"You can continually quash the spirit revolution before it starts, just by setting up an information environment in which people don’t recognize the need for revolution."
This is the ultimate "sleight of hand" trick by the empire's propagandists. You get the public looking in one direction ("Ooo, shiny!) and then you do the dastardly deed behind their backs. Catilin is right that our job is to continually make others turn around and look at what the MSM is trying to prevent them looking at, namely the reality of our situation. It's tough, but it's possible. One day soon, we may find that our neighbors are able to turn around all by themselves, and then they'll be ready to join in the revolution that is long overdue. Power to the people!
I recall being on a friend's houseboat (around 1978) in the Honolulu Harbor where he had invited several different people of political persuasions. The college professor and his wife started talking about the first 9/11, the coup that overthrew the Allende government in 1973. Certain members of that government were assassinated in Washington DC in the next couple of years. I would not accept their story. My faith in the USA was so strong that they were forced to leave the party.
I sincerely regret that action. I hope that they will read and accept my apology.
Still it wasn't until 9/11/2001 when I was called early in the morning (PST) to turn on the TV and watch the towers burning. My immediate reaction was "Bush Did It." Nothing since that moment has changed my mind.
I finally understood what happened in Chile and the terror that the USA, along with Milton Friedman, inflicted upon Chile's citizens.
My family still doesn't recognize these events.
How can I blame them. It took me 20 years to figure it out.
They believe that I've gone down a "conspiracy rabbit hole". They acknowledge many of the facts (ie the lead up to the Ukraine war for example) but they just can't view the situation as being the responsibility of the "oligarchy" (or whatever you want to call it. IMHO we need to find one definition). Somehow they still can refuse to acknowledge that the politicians work for the billionaires, something that didn't become obvious to me until the 2000 election.
The history of Black Rock vs Black Stone is related to this.
Think about the "grandfather image" that Warren Buffet has and how he has appeared on TV talking about how he should be paying as much in taxes as his employees. Looks like a nice guy doesn't he.
But look at the history of the railroad that destroyed East Palestine, OH. Buffet sold his share of the company (Norfolk Southern) a few years before the derailment. I'd be a fool to think he wasn't aware of the fact that he was getting rid of an asset that was going to cost him a bundle. The current owners have been reading Naomi Klein's book about Disaster Capitalism.
Like the folks in Flint Michigan (recall Obama's sip of water that barely touched his lips) the folks in East Palestine have been abandoned.
I know this to be true.
How do I explain this to my family who just cannot believe it.
John, I went through the same process and it took me about as long. In 2001 I was a Neocon Dupe.
I was subscribed to a site called DNI, Defense and the National Interest. One of the contributers who's site was linked is fabiusmaximus.com. He had a unique take and I initially challenged his views. He engaged with me and challenged me back. Over the 20 years I followed him he patiently guided and mentored me. When he went inactive his son started writing and eventually led me to his site readingjunkie.com. His son is a US Marine vet who served two tours in Afghanistan. He became very disillusioned to the point of having such a severe identity crisis he ended up in a psychiatric ward. I went through a similar experience but didn't require hospitalization. His son has been living in Moscow, learned Russian and acquired his residency permit. He has a lovely girlfriend who is a professional linguist.
You are right about that party. I blew it at gatherings when I was so badly propagandized. You touched me deeply with your comment.
Best regards John. I'm very happy to meet you online.
I have a very similar problem with my remaining family member. He is brilliant but blind to the truth and to go down that rabbit hole is just not possible.
Well, it is important that we recognize the failings in ourselves and try to be patient. I know that I can see my in-laws face screw up in anger and so I try to back down as fast as possible. I totally respect this guy and wish I could get him to explain to me why he thinks I'm wrong. In the middle of a "debate", I'm overwhelmed (much like I imagine the prof I talked about earlier).
Certainly a great many people fear to deal with it, or feel (with reason) that dealing with it will be useless and just want to get on with their lives. And of course many feel that expressing their opinions overtly may be dangerous, even physically dangerous. Some will have been to demonstrations and observed later that the demonstrations didn't change anything. If there were a serious Left in America maybe it could be working on its tactics. But apparently there isn't.
It's not about left and right. It's about unity. I've kept my eyes out for calls to demonstrate but it's not bad enough in America yet. They're raising hell in Europe though.
Oliver Anthony's song Rich Men North of Richmond has touched a chord worldwide. He said it was funny when they played his song at the republican debates because they are the ones he sang about.
In the traditional meaning of the word, the Left were the people who were left after the formation of the Right, the Right being, those who were on the side of power, authority, private wealth, the established order, high social status, and the cultivation of the military virtues required to maintain this class system. The Left, then, were those who preferred peace to war, freedom to subordination, equality to rank. You can see these were once useful distinctions for describing political conflict. And that is why their old meanings have been obscured and they have often been replaced by their opposites. But as for Richmond, there are plenty of rich men north, south, east, west, and directly in the middle of Richmond, and imagining otherwise -- regional tribalism -- will make it easy for the rich men to continue to control us.
Correct about the rich, the Oligarchs who own the media and the politicians. They use those tools to keep us divided hence conquered. The feigned opposition of the Uniparty in Congress is Kabuki Theater for infotainment to keep the viewers enthralled.
The word "enthralled" is derived from the Norse word "thrall" which means slave.
We have the example of the British in recent history. Did they ever rise up while their empire was on the rampage, OR when it started crumbling? Its more probable that American will sleep walk through it all too...
How do we SAFELY reverse the course which these corrupt centralized entities have us on?
We build new systems that make the old ones obsolete- ones 100% controlled and built by the people - then plug them into the system with decentralized leadership.
We feel like we are down a rabbit hole and found a fix for all of the corruption and most of our problems, but can’t scream loud enough for others to hear us. We need to build better Swarming systems, and plug them into our current broken systems using leaders who decentralize their own positions. We implore you to read this and understand the importance https://joshketry.substack.com/p/human-swarm-intelligence-the-most?r=7oa9d&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
There are a lot of people who don't like what's happening and want to do something, but are afraid. Many who opposed the mask and lockdown mandates have lost there jobs--their livelihoods. The horror stories about the January 6th imprisonments over trespassing in the the People's House has made even more people afraid to protest. And now we have the arrest of a former president for believing the 2020 election was stolen.
With the way the U.S. is doing empire, I feel forced to agree with Glenn Greenwald, that the most motivated and determined voters demanding reform are those on the far right, perhaps because they are the angriest.
Greenwald analyzes from a left perspective, and he has been cursed by some self-identifying leftists as a Trump dupe, when he is no such thing.
This phenomenon where political labels preempt honest critical thought and discussion is regrettable and only subject to change if honest thinkers refrain from clever put-downs and argue for what they know to be true. Even if it causes some identity crises.
Now the full force of the imperial state appears committed to put the champion of the angry in jail or in debt or both. One needn’t be a Trump supporter to see that this legal war is as despicable and contrived as Julian Assange’s imprisonment.
The pranksters, the subversives, the tellers of Forbidden Truths that you're not supposed to say out loud are on the alt-right and the dirtbag left.
Meanwhile, liberals are finger-wagging scolds so stiff and humorless that that they make The Church Lady look like Johnny Rotten.
This is not because of any inherent puckishness on the part of the right or any natural censoriousness on the left, but is a product of their respective relationships to power.
Your description sounds poetically perched between judgmental fatalism and formula-derived ideology. Neither does anything to improve communication between a cast of flawed plodders with conflicting plans and ideals, but with a common goal to divorce the seats of power from their current occupants.
Dr Cornel West is the only honest player on the pitch, but many of the evangelical right can’t get past his skin tone, and the angriest voices on the right, anti-communist to the core, just want a new boss, and nothing to do with paradigm change.
So I have empathy for conservatives who despise the fraud, and sympathy for the liberals who are afraid to see the fraud, and who don’t know that the ground beneath them has shifted.
Rule of law vs system overhaul. If the illegitimate present can’t convince enough on the right that there is no value in simply changing the players in a fixed game, then not much good can come from making 45 47. But that appears to be where we are heading.
Reminds me of those who went to war - fought and died for their Country! That's what's wrong with America! It's all about me! The cell phones created this - a deliberate and intentional diversion!
Mona - I must respectfully disagree with regard to the cell phones. This is an epidemic worse than anything that has ever existed throughout entire world. NO ONE can put them down!!!! There is no good whatsoever that has come from them! Nothing!
Consider this - even only for a moment - where would we be today without them? Where would all this time be directed and spent instead? This is precisely why "they" are winning the fight! People haven't a clue what's going on in the world because of them! This is narcissism on steroids!
Also consider for hundreds of years civilization certainly was able to exist without them! Then look at the world TODAY and take note how quickly the massive decline erupted right after they came into existence! The correlation is inarguable! It was deliberate and intentional.
It also solidified that no one is exempt from addiction - the entire world suffers from it as now proven! People look down upon drug, alcohol, gambling and sex addicts and can't see they are no different and even worse! Everywhere you go people are looking down at the and all have one in their hand or pocket! Spending an average of 8 hours/day! More than they work!
And then LOOK at the work force - how many trillions upon trillions of hours are lost because people cannot stop? Everywhere you go they're playing with them! Every dog walker has one in their hand as do the baby carriages! More than half the drivers are using them!!! The police are playing with them non-stop! This is an addiction worse than EVERYTHING ELSE combined! Go into a restaurant and everyone is looking down at them! In churches, funeral, wakes, they can't stop! They come out of surgery and they first thing they want is their phone! How sick is this?
Had cell phones not come to fruition - there would've already have been a civil war - unfortunately it will take this Country to sink even further than it is for people to awaken!
I can't help but think what would actually happen if there was a cyber attack and they stopped working! It would be worse than a war!
When Sandy struck here on the east coast and there was only ONE Starbucks in my town that had electricity people were literally climbing all over each other to plug their phones in. I never witnessed such barbarism in my entire life! I screamed; "LOOK AT YOU PEOPPLE --- YOU ARE WORSE THAN ANIMALS"!
Climbing all over each other - practically frothing at the mouth! It was beyond insanity! And, it had nothing to do with contacting family members - they simply couldn't live and breathe without them! Tree's and limbs covered the ground and it was the elderly outside cleaning up while these (no word to describe it) were climbing over everything just to get inside the store!
They threw huge branches aside just to get in!
For hundreds of years we proved civilization does not stop nor cease to exist because we were without them! THEY CAUSED ALL OF THIS!
I beg to differ. I along with a lot of people would not be here reading this very post for one thing. It has allowed the whole world to communicate with each other. It may look like a monster to you but technology is not going to sit still just because someone does not like it.
And computers don't allow the same? I am subscribed to dozens of newsletters!
I spend my life reading I'm retired and work P/T. I get up in the morning and spend a few hours reading - I walk my dog for 90 minutes, go to work and repeat the same in the evening!
I have a flip phone at work in case I need to be reached while I am on the road. The moment I leave the phone is shut off. I have a land line at home and do not own nor have I watched TV in decades!
May I ask a personal question with a truthful answer (as I am not judging you) how many hours per day would you say you spend on your phone?
At most an hour if that. Like you I have no TV. I use my phone for an internet access and as my only phone. I would need cable or some other access for my computer but instead use my phone. The time on my phone is spent reading like post on Caitlin's substack and a few others. Other than that I do not carry my phone unless it's for an Uber ride to the VA clinic.
What I have observed on the local UW campus, has me thinking exactly like you.
I came to this institution in 1993, to establish an audit function.
I saw students of all stripes.
I heard voices, I heard music. There was motion.
Now. Right now, there are no visible signs of life.
Students hide in their dorm rooms, and don’t come out.
Not just outside, they aren’t even present in the common areas in the various buildings.
And, there’s no music to be heard. No sounds. Earbuds/phones, I presume.
On the rare occasion that I spot a pupil, their face is lit up by a screen, and there’s pods sticking out of their ears, oblivious to the world around them.
This morning, I observed an individual with a smartphone strapped to their bicep, repeatedly checking their wrist, and, from what I could decipher, this watch was telling this person at what pace to walk, and when to sit down, and stand up.
It’s creepy. It’s reminiscent of a zombie movie.
I worry that we are losing our youth, irretrievably.
Brilliant synopsis and extremely educational! Thank you for taking the time to reply!
I walk all over creation with my dog and have always spent my life observing everything which is why this is all so very profound! I see this at many of the schools I pass - the kids sitting around ALL ON THIER PHONES! I applaud the parents who refuse to give the child one! Their kids are so much healthier - out doing things and learning so much! Hikes trips vacations . . . . all sans phones!
I saw a woman one day with a baby stroller She stopped at every block to walk around to the front of the stroller and check on her child! I immediately complimented her profusely and explained how I'd never witnessed anyone doing that! And yet how I've always thought you are so busy on that phone - your kid could be choking and you would never even know it!
The dog owners are even worse - not one can leave the house without the phone! meanwhile the poor dog is eating everything - one mans dog wrapped itself around a telephone pole several times before he even noticed!
Someone wrote banning them inside schools - I thought to myself - like the teachers would ever allow THAT to happen - they're even worse than the kids!!
It's an addiction that has destroyed the entire world! No one can stop!
Plus, I have read several articles in natural healing organizations' publications that cells phones cause cancer. They advise not keeping the phones next to one's body. And especially advise against the young women that keep the phones in their bras.
Caitlin restates what she's trying to do here in her space. It's to gather, summarize, and compile information such that it's ready to be used on the ignorant. And she's very good at that.
The problem is to apply this weaponry. Oftentimes people don't even want to hear about anything that's contrary to their set views. It's probably a majority of the immediate relations of everyone in this forum.
I wonder how Caitlin herself succeeds in her own circle. I bet even she has trouble with quite a few.
The only ones I've been able to convince are the ones who already see through it all. The others you have to start with "no, the earth isn't flat", "it doesn't have a dome over it", "gravity is what keeps you from flying off the ground as the earth spins and hitting your head on the dome which doesn't exist " and "yes, you CAN make chicken soup with canned chicken . Really".
So if we abnormolize the abnormalities of the abnormal they should become normal. I think. So since we have about 200 million +/- who are in this state to varying degrees, we best get started. It's going to be a long haul.
PS All the above are true. I didn't make them up. Not even the chicken soup.
Great article as usual. Humans have been clinically domesticated. Simply exposing those under the spell to facts about reality will not work for most people. Persistence with facts, if met by an open mind may work.. but as it is said about leading horses to water.. the person receiving the information must also be willing to do the the work, and that includes overcoming subconscious boundaries put in place by the same conditioning apparatus. Which also means they have to be ok being an outsider.. and many just aren't. While controlling mass society is far from new.. this modern version far exceeds the psychological control of those in the past by a very very large margin. As I said, clinically domesticated.
Caitlin - this video "Mass Psychosis" was posted by a reader the other day - it's much better at explaining the dynamics we suffer than that hateful animated video you posted - watch it!
The animated video is not "hateful." It's one scene from a full length animated feature called Waking Life. The character self-immolates in this scene, which is harrowing and difficult to watch, but it's not hateful.
The character hates the dream he's stuck in -- a common problem in the movie -- and self-immolation must seem like a way to wake up. So it is sort of hateful.
Of course, you are correct - I used the wrong word. It's a revolting scene at the end. No need for that here. (and I was active when the tactic was deployed in Vietnam).
Whereas your video -- at least the part that I watched -- does not really explain what causes the transition to totalitarianism from some other presumably less vicious state. Instead, it characterizes certain individuals as unique, diabolic villains. This kind of thinking is widespread, and it's unfortunate because it does not tell us how to avoid what it calls psychosis.
I guess you didn't watch the whole thing - at the end, they cite the work of Vaclev Havel and "parallel structures".
I totally disagree that the film targeted individuals or unique individuals was diabolical. It talked about social forces and mass psychology - you missed the entire point of the work.
How do we SAFELY reverse the course which these corrupt centralized entities have us on?
We build new systems that make the old ones obsolete- ones 100% controlled and built by the people - then plug them into the system with decentralized leadership.
We feel like we are down a rabbit hole and found a fix for all of the corruption and most of our problems, but can’t scream loud enough for others to hear us. We need to build better Swarming systems, and plug them into our current broken systems using leaders who decentralize their own positions. We implore you to read this and understand the importance https://joshketry.substack.com/p/human-swarm-intelligence-the-most?r=7oa9d&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Meanwhile; RFK Jr made another awesome speech in Nashville - he pledged to stop Blackrock and other corporations from gobbling up the real estate market and pledged to make housing affordable like under the post WW II GI Bill - watch it:
Yeah, he did. All while swallowing huge quantities of cash to be the Israeli Government whitewasher. How does anyone trust any of his rhetoric after that? Hard for him to meaningfully argue that he will continually refuse the sacks of cash that will be coming his way as he gets more traction. And it’s one of the arguments he really doesn’t make very well, it’s actually paper thin, his stance.
I am not an electoral politics person, but can you tell me any other candidate that is even talking about affordable housing, criticizing corporations and greed, and proposing solutions that are adverse to the politically powerful FIRE sector? How many "progressive" and "left" groups are doing homeless and affordable housing work? Holding politicians and media accountable for the crisis?
Like dozens of other issues Jr. is putting on the table, almost all from a left perspective, he gets zero recognition, but is slammed for the Israel issue (one I've criticized him for).
Hey Bill, what the fuck? You put up an opinion, i responded to it, you asked a question, i answered. So i mistyped his name. I’m nearly 50, on a phone and my eyes are not great. So i typo a lot. And i’ve been reading him a long time too. But this isn’t a bookshelf measuring contest mate.
Way to be balanced with someone. Particularly a subscriber who reads your work. So yeah, nice Job Bill. I would have thought someone, like me, born before the internet became common place, would have maintained some old school graces and not descend immediately into name calling. Apparently not... but it’s not a good look, particularly when you know absolutely zero about me, and i have done nothing to offend you personally.
Vivek Ramaswamy he was on Glenn Greenwald's Rumble after the RNC debates. He outright states he is going after the "Deep State" and return to the 1776 definition of the constitution. He doesn't take war dollars and has even used his own funds for his campaign. I personally am going to watch how far down the rabbit hole he is willing to go. I got a laugh when he told one of the warmongers to enjoy her job with Boeing.
I took a good look at his "X" Twitter page and I'm glad you said that. While I can't get his "10 Truths" image to enlarge enough for me to read it clearly I do see some of it and what I see = what you said "garbage"!
I "had been" a huge supporter and advocate of RFK Jr. For the first time in my life I felt he was the only person capable of saving what little is even left of this Country!
No one knows more about politics - how the game is played and where all the skeletons are buried (corruption) better than the Kennedys. He came out of the starting gate with all the right answers and solutions and then something changed, drastically! I suspect it's his wife - just a gut feeling! The work-out video was an atrocity straight out of Hollywood!
He went from being the least bit rehearsed to now, the very most! It's like listening to a broken record - every single interview is the exact same as the last! The same stories, verbatim! With all that's wrong with this Country why is he talking about the same things over and over and over?
Words that had been synonymous with his name (honesty and integrity) no longer exist! He's made to many mistakes and contradictions!
The entire focus of his campaign should be and have remained the corruption - how and why he is the only candidate who possesses the overwhelming experience (he's been suing the government for decades) and knowledge to at least staunch it! That's what had set him apart from the rest! His ability to actually accomplish it!
NOTHING ELSE matters (nor can you fulfill any promises) until you address and abolish it! I truly beleive he's vying for attorney general rather than the presidency - amassing a constituency that he will then use to barter - whoever the nominee is.
He had a great message and blew it entirely! Kucinich is the wrong person to be advising him - Obama succeeded because his campaign was completely different!
I agree with you on the way RFK has changed, and I only become aware of his campaign activity on a random basis, I don't "follow" his work.
His rhetoric and positions have been carefully calibrated to appeal to right wing populist views - I saw a recent tweet where he said there was too much focus on carbon and climate. He does similar things on border and immigration and other issues. At the end of the Tucker interview, he talked about a dinner with Pompeo and his friends. I was reminded of the Liberty League's dinner with Smedley Butler where they sought to recruit him to lead a military insurrection to coup FDR.
BUT he was never like this which is why he immediately started at 20%! He was never ever rehearsed and now? That's ALL he is. His two greatest and most prominent assets were his honesty and integrity which now comes into serious question! His rhetoric is such BS! All he does is talk about his uncle and father which NOW does come off as exploitation! He starts telling these rambling stories - that he has told relentlessly - so much so that he stumbles remembering the lines which is what has destroyed his credibility!
I have watched him from Day One and said to all he's running for POTUS and no one believed me, until he did! Why? Because I saw the change! And now I see it again - but sadly this time it's for the worse.
He had what no one else did and now, he's nothing more than a total blur amongst all the others! His claim to fame was that he had what no one else did!!!!
If “Bobby” is another Obama, he’s my adversary, not my advocate.
Any friend of Isra-hell is no friend of mine.
If gawd wanted me to vote, he’d a give me worthy candidates. Either there is no gawd, or he’s/she’s a feckless fake. Kinda like “fake news”. Kinda like that other shameless self promoter, the big orange cheat-toe.
NO NO NO NO you missed my point! Obama's succeeded with his campaign because it was new fresh and different!
Bobby started out great - what he had no one else could compete with - honesty and integrity, intelligence, experience, knowledge and he wasn't a politician although his family was - he was never ever rehearsed - never employed platitudes.
All of that has now been eviscerated and his campaign has become like every other we've witnessed! It's has to be Kucinich that he's following the same ole same ole playbook!
He had it all and blew it! I always felt by next year at this time there would be so many deaths and injuries from these lethal injection everyone would become anti-vax which would catapult him into the WH which is why I also felt he ran but now he seems to be backing away from that as well!
Oh well . . . it was a nice dream but now I agree with everyone that he doesn't stand a chance and following him is a total waste (of my time). If he had just stuck to abolishing the corruption and educating people!!!
Ok, BJ. These office seeking conmen get me all turned around, sometimes.
I’ve kinda given up on that whole ballot thingy anyway.
Only Nader and Stein have been worth my time.
BJ, don’t be precipitous.
I think that the mask, and the vax, are gonna be back, with a vengeance, before you know it. Event 201.1. Schwab and friends aren’t satisfied with the results of the initial round of this scam.
As for them tracking devices, I’ve got one. But, I know what it is, and try to treat it accordingly.
No truer words were spoken then when Bill Clinton said he's the greatest fairy tale ever told! His entire existence is a total farce! And of course his chef was murdered! Whether he saw heard or knew something or perhaps even having an affair with Obama as the
love letters to his ex-girlfriend solidified his sexual feelings for men!
Yes but that was the beauty of his campaign - not only did he bring it to light - he educated everyone how rampant it is! He was such an insider from all his years of suing the government and knowing everyone in politics because of his heritage. You had to ask yourself who else but him can talk like this? Named names of those responsible in every single agency and who he would immediately terminate! And then it just stopped and he moved on to things that can and will never change until you abolish the corruption or at least staunch it!!!
RFK has attacked the core Neocon issue: the military industrial complex and US Empire. Only Cornel West has even mentioned that. But yeah, he's wrong on Israel - Palestine. You sound exactly like the anti-abortion zealots.
Being "wrong on Palestine", is not a trivial matter. Bill. He is thereby complicit in apartheid and ethnic cleansing. Just because you like the sound of his domestic agenda, may I remind you that the post war British Labour government of Attlee which gave us the Welfare State, also legitimised Israel, plotted a monarchist coup in Iran, and practiced apartheid in southern Af. But hey, great domestic policies.
It is possible that he does not want to become Corbyn (but he will be Sanders in he has a real shot at winning).
I never said Palestine was trivial - it is important and major. But it is one issue and it totally contradicts his positions on military and US empire and US role in the world, so I suspect he could be doing it because the Israel lobby is so powerful in the electoral arena (but not necessarily in governing).
Well, the lesson of Corbyn is very apposite here. Corbyn and those around him, tried to mollify the zionist lobby with apologies, and vacillation.
It didn't work.
You can't appease such people. They take compromise for weakness.
Maybe I am being harsh, I am old enough to mistrust anyone named Kennedy. But I think that to fail to act principally on such a major issue reveals a weakness and lack of true commitment.
Respectfully, can’t see how I could ever sound like an anti-abortion zealot.
I am not. The opposite in fact. But my claim to fame, if any claim is needed today, is 40 years of serious / continuous advocacy for Palestine where we have an occupation which is the crime of the century with a US-sponsored criminal Israeli occupier, then a corrupted toothless United Nations and finally, a carefully manipulated hearts and flowers campaign with the old worn out themes of the holocaust and anti-semitisim being driven by the Neocon Israelis who live in America and are allowed to call themselves Americans.
Biden’s cabinet and all close associates are full of them. Where are you, Joe McCarthy, version 2023.
Until that changes, nothing else does and helpless Palestinians will keep dying every day, with grovelling US support for the 'chosen people', of course.
I do hope you can live long enough for you and the rest of the world to see the next step on the path to "Eretz israel”, Israel’s grand plan for ownership of all the land from the Euphrates River to the Nile. They have the 400 nuclear weapons to back their plan. US technology, once again.
So far, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine, neutered effectively, with Syria on the go, (US forces assisting and stealing the oil,) parts of Iraq, Saudi, a small piece of Kuwait, Egypt andTurkey.
It’s on the way, Bill. So no to anti-abortion zealot and yes, to justice for Palestine.
I meant that zealotry only in the context of single issue electoral thinking. For example, many religious fundamentalists with extremely conservative social values voted for Trump based exclusively on abortion, while they ignored the entire character and position of Trump that directly conflicted with their values.
Bill, I suggest that you spend the year leading up to the 2024 election in Gaza, and the West Bank, before you accuse anyone of zealotry. Or, alternatively, a vacation from the internet. I see you as going on the attack against anyone who points out the defects in your candidate Kennedy.
Booby is not the messiah sent from Camelot to save us all.
Mike I've criticized RFK multiple times - I don't see him as any messiah. I blasted his pro-capitalist environmental politics over a decade ago (which at the time was his only focus), see:
It is a very big issue. But if it all comes down to it if he is the "Last Man Standing" at the end of the day I would rather it was him just to rain in the MIC! It would be a good starting point and who really knows maybe he is saying all the right things because they would really trash him if he didn't? His speech on the "Censorship Committee" showed just how corrupt those people are and what they accused him of.
“… Peace is what’s normal. Justice is what’s normal. Health and harmony are what is normal. What we have now under the US empire is wildly abnormal, and it shouldn’t be permitted to misrepresent itself.…”
Here's what I can never figure out. The minute someone points out that the WEF is the most evil form of monopolistic, propagandistic "capitalism," some people in this forum balk, and say you shouldn't even discuss the WEF.
Also, the minute someone like Dr. Jordan Peterson points out that about 1 to 4% of the population are sociopathic, and in a large society, they end up in positions of power, people say, "You shouldn't listen to Peterson."
And the minute someone points out that Trump and RFK are 100% against the U.S. proxy war against Russia because we're killing people pointlessly, and it could lead to armageddon, people say, "You shouldn't listen to them."
And when people point out that Tucker Carlson now appears 100% liberated, and he means every word he says--right or wrong, he's honest, like Tulsi Gabbard--people say, "CIA!!!" Even though he says the CIA killed JFK, Jeffery Epstein compromised our leaders, and he listens to RFK when RFK says Operation Mockingbird never went away.
All of these positions are in harmony with what Caitlin frequently writes.
Oh, well, I guess I don't read Caitlin or the comments for a perfectly congruent intellectual system. I read her because she reveals a lot of the bullshit. And some of the commenters are brilliant. Not everyone has to harmonize 100% of the time for me to learn.
One of the key things that I have noted with today's youth is that while extremely suspicious of ideological discoursed, they are passionate about individual issues involving social justice and ecological campaigns. Therein l believe lies the germ of hope. Brexit, Proxy wars Isreali apartheid, deforestation, the destruction of socialised medicine here in the UK are all things that motivate activism.
The current direct action campaigns of Palestine Action, Just Stop Oil, amongst others in the UK, have led the political classes to enact draconian legislation that effectively shuts down the right to protest. Over 100 Palestine Action actioniare either imprison or on police bail awaiting trial and facing prison sentences for their efforts in closing down arms factories. The repulsive Home Secretary, Cruella Braverman has vowed to destroy Just Stop Oil. after their interruptions of major sporting events over the summer. These heroic actionists deserve all the support we can give. The struggle will continue. There is hope out there amongst the carnage.
Maybe some good framework to "get people to see the horrors of the empire" with fresh eyes is to create a flag. Folks seem to love spreading those around (sadly).
When I saw the barely hidden smirk on Dubya's face as he addressed the nation in the wake of the twin towers destruction it was obvious to me that his handlers (Cheney et al) had engineered this debacle, and he was delighted that they had pulled it off. Hell, it's right there in their manifesto, the Plan for a New American Century (PNAC), along with their means for implementing it: (excerpts)
"This report proceeds from the belief that America should seek to preserve and extend its position of global leadership by maintaining the preeminence of U.S. military forces."
"...the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event, like a new Pearl Harbor."
For awhile Dumbya's plan to invade Iraq was met with dissent, peace marches, and the like. I believe that the oligarchists who authored the PNAC document neutered this opposition by installing Obama into the oval office. It was at that point that the opposition elected to take a nap which lasted 4 years and continues today. They persistently ignore (or maybe accept) the continuation of foreign invasions, domestic surveillance of the citizenry, drone bombings and torture. It is astonishing to me how quickly and completely this collective blindness took hold of the entire populace.
"You can continually quash the spirit revolution before it starts, just by setting up an information environment in which people don’t recognize the need for revolution."
This is the ultimate "sleight of hand" trick by the empire's propagandists. You get the public looking in one direction ("Ooo, shiny!) and then you do the dastardly deed behind their backs. Catilin is right that our job is to continually make others turn around and look at what the MSM is trying to prevent them looking at, namely the reality of our situation. It's tough, but it's possible. One day soon, we may find that our neighbors are able to turn around all by themselves, and then they'll be ready to join in the revolution that is long overdue. Power to the people!
So many are blind, possibly wilfully blind because they fear to deal with it.
I recall being on a friend's houseboat (around 1978) in the Honolulu Harbor where he had invited several different people of political persuasions. The college professor and his wife started talking about the first 9/11, the coup that overthrew the Allende government in 1973. Certain members of that government were assassinated in Washington DC in the next couple of years. I would not accept their story. My faith in the USA was so strong that they were forced to leave the party.
I sincerely regret that action. I hope that they will read and accept my apology.
The movie "Missing" came out in 1982: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_(1982_film)
Still it wasn't until 9/11/2001 when I was called early in the morning (PST) to turn on the TV and watch the towers burning. My immediate reaction was "Bush Did It." Nothing since that moment has changed my mind.
I finally understood what happened in Chile and the terror that the USA, along with Milton Friedman, inflicted upon Chile's citizens.
My family still doesn't recognize these events.
How can I blame them. It took me 20 years to figure it out.
They believe that I've gone down a "conspiracy rabbit hole". They acknowledge many of the facts (ie the lead up to the Ukraine war for example) but they just can't view the situation as being the responsibility of the "oligarchy" (or whatever you want to call it. IMHO we need to find one definition). Somehow they still can refuse to acknowledge that the politicians work for the billionaires, something that didn't become obvious to me until the 2000 election.
The history of Black Rock vs Black Stone is related to this.
https://www.10differences.org/blackrock-vs-blackstone/
Think about the "grandfather image" that Warren Buffet has and how he has appeared on TV talking about how he should be paying as much in taxes as his employees. Looks like a nice guy doesn't he.
But look at the history of the railroad that destroyed East Palestine, OH. Buffet sold his share of the company (Norfolk Southern) a few years before the derailment. I'd be a fool to think he wasn't aware of the fact that he was getting rid of an asset that was going to cost him a bundle. The current owners have been reading Naomi Klein's book about Disaster Capitalism.
Like the folks in Flint Michigan (recall Obama's sip of water that barely touched his lips) the folks in East Palestine have been abandoned.
I know this to be true.
How do I explain this to my family who just cannot believe it.
John, I went through the same process and it took me about as long. In 2001 I was a Neocon Dupe.
I was subscribed to a site called DNI, Defense and the National Interest. One of the contributers who's site was linked is fabiusmaximus.com. He had a unique take and I initially challenged his views. He engaged with me and challenged me back. Over the 20 years I followed him he patiently guided and mentored me. When he went inactive his son started writing and eventually led me to his site readingjunkie.com. His son is a US Marine vet who served two tours in Afghanistan. He became very disillusioned to the point of having such a severe identity crisis he ended up in a psychiatric ward. I went through a similar experience but didn't require hospitalization. His son has been living in Moscow, learned Russian and acquired his residency permit. He has a lovely girlfriend who is a professional linguist.
You are right about that party. I blew it at gatherings when I was so badly propagandized. You touched me deeply with your comment.
Best regards John. I'm very happy to meet you online.
I have a very similar problem with my remaining family member. He is brilliant but blind to the truth and to go down that rabbit hole is just not possible.
Well, it is important that we recognize the failings in ourselves and try to be patient. I know that I can see my in-laws face screw up in anger and so I try to back down as fast as possible. I totally respect this guy and wish I could get him to explain to me why he thinks I'm wrong. In the middle of a "debate", I'm overwhelmed (much like I imagine the prof I talked about earlier).
There's gotta be a "soft" way of selling this.
What the hell is this scam? Shame on you.
Yes. She did the same type of comment that refered to some big upcoming event with the same link to some product she is pushing.
A fraud.
Certainly a great many people fear to deal with it, or feel (with reason) that dealing with it will be useless and just want to get on with their lives. And of course many feel that expressing their opinions overtly may be dangerous, even physically dangerous. Some will have been to demonstrations and observed later that the demonstrations didn't change anything. If there were a serious Left in America maybe it could be working on its tactics. But apparently there isn't.
It's not about left and right. It's about unity. I've kept my eyes out for calls to demonstrate but it's not bad enough in America yet. They're raising hell in Europe though.
Oliver Anthony's song Rich Men North of Richmond has touched a chord worldwide. He said it was funny when they played his song at the republican debates because they are the ones he sang about.
It's a class war.
In the traditional meaning of the word, the Left were the people who were left after the formation of the Right, the Right being, those who were on the side of power, authority, private wealth, the established order, high social status, and the cultivation of the military virtues required to maintain this class system. The Left, then, were those who preferred peace to war, freedom to subordination, equality to rank. You can see these were once useful distinctions for describing political conflict. And that is why their old meanings have been obscured and they have often been replaced by their opposites. But as for Richmond, there are plenty of rich men north, south, east, west, and directly in the middle of Richmond, and imagining otherwise -- regional tribalism -- will make it easy for the rich men to continue to control us.
Correct about the rich, the Oligarchs who own the media and the politicians. They use those tools to keep us divided hence conquered. The feigned opposition of the Uniparty in Congress is Kabuki Theater for infotainment to keep the viewers enthralled.
The word "enthralled" is derived from the Norse word "thrall" which means slave.
The move to BRICS could be the trigger. Serious movement there right at this moment.
We have the example of the British in recent history. Did they ever rise up while their empire was on the rampage, OR when it started crumbling? Its more probable that American will sleep walk through it all too...
The People will only obtain power when they grab it from the cold dead hands of the: Oligarchy.
Plutocracy.
Elite.
NeoCons.
NeoLibs.
NeoColonialists.
NeoImperialists.
Empire.
Are these all the same?
Or are they different entities we must temporarily align with to defeat our true enemy who is ...???....
Black and white, yin and yang, the ancient Chinese - and no doubt many others- knew that life is a pendulum.
How do we SAFELY reverse the course which these corrupt centralized entities have us on?
We build new systems that make the old ones obsolete- ones 100% controlled and built by the people - then plug them into the system with decentralized leadership.
We feel like we are down a rabbit hole and found a fix for all of the corruption and most of our problems, but can’t scream loud enough for others to hear us. We need to build better Swarming systems, and plug them into our current broken systems using leaders who decentralize their own positions. We implore you to read this and understand the importance https://joshketry.substack.com/p/human-swarm-intelligence-the-most?r=7oa9d&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
And if you don't believe it we have lots of BOMBS to prove it!
There are a lot of people who don't like what's happening and want to do something, but are afraid. Many who opposed the mask and lockdown mandates have lost there jobs--their livelihoods. The horror stories about the January 6th imprisonments over trespassing in the the People's House has made even more people afraid to protest. And now we have the arrest of a former president for believing the 2020 election was stolen.
With the way the U.S. is doing empire, I feel forced to agree with Glenn Greenwald, that the most motivated and determined voters demanding reform are those on the far right, perhaps because they are the angriest.
Greenwald analyzes from a left perspective, and he has been cursed by some self-identifying leftists as a Trump dupe, when he is no such thing.
This phenomenon where political labels preempt honest critical thought and discussion is regrettable and only subject to change if honest thinkers refrain from clever put-downs and argue for what they know to be true. Even if it causes some identity crises.
Now the full force of the imperial state appears committed to put the champion of the angry in jail or in debt or both. One needn’t be a Trump supporter to see that this legal war is as despicable and contrived as Julian Assange’s imprisonment.
The pranksters, the subversives, the tellers of Forbidden Truths that you're not supposed to say out loud are on the alt-right and the dirtbag left.
Meanwhile, liberals are finger-wagging scolds so stiff and humorless that that they make The Church Lady look like Johnny Rotten.
This is not because of any inherent puckishness on the part of the right or any natural censoriousness on the left, but is a product of their respective relationships to power.
Your description sounds poetically perched between judgmental fatalism and formula-derived ideology. Neither does anything to improve communication between a cast of flawed plodders with conflicting plans and ideals, but with a common goal to divorce the seats of power from their current occupants.
Dr Cornel West is the only honest player on the pitch, but many of the evangelical right can’t get past his skin tone, and the angriest voices on the right, anti-communist to the core, just want a new boss, and nothing to do with paradigm change.
So I have empathy for conservatives who despise the fraud, and sympathy for the liberals who are afraid to see the fraud, and who don’t know that the ground beneath them has shifted.
Rule of law vs system overhaul. If the illegitimate present can’t convince enough on the right that there is no value in simply changing the players in a fixed game, then not much good can come from making 45 47. But that appears to be where we are heading.
Reminds me of those who went to war - fought and died for their Country! That's what's wrong with America! It's all about me! The cell phones created this - a deliberate and intentional diversion!
The cell phones, movies, games, drugs, guns, etc.... can be used for good or bad. Everyone is responsible for how they use things.
Mona - I must respectfully disagree with regard to the cell phones. This is an epidemic worse than anything that has ever existed throughout entire world. NO ONE can put them down!!!! There is no good whatsoever that has come from them! Nothing!
Consider this - even only for a moment - where would we be today without them? Where would all this time be directed and spent instead? This is precisely why "they" are winning the fight! People haven't a clue what's going on in the world because of them! This is narcissism on steroids!
Also consider for hundreds of years civilization certainly was able to exist without them! Then look at the world TODAY and take note how quickly the massive decline erupted right after they came into existence! The correlation is inarguable! It was deliberate and intentional.
It also solidified that no one is exempt from addiction - the entire world suffers from it as now proven! People look down upon drug, alcohol, gambling and sex addicts and can't see they are no different and even worse! Everywhere you go people are looking down at the and all have one in their hand or pocket! Spending an average of 8 hours/day! More than they work!
And then LOOK at the work force - how many trillions upon trillions of hours are lost because people cannot stop? Everywhere you go they're playing with them! Every dog walker has one in their hand as do the baby carriages! More than half the drivers are using them!!! The police are playing with them non-stop! This is an addiction worse than EVERYTHING ELSE combined! Go into a restaurant and everyone is looking down at them! In churches, funeral, wakes, they can't stop! They come out of surgery and they first thing they want is their phone! How sick is this?
Had cell phones not come to fruition - there would've already have been a civil war - unfortunately it will take this Country to sink even further than it is for people to awaken!
I can't help but think what would actually happen if there was a cyber attack and they stopped working! It would be worse than a war!
When Sandy struck here on the east coast and there was only ONE Starbucks in my town that had electricity people were literally climbing all over each other to plug their phones in. I never witnessed such barbarism in my entire life! I screamed; "LOOK AT YOU PEOPPLE --- YOU ARE WORSE THAN ANIMALS"!
Climbing all over each other - practically frothing at the mouth! It was beyond insanity! And, it had nothing to do with contacting family members - they simply couldn't live and breathe without them! Tree's and limbs covered the ground and it was the elderly outside cleaning up while these (no word to describe it) were climbing over everything just to get inside the store!
They threw huge branches aside just to get in!
For hundreds of years we proved civilization does not stop nor cease to exist because we were without them! THEY CAUSED ALL OF THIS!
I can see you are passionate in your decision, and I appreciate your honest reply.
IMO we should not and cannot blame inanimate objects for people's bad behaviors.
I beg to differ. I along with a lot of people would not be here reading this very post for one thing. It has allowed the whole world to communicate with each other. It may look like a monster to you but technology is not going to sit still just because someone does not like it.
I say this with all due respect:
And computers don't allow the same? I am subscribed to dozens of newsletters!
I spend my life reading I'm retired and work P/T. I get up in the morning and spend a few hours reading - I walk my dog for 90 minutes, go to work and repeat the same in the evening!
I have a flip phone at work in case I need to be reached while I am on the road. The moment I leave the phone is shut off. I have a land line at home and do not own nor have I watched TV in decades!
May I ask a personal question with a truthful answer (as I am not judging you) how many hours per day would you say you spend on your phone?
At most an hour if that. Like you I have no TV. I use my phone for an internet access and as my only phone. I would need cable or some other access for my computer but instead use my phone. The time on my phone is spent reading like post on Caitlin's substack and a few others. Other than that I do not carry my phone unless it's for an Uber ride to the VA clinic.
What I have observed on the local UW campus, has me thinking exactly like you.
I came to this institution in 1993, to establish an audit function.
I saw students of all stripes.
I heard voices, I heard music. There was motion.
Now. Right now, there are no visible signs of life.
Students hide in their dorm rooms, and don’t come out.
Not just outside, they aren’t even present in the common areas in the various buildings.
And, there’s no music to be heard. No sounds. Earbuds/phones, I presume.
On the rare occasion that I spot a pupil, their face is lit up by a screen, and there’s pods sticking out of their ears, oblivious to the world around them.
This morning, I observed an individual with a smartphone strapped to their bicep, repeatedly checking their wrist, and, from what I could decipher, this watch was telling this person at what pace to walk, and when to sit down, and stand up.
It’s creepy. It’s reminiscent of a zombie movie.
I worry that we are losing our youth, irretrievably.
Thanks for your comment.
Brilliant synopsis and extremely educational! Thank you for taking the time to reply!
I walk all over creation with my dog and have always spent my life observing everything which is why this is all so very profound! I see this at many of the schools I pass - the kids sitting around ALL ON THIER PHONES! I applaud the parents who refuse to give the child one! Their kids are so much healthier - out doing things and learning so much! Hikes trips vacations . . . . all sans phones!
I saw a woman one day with a baby stroller She stopped at every block to walk around to the front of the stroller and check on her child! I immediately complimented her profusely and explained how I'd never witnessed anyone doing that! And yet how I've always thought you are so busy on that phone - your kid could be choking and you would never even know it!
The dog owners are even worse - not one can leave the house without the phone! meanwhile the poor dog is eating everything - one mans dog wrapped itself around a telephone pole several times before he even noticed!
Someone wrote banning them inside schools - I thought to myself - like the teachers would ever allow THAT to happen - they're even worse than the kids!!
It's an addiction that has destroyed the entire world! No one can stop!
Plus, I have read several articles in natural healing organizations' publications that cells phones cause cancer. They advise not keeping the phones next to one's body. And especially advise against the young women that keep the phones in their bras.
Caitlin restates what she's trying to do here in her space. It's to gather, summarize, and compile information such that it's ready to be used on the ignorant. And she's very good at that.
The problem is to apply this weaponry. Oftentimes people don't even want to hear about anything that's contrary to their set views. It's probably a majority of the immediate relations of everyone in this forum.
I wonder how Caitlin herself succeeds in her own circle. I bet even she has trouble with quite a few.
The only ones I've been able to convince are the ones who already see through it all. The others you have to start with "no, the earth isn't flat", "it doesn't have a dome over it", "gravity is what keeps you from flying off the ground as the earth spins and hitting your head on the dome which doesn't exist " and "yes, you CAN make chicken soup with canned chicken . Really".
So if we abnormolize the abnormalities of the abnormal they should become normal. I think. So since we have about 200 million +/- who are in this state to varying degrees, we best get started. It's going to be a long haul.
PS All the above are true. I didn't make them up. Not even the chicken soup.
Great article as usual. Humans have been clinically domesticated. Simply exposing those under the spell to facts about reality will not work for most people. Persistence with facts, if met by an open mind may work.. but as it is said about leading horses to water.. the person receiving the information must also be willing to do the the work, and that includes overcoming subconscious boundaries put in place by the same conditioning apparatus. Which also means they have to be ok being an outsider.. and many just aren't. While controlling mass society is far from new.. this modern version far exceeds the psychological control of those in the past by a very very large margin. As I said, clinically domesticated.
Domesticated humans.
Makes sense.
Caitlin - this video "Mass Psychosis" was posted by a reader the other day - it's much better at explaining the dynamics we suffer than that hateful animated video you posted - watch it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09maaUaRT4M
The animated video is not "hateful." It's one scene from a full length animated feature called Waking Life. The character self-immolates in this scene, which is harrowing and difficult to watch, but it's not hateful.
The character hates the dream he's stuck in -- a common problem in the movie -- and self-immolation must seem like a way to wake up. So it is sort of hateful.
Of course, you are correct - I used the wrong word. It's a revolting scene at the end. No need for that here. (and I was active when the tactic was deployed in Vietnam).
Whereas your video -- at least the part that I watched -- does not really explain what causes the transition to totalitarianism from some other presumably less vicious state. Instead, it characterizes certain individuals as unique, diabolic villains. This kind of thinking is widespread, and it's unfortunate because it does not tell us how to avoid what it calls psychosis.
I guess you didn't watch the whole thing - at the end, they cite the work of Vaclev Havel and "parallel structures".
I totally disagree that the film targeted individuals or unique individuals was diabolical. It talked about social forces and mass psychology - you missed the entire point of the work.
Yeah, when they trot out the usual suspects I get bored pretty fast. They ought to give Chairman Mao and the others royalties.
I'm going to steal both videos. Thanks, Caitlin and Bill.
Peace is not 'normal', alas, but we must strive for it, as humans have always done.
What you are doing is seeking to undermine the legitimacy of the Empire.
n.b in a way that makes sense. Take away legitimacy, and a ruler's authority goes no further than his reach.
How do we SAFELY reverse the course which these corrupt centralized entities have us on?
We build new systems that make the old ones obsolete- ones 100% controlled and built by the people - then plug them into the system with decentralized leadership.
We feel like we are down a rabbit hole and found a fix for all of the corruption and most of our problems, but can’t scream loud enough for others to hear us. We need to build better Swarming systems, and plug them into our current broken systems using leaders who decentralize their own positions. We implore you to read this and understand the importance https://joshketry.substack.com/p/human-swarm-intelligence-the-most?r=7oa9d&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Meanwhile; RFK Jr made another awesome speech in Nashville - he pledged to stop Blackrock and other corporations from gobbling up the real estate market and pledged to make housing affordable like under the post WW II GI Bill - watch it:
https://twitter.com/TheChiefNerd/status/1695488873655148791
Ah, never mind, there are a lot of cat and fight videos trending on Twitter (X).
Yeah, he did. All while swallowing huge quantities of cash to be the Israeli Government whitewasher. How does anyone trust any of his rhetoric after that? Hard for him to meaningfully argue that he will continually refuse the sacks of cash that will be coming his way as he gets more traction. And it’s one of the arguments he really doesn’t make very well, it’s actually paper thin, his stance.
I am not an electoral politics person, but can you tell me any other candidate that is even talking about affordable housing, criticizing corporations and greed, and proposing solutions that are adverse to the politically powerful FIRE sector? How many "progressive" and "left" groups are doing homeless and affordable housing work? Holding politicians and media accountable for the crisis?
Like dozens of other issues Jr. is putting on the table, almost all from a left perspective, he gets zero recognition, but is slammed for the Israel issue (one I've criticized him for).
Cornell?
Typo - asshole. I've been reading him since you probably were inn grammar school
Hey Bill, what the fuck? You put up an opinion, i responded to it, you asked a question, i answered. So i mistyped his name. I’m nearly 50, on a phone and my eyes are not great. So i typo a lot. And i’ve been reading him a long time too. But this isn’t a bookshelf measuring contest mate.
Way to be balanced with someone. Particularly a subscriber who reads your work. So yeah, nice Job Bill. I would have thought someone, like me, born before the internet became common place, would have maintained some old school graces and not descend immediately into name calling. Apparently not... but it’s not a good look, particularly when you know absolutely zero about me, and i have done nothing to offend you personally.
Sorry, I thought you were criticizing MY typo! I thought you were an asshole for that. But it looks like I am! hahahaha!
Vivek Ramaswamy he was on Glenn Greenwald's Rumble after the RNC debates. He outright states he is going after the "Deep State" and return to the 1776 definition of the constitution. He doesn't take war dollars and has even used his own funds for his campaign. I personally am going to watch how far down the rabbit hole he is willing to go. I got a laugh when he told one of the warmongers to enjoy her job with Boeing.
have you seen his 10 truths? disqualifying garbage.
I took a good look at his "X" Twitter page and I'm glad you said that. While I can't get his "10 Truths" image to enlarge enough for me to read it clearly I do see some of it and what I see = what you said "garbage"!
I am starting to think he is just another trojan in a different suit.
I "had been" a huge supporter and advocate of RFK Jr. For the first time in my life I felt he was the only person capable of saving what little is even left of this Country!
No one knows more about politics - how the game is played and where all the skeletons are buried (corruption) better than the Kennedys. He came out of the starting gate with all the right answers and solutions and then something changed, drastically! I suspect it's his wife - just a gut feeling! The work-out video was an atrocity straight out of Hollywood!
He went from being the least bit rehearsed to now, the very most! It's like listening to a broken record - every single interview is the exact same as the last! The same stories, verbatim! With all that's wrong with this Country why is he talking about the same things over and over and over?
Words that had been synonymous with his name (honesty and integrity) no longer exist! He's made to many mistakes and contradictions!
The entire focus of his campaign should be and have remained the corruption - how and why he is the only candidate who possesses the overwhelming experience (he's been suing the government for decades) and knowledge to at least staunch it! That's what had set him apart from the rest! His ability to actually accomplish it!
NOTHING ELSE matters (nor can you fulfill any promises) until you address and abolish it! I truly beleive he's vying for attorney general rather than the presidency - amassing a constituency that he will then use to barter - whoever the nominee is.
He had a great message and blew it entirely! Kucinich is the wrong person to be advising him - Obama succeeded because his campaign was completely different!
I agree with you on the way RFK has changed, and I only become aware of his campaign activity on a random basis, I don't "follow" his work.
His rhetoric and positions have been carefully calibrated to appeal to right wing populist views - I saw a recent tweet where he said there was too much focus on carbon and climate. He does similar things on border and immigration and other issues. At the end of the Tucker interview, he talked about a dinner with Pompeo and his friends. I was reminded of the Liberty League's dinner with Smedley Butler where they sought to recruit him to lead a military insurrection to coup FDR.
BUT he was never like this which is why he immediately started at 20%! He was never ever rehearsed and now? That's ALL he is. His two greatest and most prominent assets were his honesty and integrity which now comes into serious question! His rhetoric is such BS! All he does is talk about his uncle and father which NOW does come off as exploitation! He starts telling these rambling stories - that he has told relentlessly - so much so that he stumbles remembering the lines which is what has destroyed his credibility!
I have watched him from Day One and said to all he's running for POTUS and no one believed me, until he did! Why? Because I saw the change! And now I see it again - but sadly this time it's for the worse.
He had what no one else did and now, he's nothing more than a total blur amongst all the others! His claim to fame was that he had what no one else did!!!!
Obama succeeded?
He was a f*cking nightmare.
Killer, liar, corporate stooge.
If “Bobby” is another Obama, he’s my adversary, not my advocate.
Any friend of Isra-hell is no friend of mine.
If gawd wanted me to vote, he’d a give me worthy candidates. Either there is no gawd, or he’s/she’s a feckless fake. Kinda like “fake news”. Kinda like that other shameless self promoter, the big orange cheat-toe.
NO NO NO NO you missed my point! Obama's succeeded with his campaign because it was new fresh and different!
Bobby started out great - what he had no one else could compete with - honesty and integrity, intelligence, experience, knowledge and he wasn't a politician although his family was - he was never ever rehearsed - never employed platitudes.
All of that has now been eviscerated and his campaign has become like every other we've witnessed! It's has to be Kucinich that he's following the same ole same ole playbook!
He had it all and blew it! I always felt by next year at this time there would be so many deaths and injuries from these lethal injection everyone would become anti-vax which would catapult him into the WH which is why I also felt he ran but now he seems to be backing away from that as well!
Oh well . . . it was a nice dream but now I agree with everyone that he doesn't stand a chance and following him is a total waste (of my time). If he had just stuck to abolishing the corruption and educating people!!!
Ok, BJ. These office seeking conmen get me all turned around, sometimes.
I’ve kinda given up on that whole ballot thingy anyway.
Only Nader and Stein have been worth my time.
BJ, don’t be precipitous.
I think that the mask, and the vax, are gonna be back, with a vengeance, before you know it. Event 201.1. Schwab and friends aren’t satisfied with the results of the initial round of this scam.
As for them tracking devices, I’ve got one. But, I know what it is, and try to treat it accordingly.
Good to hear from you BJ.
Re: Obama
No truer words were spoken then when Bill Clinton said he's the greatest fairy tale ever told! His entire existence is a total farce! And of course his chef was murdered! Whether he saw heard or knew something or perhaps even having an affair with Obama as the
love letters to his ex-girlfriend solidified his sexual feelings for men!
The original emphasis on corporate power and regulatory capture had waned. Or has it disappeared?
Yes but that was the beauty of his campaign - not only did he bring it to light - he educated everyone how rampant it is! He was such an insider from all his years of suing the government and knowing everyone in politics because of his heritage. You had to ask yourself who else but him can talk like this? Named names of those responsible in every single agency and who he would immediately terminate! And then it just stopped and he moved on to things that can and will never change until you abolish the corruption or at least staunch it!!!
Shit happens! Minus tone and body language, it’s a fucking miracle we can communicate about anything like this. :)
I am a total asshole, btw! ;)
Unfortunately, it seems he has also sold out to the Neocon brigade.
Another single issue attack.
RFK has attacked the core Neocon issue: the military industrial complex and US Empire. Only Cornel West has even mentioned that. But yeah, he's wrong on Israel - Palestine. You sound exactly like the anti-abortion zealots.
Being "wrong on Palestine", is not a trivial matter. Bill. He is thereby complicit in apartheid and ethnic cleansing. Just because you like the sound of his domestic agenda, may I remind you that the post war British Labour government of Attlee which gave us the Welfare State, also legitimised Israel, plotted a monarchist coup in Iran, and practiced apartheid in southern Af. But hey, great domestic policies.
It is possible that he does not want to become Corbyn (but he will be Sanders in he has a real shot at winning).
I never said Palestine was trivial - it is important and major. But it is one issue and it totally contradicts his positions on military and US empire and US role in the world, so I suspect he could be doing it because the Israel lobby is so powerful in the electoral arena (but not necessarily in governing).
Well, the lesson of Corbyn is very apposite here. Corbyn and those around him, tried to mollify the zionist lobby with apologies, and vacillation.
It didn't work.
You can't appease such people. They take compromise for weakness.
Maybe I am being harsh, I am old enough to mistrust anyone named Kennedy. But I think that to fail to act principally on such a major issue reveals a weakness and lack of true commitment.
Respectfully, can’t see how I could ever sound like an anti-abortion zealot.
I am not. The opposite in fact. But my claim to fame, if any claim is needed today, is 40 years of serious / continuous advocacy for Palestine where we have an occupation which is the crime of the century with a US-sponsored criminal Israeli occupier, then a corrupted toothless United Nations and finally, a carefully manipulated hearts and flowers campaign with the old worn out themes of the holocaust and anti-semitisim being driven by the Neocon Israelis who live in America and are allowed to call themselves Americans.
Biden’s cabinet and all close associates are full of them. Where are you, Joe McCarthy, version 2023.
Until that changes, nothing else does and helpless Palestinians will keep dying every day, with grovelling US support for the 'chosen people', of course.
I do hope you can live long enough for you and the rest of the world to see the next step on the path to "Eretz israel”, Israel’s grand plan for ownership of all the land from the Euphrates River to the Nile. They have the 400 nuclear weapons to back their plan. US technology, once again.
So far, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine, neutered effectively, with Syria on the go, (US forces assisting and stealing the oil,) parts of Iraq, Saudi, a small piece of Kuwait, Egypt andTurkey.
It’s on the way, Bill. So no to anti-abortion zealot and yes, to justice for Palestine.
OK?
The truth in the puddin!
I meant that zealotry only in the context of single issue electoral thinking. For example, many religious fundamentalists with extremely conservative social values voted for Trump based exclusively on abortion, while they ignored the entire character and position of Trump that directly conflicted with their values.
You took the words right out of my mouth. Justice and liberty for Palestinians. Justice, and consequences for Isra-hell.
You, my friend, have 20/20 vision.
Bill, I suggest that you spend the year leading up to the 2024 election in Gaza, and the West Bank, before you accuse anyone of zealotry. Or, alternatively, a vacation from the internet. I see you as going on the attack against anyone who points out the defects in your candidate Kennedy.
Booby is not the messiah sent from Camelot to save us all.
Mike I've criticized RFK multiple times - I don't see him as any messiah. I blasted his pro-capitalist environmental politics over a decade ago (which at the time was his only focus), see:
http://www.wolfenotes.com/2011/02/kennedy-obama-epa-and-mountaintop-mining-the-nj-way/
It seems the Israel issue blinds people.
It is a very big issue. But if it all comes down to it if he is the "Last Man Standing" at the end of the day I would rather it was him just to rain in the MIC! It would be a good starting point and who really knows maybe he is saying all the right things because they would really trash him if he didn't? His speech on the "Censorship Committee" showed just how corrupt those people are and what they accused him of.
“… Peace is what’s normal. Justice is what’s normal. Health and harmony are what is normal. What we have now under the US empire is wildly abnormal, and it shouldn’t be permitted to misrepresent itself.…”
Well said!
All true.
Here's what I can never figure out. The minute someone points out that the WEF is the most evil form of monopolistic, propagandistic "capitalism," some people in this forum balk, and say you shouldn't even discuss the WEF.
Also, the minute someone like Dr. Jordan Peterson points out that about 1 to 4% of the population are sociopathic, and in a large society, they end up in positions of power, people say, "You shouldn't listen to Peterson."
And the minute someone points out that Trump and RFK are 100% against the U.S. proxy war against Russia because we're killing people pointlessly, and it could lead to armageddon, people say, "You shouldn't listen to them."
And when people point out that Tucker Carlson now appears 100% liberated, and he means every word he says--right or wrong, he's honest, like Tulsi Gabbard--people say, "CIA!!!" Even though he says the CIA killed JFK, Jeffery Epstein compromised our leaders, and he listens to RFK when RFK says Operation Mockingbird never went away.
All of these positions are in harmony with what Caitlin frequently writes.
Oh, well, I guess I don't read Caitlin or the comments for a perfectly congruent intellectual system. I read her because she reveals a lot of the bullshit. And some of the commenters are brilliant. Not everyone has to harmonize 100% of the time for me to learn.
Have a good day. God bless you.
One of the key things that I have noted with today's youth is that while extremely suspicious of ideological discoursed, they are passionate about individual issues involving social justice and ecological campaigns. Therein l believe lies the germ of hope. Brexit, Proxy wars Isreali apartheid, deforestation, the destruction of socialised medicine here in the UK are all things that motivate activism.
The current direct action campaigns of Palestine Action, Just Stop Oil, amongst others in the UK, have led the political classes to enact draconian legislation that effectively shuts down the right to protest. Over 100 Palestine Action actioniare either imprison or on police bail awaiting trial and facing prison sentences for their efforts in closing down arms factories. The repulsive Home Secretary, Cruella Braverman has vowed to destroy Just Stop Oil. after their interruptions of major sporting events over the summer. These heroic actionists deserve all the support we can give. The struggle will continue. There is hope out there amongst the carnage.
"...passive observers" or I might add, willing participants.
Maybe some good framework to "get people to see the horrors of the empire" with fresh eyes is to create a flag. Folks seem to love spreading those around (sadly).
Theatres of War - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww1Ik2WlW1s
When I saw the barely hidden smirk on Dubya's face as he addressed the nation in the wake of the twin towers destruction it was obvious to me that his handlers (Cheney et al) had engineered this debacle, and he was delighted that they had pulled it off. Hell, it's right there in their manifesto, the Plan for a New American Century (PNAC), along with their means for implementing it: (excerpts)
"This report proceeds from the belief that America should seek to preserve and extend its position of global leadership by maintaining the preeminence of U.S. military forces."
"...the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event, like a new Pearl Harbor."
For awhile Dumbya's plan to invade Iraq was met with dissent, peace marches, and the like. I believe that the oligarchists who authored the PNAC document neutered this opposition by installing Obama into the oval office. It was at that point that the opposition elected to take a nap which lasted 4 years and continues today. They persistently ignore (or maybe accept) the continuation of foreign invasions, domestic surveillance of the citizenry, drone bombings and torture. It is astonishing to me how quickly and completely this collective blindness took hold of the entire populace.