"In her bid to secure her confirmation as Trump’s next Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard is now pledging to support Section 702 of the FISA Act. This notorious law allows for the warrantless surveillance of Americans, and in congress Gabbard had previously fought to repeal it.
This is how the national security state works. You don’t change the machine, the machine changes you. Anyone who starts off opposing the imperial status quo of authoritarianism, warmongering and corruption either finds themselves excluded from the halls of power or adapts new positions in favor of the status quo."
Did I not say that, if the Establishment is good at nothing else, it is very good at determining who can be co-opted, whom to buy off, whom to neutralize, whom to ignore?
Those who think Trump will fight The Deep State are living in a fantasy world.
Gabbard has always been about achieving her personal political ambitions. She has no principals other than blind ambition. She wants to be president of imperialist USA.
"if the Establishment is good at nothing else, it is very good at determining who can be co-opted, whom to buy off, whom to neutralize, whom to ignore"
Agreed. Then it is certainly time to up our game -- and badly.
Limiting ourselves to the traditional methods of public discourse, protesting, voting, is at this point, uncomfortably close to nihilism.
For any revolution to succeed it must have broad support. Rightly or wrongly, in the 21st century in the West, broad socialism would be supported by half or less of the population. Just as would low-restraint capitalism.
I'd rather we clean the slate. Recognize that both Rightism (if distilled to a single word, it might well be "freedom", with focus on individual empowerment) and Leftism (I suggest likewise, "fairness", with focus on social cooperation) are finally recognized as *both* complementary essentials to a healthy society. With our continual, conscious support of rebalancing back and forth over time, we might become conscious that the Right-Left war has not been one of Goodness/Intelligence vs Evil/Stupidity, but rather a genius divide-and-conquer play.
We're soon closing in on two centuries of debate, but the tribal passions on each side have rarely been so high. Let's break out of this cage.
As it is, many have already stopped paying attention to Right-Left entirely and now consider them both phony. They've begun focusing on the real threat, totalitarianism vs democracy.
Thanks. I see good effort into this, certainly for discussion of your ideas if not some kind of project advocacy. But I need to focus on it before commenting further. Feel free to ping me if I don't respond by Feb. 1.
I see that we now have Trump's office boy, Vance, flexing his muscles about Gaza, vocally joining the ranks of all the Israel approved and appointed slaves soon to be resident with their highly paid senior responsibilities in the government of the USA, a once respected country, now a full time Zionist bag carrier.
All dancing to the tune of an American nihilist who is himself dancing to the tune of a mentally rertarded Nazi-like dictator from the controlling head office of Israel. (Alternative Head Office, Washington, USA)
How do you feel now, you decent Americans (all those subject to a corrupt voting system where Jewish money purchased the votes)? You've seen it happen and it has now become the norm. Get used to it………or do something.
It can only get worse from here. Next step...a Police State, then...............
Without Transparency, There Can Be No Democracy. Having a say in self-governance cannot exist unless the people are allowed to see the actual problems.
We need a new constitution. One 100% written and controlled by the people, using collective intelligence systems to write it.
No. i would not agree to a new constitution. you must have bumped your head or something...we need to clean house, keep 5 or 6 of the good people, start from scratch. Those 5 or 6 are the ones who care, everyone else is corrupt, bought and paid for.
I see that we now have Trump's office boy, Vance, flexing his muscles about Gaza, vocally joining the ranks of all the Israel approved and appointed slaves soon to be resident with their highly paid senior responsibilities in the government of the USA, a once respected country, now a full time Zionist bag carrier.
All dancing to the tune of an American nihilist who is himself dancing to the tune of a mentally rertarded Nazi-like dictator from the controlling head office of Israel. (Alternative Head Office, Washington, USA)
How do you feel now, you decent Americans (all those subject to a corrupt voting system where Jewish money purchased the votes)? You've seen it happen and it has now become the norm. Get used to it………or do something.
It can only get worse from here. Next step...a Police State, then...............
Not hard for me to avoid the truth about Zionism, homicidal empire America, and BS anti-Semitism (while Zionist billionaires eat everyone else's livers) because I get sad. It's rather because the anger, often the rage that festers behind my eyeballs is of the Luigi variety. It strikes me that the liars, greedocrats and murderers have no right to breathe the same atmosphere as folks I know who offer solutions based on anti-colonialism, cooperation, multipolarism, and diplomacy. Johnstone Magazine is of course among the publications proffering such ideas. Of course, it had to be silenced by the crowd who deserve only toxic sewer gases to breathe.
“He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is IMMORAL. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live among injustice without anger, you are IMMORAL, as well as UNJUST.”
—-Thomas Aquinas
I’m feeling the Luigi myself. If the feds don’t like it, I dare them to come to my door.
Sadly, we've already had an experiment to see how many people would rise up, and the results were disappointingly sheepish. The greatest foe of an uprising is not military force but rather the sheep.
Gypsy, I repeat a warning to be careful and at the same time sense that I deal with the same internal conflicts that you do.
We are indoctrinated/brainwashed into supporting our societal institutions, and a big part of that is to obey the law because law is the only rational way to keep order in society and also that no one is above the law.
But we know especially now that the "order" of society is a rigged system that maintains an invinceable power structure and that the people at the head of that structure are literally above the law.
So what can we do? We have been lied to. Doesn't such dishonesty invalidate our contract to abide by social rules?
I recently saw again the movie, "The Day the Earth Stood Still," and the Spaceman explained that their advanced worlds set up an army of robots that patrol the universe in spaceships with world-destroying power and these robots destroy "the aggressors." This system we are told is entirely successful. Is there a message here for us?
Another example is the movie "Carrie," which I didn't see, but I believe describes a young girl with the power to destroy whomever she wants just by thinking it. Is there a clue here for us?
I think you'd agree that if for some reason the Mangione Syndrome became fashionable, all kinds of people would use it, including both Numbskulls and the Righteous. Would one win over the other or would everything come toppling down? I'm sure some people would like to see it all topple down on all our heads.
Putting all this together, I think it behooves us to talk about this as much as possible because the underlying dissatisfaction of increasing numbers of people can have more than one way to burst forth. Some will be "better" than others. We may be able to identify the latter if we openly talk about it in a way that doesn't get us in jail.
Well, RB, I have yet to experience jail time. That might be something I should do before I croak off. Might even be like a vacation compared to my daily life.
Vin. I used to get so sad but I am now getting more and more angry...............I go outside with my dog and scream my head off he often joins in howling. I think he thinks it's a new game!
Although I tend to do my screaming in the shower, Jenny, part of my anger release is also singing at the top of my lungs. In addition to classic antiwar anthems like Down by the Riverside, I like anti-politician stuff like Stevie Wonder's You Haven't Done Nothin'.
4th street is one of those anthems. "I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes, and just for that one moment I could be you . . . you'd know what a drag it is to see you". Should be bellowed into the face of every Western neoliberal politician.
My go-to song for when I’m feeling hopeless and depressed is Stevie Wonder’s “A Place in the Sun”. On a more upbeat note, the other is “It’s All Right” by the Impressions. ( World’s #1
Motown fan here!)
My favorite Antiwar song is and will always be the “Feels Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag” by Country Joe MacDonald.
I empathize. Where is John Wick (or Dexter) when you need them? I seriously think we are at the stage where we need someone like Dexter to take out the billionaire trash on the planet. Dexter would be saving humanity in the process (and also the planet).
Love this post and agree 100%. Feeling feelings all the way through leads to true emotional/mental liberation. I’ve seen and learned a lot these past 15 months and I have never felt more sad and free at the same time. You don’t go back to seeing the world in the same light and that is truly a wonderful feeling.
I have found ways around their algorithms and get a few licks in.
There are so many Mainstream Alternative Media sites out there that are Neocon, Zionist and stupid. Go after them and get some licks in too. I try to be diplomatic and try to change minds. I tell them I was once like them which in my case is true.
Longtrail, I notice that the comment section of MSN is extremely authoritarian. Especially concernint most all the articles on Israel. There are uncountable Jews and supporters who bad mouth the Palestinians in the most hurtful ways they could muster by outright lying, but even the slightest mention of truthful perspectives about Israel are blocked.
Many of the news corporations are owned by Zionist oligarchs.
Others are managed by Zionists like CNN. They have a plan and have been executing it for decades. One of their greatest fears is AIPAC🇺🇸🇮🇱.
AIPAC🇺🇸🇮🇱 is the most powerful and influential lobby in DC and controls Congress hence the government. Consider Biden's Zionist Cabinet and Chiefs of Staff who actually ran the government. The Trump Administration will be no different.
It just might be the magnificent portrait of Mangione on the front cover Caitlin. I honestly think the ‘State’ and its acolytes are gobsmacked by the impact and support that Mangione has - not for the taking of a life - but of brutally showing the whole world what a shit healthcare system the US - richest country in the world, has. They’d like any ongoing debate about their rip off system shut down - don’t need an article to do so - just his face.
And it’s not just the health care system. It’s EVERYONE who has control over our lives, including the politicians who take our tax dollars to fund a genocide!
I'm a little wary of the Mangione story. Clearly he's tapped into something but theres a lot of elements that smell off, like the fact that he comes from an incredibly wealthy family and would undoubtedly have had access to top notch private healthcare, his 3 paragraph 'manifesto' and the way the MSM have embraced his 'folk hero' status. Matt Taibbi and Walter Kirn broke it down in a couple of podcasts, worth listening to; https://www.racket.news/p/america-this-week-dec-13-2024-assassination
Just because Luigi comes from a wealthy family and can afford healthcare does not mean that he can’t be outraged at our society’s grotesque unfairness.
May there be many more willing to make the sacrifice that Luigi did.
Let's also not forget that although murdering healthcare CEOs might be good for a laugh and a quick burst of moral satisfaction it acheives absolutely nothing in the long run, Brian Thompson was an easily replacable cog in a machine that couldn't care less whether he lives or dies.
Of course and it's worth remembering that revolutionaries often come from the upper echelons (Che, Marx etc) but it also pays to keep our eyes open, the propaganda machine we are up against is incredibly sophisticated and uses all sorts of limited hangouts and clever misdirections to stay in power, QAnon for example...
"I have come to be very dismissive of such notions. It’s a pervasive myth in our society that you have to choose between being happy and being informed. You don’t. In fact, it’s impossible to be truly happy if you are turning away from truth in any way at all."
- quotable quote from Caitlin Johnstone and I predict it will be one of the quotes of 2025.
In relation to this theme, I attended a middle class humanitarian group meet last weekend and was almost frog marched out by the host when I argued with a self-professed expert who proclaimed 'it's all the fault of Hamas.'
So Palestinians slaughtered themselves did they? I'm sick of the crap and nonsense.
I was told by the host that I 'disrespected her house'. The mansplainer I argued with was her husband (one of those men who looks a woman down and up before meeting her eyes).
On the doorstep, which the humanitarian-for-genociders had ushered me towards, I asked if she knew any people who had lost family members in Gaza. When she gaped and failed to respond, I snapped 'Well, I do.'
But even if I did not I will never forget seeing the burning man in that tent. I will never forget the journalists and aid workers who have been killed, the children, the people with disabilities, the grandparents, the mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, friends, and lovers.
Why do those who claim to care say it is all too much for them? Well because they want to climb the ladder. The upper class power brokers benefit from Empire, the Middle Class wants to play pretend so it can climb the ladder too.
Hide and seek is a game played with the truth.
Finally Amnesty International has come out stating this is a genocide. Well, the humanitarian groups all need to recognise that oppression produces freedom fighters. Some of those freedom organisations might not be what those - in their comfortable little lock-up-and-leave-homes - would choose but they haven't lost their land and their kids aren't imprisoned for throwing stones.
Apartheid is a policy of exclusion, isolation, and turning indigenous people into slaves and servants or appeasers - if they are permitted to remain on their land.
The elderly woman I had taken to this conservative gig has a Palestinian daughter-in-law. She did not think it is 'all the fault of Hamas'. But was she heard? No. Sheez! We were just about to drive off when an elderly man came running down the road towards me. Here we go. I wound down my window.
'I want to thank you for your passion - which is sorely needed,' he said.
Well, thank you. Elderly flower power people are marching at rallies, out with their zimmer frames and home-made placards. The young are marching.
The conservative liberals pat themselves on the back for 'being humanitarian'. They are not humanitarian. They are hypocritters in the face of genocide.
PS this is probably a simplistic analysis of the reason but I see those who want to be rich cowering and pandering to the rich rather than looking down the ladder at those who are oppressed by Empire.
PPS Amazon hates you for sticking up for Palestinian children, women and men who are being exterminated. It's a sign you are a truth teller.
👏👏 Especially loved this bit of raw truth >>"Why do those who claim to care say it is all too much for them? Well because they want to climb the ladder. The upper class power brokers benefit from Empire, the Middle Class wants to play pretend so it can climb the ladder too."
Not sure if it applies, but Jimmy Dore always says “if you are upset at someone lower on the economic ladder than you, it’s because you are being manipulated by someone higher up the ladder than you”
Yes! It's cleansing and healing to stay away. Being around such people is harmful. Good on you for saying that is not what you need in your life. The world does not need apologists for greed and domination. It needs the reverse.
I prefer the company of other-than-humans and always have; that includes trees and flowers as well. I have eight wonderful kitties, all rescued from our rural neighborhood. I miss my horse terribly; she was my best friend.
I can so understand that. I am so deeply for your loss.
I have always dreamed up horses though I know now I will never belong to one in a non spiritual sense.
My dear mother-in-law died last year just after she had plodded out - she was a staunch protester against genocide - to pat a horse. The horse and Anne had this connection, and then she died. It was sudden. But I feel that horse came for her, there was something gentle about it, they are conduits these creatures.
The only kind of after-this-life field I can imagine is the kind C.S Lewis counted on - where all our dear friends are romping around and I can one day romp with them again.
Who owns Amazon...or, better yet, who owns most of the largest corporations, MSM, the entertainment industries (sports, Hollywood, porn, etc.) including the bought and paid for USG? To find out who rules over you just determine who it is that you can't criticize or maybe who gets away with genocide?
Awesome thread. I needed this. My heart is so heavy right now 💔. Where are you publishing that Amazon censors you? I expect nothing less from Amazon. Let’s not forget they ruined the social media app Parlor.
They also ruined small scale, "mom and pop" businesses of all kinds, starting with independent bookstores and proceeding to everything else. Worse than Walmart. Bezos, Musk, Gates, all billionaires--they're all the same.
Glad to see you included Gates. Many people do not include him in the list of hateful, anti-human, scum, probably because he cosied up to Obama and does "philanthropic" work around the world (all for the purpose of making more money and gaining more power).
Obviously Gates follows the idea that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar strategy. In the animal world he would be a pitcher plant. His evil knows no end.
I loved this essay, Caitlin. I needed to hear it as I am pretty much on overload and sometimes feeling pretty depressed about the genocide of the Palestinians. It seems like no one really cares.
I always tell my grandchildren that life is the only game in town. Learn to enjoy it. If we don't take the time to smell the roses or admire a breath taking sunset we will fall into apathy. By all means be aware of all the evil in this world but also be aware of how wonderful and magical life is. Peace to you all.
"In her bid to secure her confirmation as Trump’s next Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard is now pledging to support Section 702 of the FISA Act. This notorious law allows for the warrantless surveillance of Americans, and in congress Gabbard had previously fought to repeal it.
This is how the national security state works. You don’t change the machine, the machine changes you. Anyone who starts off opposing the imperial status quo of authoritarianism, warmongering and corruption either finds themselves excluded from the halls of power or adapts new positions in favor of the status quo."
Did I not say that, if the Establishment is good at nothing else, it is very good at determining who can be co-opted, whom to buy off, whom to neutralize, whom to ignore?
Those who think Trump will fight The Deep State are living in a fantasy world.
Gabbard has always been about achieving her personal political ambitions. She has no principals other than blind ambition. She wants to be president of imperialist USA.
Very unusual for a politician.
But she can probably spell "principles."
Blame spelling correction, thanks for the constructive criticism!
"if the Establishment is good at nothing else, it is very good at determining who can be co-opted, whom to buy off, whom to neutralize, whom to ignore"
Agreed. Then it is certainly time to up our game -- and badly.
Limiting ourselves to the traditional methods of public discourse, protesting, voting, is at this point, uncomfortably close to nihilism.
This is why I am a socialist and support the Socialist Equality Party. Revolution is needed badly to cleanse the planet of Capitalism's poison.
For any revolution to succeed it must have broad support. Rightly or wrongly, in the 21st century in the West, broad socialism would be supported by half or less of the population. Just as would low-restraint capitalism.
I'd rather we clean the slate. Recognize that both Rightism (if distilled to a single word, it might well be "freedom", with focus on individual empowerment) and Leftism (I suggest likewise, "fairness", with focus on social cooperation) are finally recognized as *both* complementary essentials to a healthy society. With our continual, conscious support of rebalancing back and forth over time, we might become conscious that the Right-Left war has not been one of Goodness/Intelligence vs Evil/Stupidity, but rather a genius divide-and-conquer play.
We're soon closing in on two centuries of debate, but the tribal passions on each side have rarely been so high. Let's break out of this cage.
As it is, many have already stopped paying attention to Right-Left entirely and now consider them both phony. They've begun focusing on the real threat, totalitarianism vs democracy.
How about like this @anti-hip
We need a new constitution and system to enforce it. One 100% written and controlled by the people, using collective intelligence systems to write it.
Would you agree to this?
https://joshketry.substack.com/p/without-transparency-there-can-be
Thanks. I see good effort into this, certainly for discussion of your ideas if not some kind of project advocacy. But I need to focus on it before commenting further. Feel free to ping me if I don't respond by Feb. 1.
How very true, Feral.
I see that we now have Trump's office boy, Vance, flexing his muscles about Gaza, vocally joining the ranks of all the Israel approved and appointed slaves soon to be resident with their highly paid senior responsibilities in the government of the USA, a once respected country, now a full time Zionist bag carrier.
All dancing to the tune of an American nihilist who is himself dancing to the tune of a mentally rertarded Nazi-like dictator from the controlling head office of Israel. (Alternative Head Office, Washington, USA)
How do you feel now, you decent Americans (all those subject to a corrupt voting system where Jewish money purchased the votes)? You've seen it happen and it has now become the norm. Get used to it………or do something.
It can only get worse from here. Next step...a Police State, then...............
END of EMPIRE
Without Transparency, There Can Be No Democracy. Having a say in self-governance cannot exist unless the people are allowed to see the actual problems.
We need a new constitution. One 100% written and controlled by the people, using collective intelligence systems to write it.
Would you agree to this?
https://joshketry.substack.com/p/without-transparency-there-can-be
No. i would not agree to a new constitution. you must have bumped your head or something...we need to clean house, keep 5 or 6 of the good people, start from scratch. Those 5 or 6 are the ones who care, everyone else is corrupt, bought and paid for.
How very true, Feral.
I see that we now have Trump's office boy, Vance, flexing his muscles about Gaza, vocally joining the ranks of all the Israel approved and appointed slaves soon to be resident with their highly paid senior responsibilities in the government of the USA, a once respected country, now a full time Zionist bag carrier.
All dancing to the tune of an American nihilist who is himself dancing to the tune of a mentally rertarded Nazi-like dictator from the controlling head office of Israel. (Alternative Head Office, Washington, USA)
How do you feel now, you decent Americans (all those subject to a corrupt voting system where Jewish money purchased the votes)? You've seen it happen and it has now become the norm. Get used to it………or do something.
It can only get worse from here. Next step...a Police State, then...............
END of EMPIRE
Well, damn, that sure seems to run counter to the "I am completely informed and unabashedly honest and observant, and thus, I am a happy clam."
https://secularheretic.substack.com/p/a-forensics-examination-of-video
Not hard for me to avoid the truth about Zionism, homicidal empire America, and BS anti-Semitism (while Zionist billionaires eat everyone else's livers) because I get sad. It's rather because the anger, often the rage that festers behind my eyeballs is of the Luigi variety. It strikes me that the liars, greedocrats and murderers have no right to breathe the same atmosphere as folks I know who offer solutions based on anti-colonialism, cooperation, multipolarism, and diplomacy. Johnstone Magazine is of course among the publications proffering such ideas. Of course, it had to be silenced by the crowd who deserve only toxic sewer gases to breathe.
Hi Vin, are you familiar with this quote?
“He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is IMMORAL. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live among injustice without anger, you are IMMORAL, as well as UNJUST.”
—-Thomas Aquinas
I’m feeling the Luigi myself. If the feds don’t like it, I dare them to come to my door.
The ultra-corrupt alphabet agency feds showing up at one's door, gypsy, would be the ultimate validation of one's ethical standards, no?
I thought Tulsi Gabbard was being followed for some time....that should have made her angry?
Excellent quote.
Just be careful Gypsy.
Sadly, we've already had an experiment to see how many people would rise up, and the results were disappointingly sheepish. The greatest foe of an uprising is not military force but rather the sheep.
Brent, wherever you are, I’m right behind ya.
Gypsy, I repeat a warning to be careful and at the same time sense that I deal with the same internal conflicts that you do.
We are indoctrinated/brainwashed into supporting our societal institutions, and a big part of that is to obey the law because law is the only rational way to keep order in society and also that no one is above the law.
But we know especially now that the "order" of society is a rigged system that maintains an invinceable power structure and that the people at the head of that structure are literally above the law.
So what can we do? We have been lied to. Doesn't such dishonesty invalidate our contract to abide by social rules?
I recently saw again the movie, "The Day the Earth Stood Still," and the Spaceman explained that their advanced worlds set up an army of robots that patrol the universe in spaceships with world-destroying power and these robots destroy "the aggressors." This system we are told is entirely successful. Is there a message here for us?
Another example is the movie "Carrie," which I didn't see, but I believe describes a young girl with the power to destroy whomever she wants just by thinking it. Is there a clue here for us?
I think you'd agree that if for some reason the Mangione Syndrome became fashionable, all kinds of people would use it, including both Numbskulls and the Righteous. Would one win over the other or would everything come toppling down? I'm sure some people would like to see it all topple down on all our heads.
Putting all this together, I think it behooves us to talk about this as much as possible because the underlying dissatisfaction of increasing numbers of people can have more than one way to burst forth. Some will be "better" than others. We may be able to identify the latter if we openly talk about it in a way that doesn't get us in jail.
"I'm sure some people would like to see it all topple down on all our heads."
I supected that a lot of people voted for Trump in the hopes that he would Burn It All Down.
This is not an irrational reaction to a system rigged and not in your favor.
Per earlier gypsy’s remarks she’s no stranger to the law. The LEOs probably just chuckle at the hysterics while keeping a casual eye.
Well, RB, I have yet to experience jail time. That might be something I should do before I croak off. Might even be like a vacation compared to my daily life.
Good luck. Just don't hurt anyone arranging for that. There are plenty ways to get there without violence.
Thanks Jim!
Vin. I used to get so sad but I am now getting more and more angry...............I go outside with my dog and scream my head off he often joins in howling. I think he thinks it's a new game!
Had some weird looks but I don't care.
Although I tend to do my screaming in the shower, Jenny, part of my anger release is also singing at the top of my lungs. In addition to classic antiwar anthems like Down by the Riverside, I like anti-politician stuff like Stevie Wonder's You Haven't Done Nothin'.
Maybe listen to some Jesse Welles
(War isn't murder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E9l_i6HPYM)
or Carsie Blanton
(Rich People https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD_eZg70Ms0)
Sorry for the youtube links, you can also find them on Spotify.
Jesse I know, but Carsie's a new one, thanks. Digging both the lyrics and her delivery in the relatively bare-bones musical style with standup bass.
NOONE on this earth would want to hear me sing..........better for me to scream.
"Positively 4th Street" Bob Dylan. Very full of almost sarcastic anger. I listen to it over and over again.
NOT a Stevie Wonder fan.
4th street is one of those anthems. "I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes, and just for that one moment I could be you . . . you'd know what a drag it is to see you". Should be bellowed into the face of every Western neoliberal politician.
Let's do it!
Hi Jenny
My go-to song for when I’m feeling hopeless and depressed is Stevie Wonder’s “A Place in the Sun”. On a more upbeat note, the other is “It’s All Right” by the Impressions. ( World’s #1
Motown fan here!)
My favorite Antiwar song is and will always be the “Feels Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag” by Country Joe MacDonald.
I like both Stevie Wonder and Bob Dylan, however It's "Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding," has got it all for me. Example,
"He that sings in society's choir
Seeks not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole that he's in."
Or
"Money doesn't talk it swears."
Probably I've quoted from this song more than anything else, but he's written many more gems in multiple songs for the ages:
"It's just a shadow
You're seeing
That he's chasing."
"Ah, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now."
I think that our Library of DISCS/Books is now worth a fortune.
Would not sell these at anytime.
What my Grandkids do with this Library is up to them. I will be dead and so will BOB.
ONE of the greatest Poets/Singers in the world. WHO now pays attention.
One of the best comments DYLAN mentioned: I am a flawed man!
💯👍 Vin LoPresti, I share your sentiments completely!
Thanks for the affirmation CC, the anger's tough sometimes.
I empathize. Where is John Wick (or Dexter) when you need them? I seriously think we are at the stage where we need someone like Dexter to take out the billionaire trash on the planet. Dexter would be saving humanity in the process (and also the planet).
Apropos your festering sub-ocular anger, I'm surprised someone hasn't opened the market in 'I am Luigi' t-shirts. I think many share your rage.
It is indeed somewhat surprising given the miasma of entrepreneurship that hovers over the society.
Love this post and agree 100%. Feeling feelings all the way through leads to true emotional/mental liberation. I’ve seen and learned a lot these past 15 months and I have never felt more sad and free at the same time. You don’t go back to seeing the world in the same light and that is truly a wonderful feeling.
X is suppressing my posts about donating to Palestine and Yemen.
Why is anyone on X?
I have found ways around their algorithms and get a few licks in.
There are so many Mainstream Alternative Media sites out there that are Neocon, Zionist and stupid. Go after them and get some licks in too. I try to be diplomatic and try to change minds. I tell them I was once like them which in my case is true.
Just not interested.....I really dislike Musk.
If you're unfamiliar with Weyland Corporation see the science fiction movie Prometheus. It's pretty good.
Ooh. Sounds good.
I'm with you on that. He's a very creepy dude. He reminds me of Weyland of Weyland Corporation, Making Better World's from the Alien Franchise.
"Mainstream Alternative Media"? Is that like somewhat pregnant or a good war?
Longtrail, I notice that the comment section of MSN is extremely authoritarian. Especially concernint most all the articles on Israel. There are uncountable Jews and supporters who bad mouth the Palestinians in the most hurtful ways they could muster by outright lying, but even the slightest mention of truthful perspectives about Israel are blocked.
Many of the news corporations are owned by Zionist oligarchs.
Others are managed by Zionists like CNN. They have a plan and have been executing it for decades. One of their greatest fears is AIPAC🇺🇸🇮🇱.
AIPAC🇺🇸🇮🇱 is the most powerful and influential lobby in DC and controls Congress hence the government. Consider Biden's Zionist Cabinet and Chiefs of Staff who actually ran the government. The Trump Administration will be no different.
That is a badge of honor that brown nosed bezos is offended! Keep up the wonderful work.
Deleted... No , delete them. Israel is a Terrorist State.
Love it, Chuck! DELETE ISRAHELL! 😁
It just might be the magnificent portrait of Mangione on the front cover Caitlin. I honestly think the ‘State’ and its acolytes are gobsmacked by the impact and support that Mangione has - not for the taking of a life - but of brutally showing the whole world what a shit healthcare system the US - richest country in the world, has. They’d like any ongoing debate about their rip off system shut down - don’t need an article to do so - just his face.
Hi Judy
And it’s not just the health care system. It’s EVERYONE who has control over our lives, including the politicians who take our tax dollars to fund a genocide!
I'm a little wary of the Mangione story. Clearly he's tapped into something but theres a lot of elements that smell off, like the fact that he comes from an incredibly wealthy family and would undoubtedly have had access to top notch private healthcare, his 3 paragraph 'manifesto' and the way the MSM have embraced his 'folk hero' status. Matt Taibbi and Walter Kirn broke it down in a couple of podcasts, worth listening to; https://www.racket.news/p/america-this-week-dec-13-2024-assassination
Sam,
Just because Luigi comes from a wealthy family and can afford healthcare does not mean that he can’t be outraged at our society’s grotesque unfairness.
May there be many more willing to make the sacrifice that Luigi did.
Let's also not forget that although murdering healthcare CEOs might be good for a laugh and a quick burst of moral satisfaction it acheives absolutely nothing in the long run, Brian Thompson was an easily replacable cog in a machine that couldn't care less whether he lives or dies.
Of course and it's worth remembering that revolutionaries often come from the upper echelons (Che, Marx etc) but it also pays to keep our eyes open, the propaganda machine we are up against is incredibly sophisticated and uses all sorts of limited hangouts and clever misdirections to stay in power, QAnon for example...
Thanks Sam
I will continue to avoid buying anything from Amazon. What a scuzzy company.
"I have come to be very dismissive of such notions. It’s a pervasive myth in our society that you have to choose between being happy and being informed. You don’t. In fact, it’s impossible to be truly happy if you are turning away from truth in any way at all."
- quotable quote from Caitlin Johnstone and I predict it will be one of the quotes of 2025.
In relation to this theme, I attended a middle class humanitarian group meet last weekend and was almost frog marched out by the host when I argued with a self-professed expert who proclaimed 'it's all the fault of Hamas.'
So Palestinians slaughtered themselves did they? I'm sick of the crap and nonsense.
I was told by the host that I 'disrespected her house'. The mansplainer I argued with was her husband (one of those men who looks a woman down and up before meeting her eyes).
On the doorstep, which the humanitarian-for-genociders had ushered me towards, I asked if she knew any people who had lost family members in Gaza. When she gaped and failed to respond, I snapped 'Well, I do.'
But even if I did not I will never forget seeing the burning man in that tent. I will never forget the journalists and aid workers who have been killed, the children, the people with disabilities, the grandparents, the mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, friends, and lovers.
Why do those who claim to care say it is all too much for them? Well because they want to climb the ladder. The upper class power brokers benefit from Empire, the Middle Class wants to play pretend so it can climb the ladder too.
Hide and seek is a game played with the truth.
Finally Amnesty International has come out stating this is a genocide. Well, the humanitarian groups all need to recognise that oppression produces freedom fighters. Some of those freedom organisations might not be what those - in their comfortable little lock-up-and-leave-homes - would choose but they haven't lost their land and their kids aren't imprisoned for throwing stones.
Apartheid is a policy of exclusion, isolation, and turning indigenous people into slaves and servants or appeasers - if they are permitted to remain on their land.
The elderly woman I had taken to this conservative gig has a Palestinian daughter-in-law. She did not think it is 'all the fault of Hamas'. But was she heard? No. Sheez! We were just about to drive off when an elderly man came running down the road towards me. Here we go. I wound down my window.
'I want to thank you for your passion - which is sorely needed,' he said.
Well, thank you. Elderly flower power people are marching at rallies, out with their zimmer frames and home-made placards. The young are marching.
The conservative liberals pat themselves on the back for 'being humanitarian'. They are not humanitarian. They are hypocritters in the face of genocide.
PS this is probably a simplistic analysis of the reason but I see those who want to be rich cowering and pandering to the rich rather than looking down the ladder at those who are oppressed by Empire.
PPS Amazon hates you for sticking up for Palestinian children, women and men who are being exterminated. It's a sign you are a truth teller.
👏👏 Especially loved this bit of raw truth >>"Why do those who claim to care say it is all too much for them? Well because they want to climb the ladder. The upper class power brokers benefit from Empire, the Middle Class wants to play pretend so it can climb the ladder too."
Thank you!
Not sure if it applies, but Jimmy Dore always says “if you are upset at someone lower on the economic ladder than you, it’s because you are being manipulated by someone higher up the ladder than you”
Thank you so much. It is so good to meet and engage with others in this struggle.
Great job you did there Saige! I’m so proud of you, I can’t even say!
🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
Oh thanks so much dear gypsy. I'm proud of all of us raging against the dying of the lights. We owe it to those who can no longer do so.
Hi Saige ( beautiful name!)
I have cut ties with most of my husband’s family because of this, as well as a longtime friend. And know what? I don’t miss them a bit! 😁
Yes! It's cleansing and healing to stay away. Being around such people is harmful. Good on you for saying that is not what you need in your life. The world does not need apologists for greed and domination. It needs the reverse.
Hi Saige
I prefer the company of other-than-humans and always have; that includes trees and flowers as well. I have eight wonderful kitties, all rescued from our rural neighborhood. I miss my horse terribly; she was my best friend.
I can so understand that. I am so deeply for your loss.
I have always dreamed up horses though I know now I will never belong to one in a non spiritual sense.
My dear mother-in-law died last year just after she had plodded out - she was a staunch protester against genocide - to pat a horse. The horse and Anne had this connection, and then she died. It was sudden. But I feel that horse came for her, there was something gentle about it, they are conduits these creatures.
The only kind of after-this-life field I can imagine is the kind C.S Lewis counted on - where all our dear friends are romping around and I can one day romp with them again.
Damn good post!
In Los Angeles, California, $238,666,273 to Israel's weapons could instead fund:
149,634 Households with one month's free rent
https://www.notmytaxdollars.org/
Who owns Amazon...or, better yet, who owns most of the largest corporations, MSM, the entertainment industries (sports, Hollywood, porn, etc.) including the bought and paid for USG? To find out who rules over you just determine who it is that you can't criticize or maybe who gets away with genocide?
Come on, post the link where it says Bezos is Jewish.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-bezos-steps-down-amazon-to-get-new-jewish-ceo/
"Who owns Amazon..." - CEOs own companies?
Awesome thread. I needed this. My heart is so heavy right now 💔. Where are you publishing that Amazon censors you? I expect nothing less from Amazon. Let’s not forget they ruined the social media app Parlor.
They also ruined small scale, "mom and pop" businesses of all kinds, starting with independent bookstores and proceeding to everything else. Worse than Walmart. Bezos, Musk, Gates, all billionaires--they're all the same.
Glad to see you included Gates. Many people do not include him in the list of hateful, anti-human, scum, probably because he cosied up to Obama and does "philanthropic" work around the world (all for the purpose of making more money and gaining more power).
Obviously Gates follows the idea that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar strategy. In the animal world he would be a pitcher plant. His evil knows no end.
Bezos and Musk are arguably worse. Although I don't know how anyone can correctly adjudicate on this matter. They're all horrorshow.
Zionist Amazon needs to be boycotted by everyone.
I loved this essay, Caitlin. I needed to hear it as I am pretty much on overload and sometimes feeling pretty depressed about the genocide of the Palestinians. It seems like no one really cares.
I always tell my grandchildren that life is the only game in town. Learn to enjoy it. If we don't take the time to smell the roses or admire a breath taking sunset we will fall into apathy. By all means be aware of all the evil in this world but also be aware of how wonderful and magical life is. Peace to you all.
Wonderfully said Peter Sawchuk, thank you!