare industry aka the medical-industrial complex. The result is a constant demand for physicians who are as you point out, immigrant laborers with H-1B visas. Note: I’m not suggesting that Americans should “buy American” when they need to see a doctor. Just something to keep in mind…

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dale ruff's avatar

just over 1% of all physicians nationally have such visas, as there is such a shortage of doctors; the same cannot be said about STEM professionals as reported by Robert Charette: " Economic boom-and-bust volatility imposes large fluctuations in STEM hiring and employment.

* In general, there's no STEM worker shortage.

*There's no general rise in STEM salaries, as would be expected during a shortage.

"What's perhaps most perplexing" about the shortage claim, Charette writes, "is that many studies have directly contradicted it, including reports from Duke University, the Rochester Institute of Technology, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Rand Corp. A 2004 Rand study, for example, stated that there was no evidence 'that such shortages have existed at least since 1990, nor that they are on the horizon.'"

Charette cites a government report saying that the US spends more than $3 billion annually on 209 STEM-related initiatives—about $100 for each student above primary school. Corporations, states, and educational institutions also conduct STEM initiatives. "The result," he concludes, "is that many people's fortunes are now tied to the STEM crisis, real or manufactured."

Charette suggests possible explanations for the situation. Companies benefit from a labor oversupply. Government perceives a need to ensure that innovation takes place and that the country is technologically well defended. Universities benefit from demand—and subsidies—for STEM education." The explanation was well understood by Rabbi Marx ,when he wrote that in order to suppress wages, capitalist need an army of the unemployed.

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Mark Keating's avatar

And laughingly, employers need to profess that the H1-B immigrant is necessary because they can't fill the position with an American.

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Chang Chokaski's avatar

Yeah, it's the usual bullshit excuse. Immigrant workers, because of their status as immigrants, are willing to endure a certain amount of "exploitation" (in multiple forms - be it long hours, not questioning superiors, lower wages, etc.). Hence, corporations (in our capitalist system) and businesses of all sizes (big and small) prefer to hire immigrant laborers/workers over the local population.

Note: This phenomenon is NOT unique to the US. This is how Capitalism works. This happens in ALL countries - US, Canada, UK, EU, India, Russia, China, Australia, Middle-East countries, etc. Capitalism goes where the labor is cheapest (in an effort to increase profits regardless of the damage to societies, cultures, ecosystem, or anything else).

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dale ruff's avatar

Totally true!

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dale ruff's avatar

Shortage of US STEM workers?

"Among the 50 million employed college graduates ages 25 to 64 in 2019, 37% reported a bachelor’s degree in science or engineering but only 14% worked in a STEM occupation, according to the Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey 1-year estimates.

This translates into less than a third (28%) of STEM-educated workers actually working in a STEM job." This explains why the STEM corporations (like MUSK) lie about a shortage....foreign STEP employees cost less to employ and are easy to control, with longer hours, etc. In fact, the US is full of STEM graduates serving coffee at Starbucks, while foreign visa holders take their jobs for a lower wage. The reason: maximize profits by lowering wages. Meanwhile, H-b2 workers who roof our homes and harvest our food and for whom there is a genuine shortage are threatened with deportation, which would raise the price of housing and food and leave crops rotting in the field ,as the wages to attract US workers would have to rise to a level that would make US crops uncompetitive...and so Trump could tariff Mexican and Chinese food imports, which would create more bankruptcy for US farmers (hit by retaliatory tariffs, as China did) who then would be bailed out by the government (Trump put them on welfare, with 25 billion for NOT growing crops they could not sell), which could be paid by the sales tax of tariffs imposed by Trump, leading to 1. loss of jobs 2. inflation 3. more government welfare for industries crushed by retaliatory tariffs.

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martin's avatar

they will force americans to take the low paying jobs.

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dale ruff's avatar

Trickle down is such a lie! In truth, the higher the money is siphoned, the more downward pressure is exerted on those at the bottom. The only example I can think of is the body, which, when it rises out of a hair pushes down harder and harder on the feet as it rises. This is the internal logic of capitalism.

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Chang Chokaski's avatar

Much truth to what you say.

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Clare Pezza's avatar

Brilliant article. I used to be married to a member of the US military. We lived on fort Meade but I’ve visited Bragg. We were stationed in the Uk too. All us military bases are toxic quagmires. In Uk a guy had been raping his step child. We all were told to shut up and he was spirited back to the us. He’d been our sponsor too.

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Longtrail's avatar

Good rant Caitlin and spot on across the board!

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