Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley): The consistently insightful Branko Marcetic has a new article out with Jacobin titled "After the Ukraine Documents Leak, Mainstream Media Is Missing the Story" about the way imperial narrative managers have been manipulating the discourse about the information released in the Pentagon leaks by Jack Teixeira.
That the common trope, "If you have nothing to hide, you wouldn't object to surveillance" is only applied to the common folk, and never to the powerful, is just another jaw-dropping double-standard that has always defined imperial Western civilization. That today's commoners of every political stripe don't recognize double standards even when they're drowning in them is testament to the power of mass propaganda.
Bull's-eye, Caitlin! . . . Abundant thanks to you and to Branko Marcetic. Thank you for sharing this with those of us who might have missed it otherwise.
The average American is so brainwashed they have no idea of the propaganda mind games the media is using.
The government jumps from one exclusive to the next I guess they must rather enjoy it.
However, there is one thing that the media and the 4th branch of government have absolutely no control over; they can misdirect, confuse and lie about it but they can’t stop the collapse.
The warmongers can start conflicts all over the globe as they loose control but the world will not be contained any longer by the petro dollar.
Democracy is founded on open government, and a government responsive to the public or "We The People". You can't call the US a democracy anymore. It is no longer open or responsible toward its US citizens. What exists now is inverted Totalitarianism.
What’s really bizarre is (if we’re to believe the narrative) that this dude - unlike snowden or manning - leaked information for social clout rather than out of the desire to be a whistleblower.
The Jacobin piece linked to a WaPo April 10 story that said:
"The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which appears to have produced the leaked document, declined to comment, as did the National Security Council."
That DNI origin and possible leak source has disappeared from the news.
I've watched videos of experts who claim that is is physically impossible for the alleged leaker to have access to some of the documents that were leaked, because they are internal CIA documents that are not accessible to Pentagon and others, except for DNI.
The best analysis I've seen of the leak source and motives is at Naked Capitalism:
The most plausible theory is that this is a US national security state leak designed to serve 2 purposes: 1) support passage of the RESTRICT Act, and 2) take down Biden.
This could be the second shoe dropping in the take down Biden campaign, the first being Sy Hersh's Nord Steam sabotage. The third could be Hersh's story of corruption.
•“GENERAL! SHOULD NEW YORK TIMES REPORTERS JUST BE GIVEN BADGES AND SIDE ARMS, SO THEY CAN HANDLE THE ARREST WHILE POLICE AND FEDS FILM THEM IN FUTURE?"
• "GENERAL, GENERAL! SHOULD JOURNALISTS BE ALLOWED IN PRESS BRIEFINGS AT ALL, AND WHY HAVEN'T YOU ARRESTED US ALREADY!"
• "SIR, SIR, FOLLOW UP: WILL YOU BE ARRESTING US NOW, IF NOT WHY NOT AND WHAT STEPS ARE YOU TAKING TO ENSURE THE PUBLIC DOESNT GET IN THE WAY OF UNFETTERED CAPITAL AND GVT CORRUPTION GOING FWD?"
• "SIR, OVER HERE! COULDNT YOU MAKE A PROGRAM WHICH DELETES EACH LETTER AS WE TYPE IT, AND WHY HAVENT YOU? WHO IS TO BLAME? AND SHOULDNT I BE IMPRISIONED FOR REPORTING ON IT?" _JC
"The amount of power you have should be inversely proportional to the amount of secrecy you're allowed."
Yeah which makes it sort of weird that there are ~0 positive branding programs a la non-GMO food etc. for politicians. They could in theory sign binding non-compete contracts with arbitrators (like what big pharma requires of their employees) and the revolving door with e.g. the defense industry would shut immediately. But it doesn't happen, because there's no real political competition. https://rangevoting.org
I think you could safely say the US has the most draconian prison system on the planet, even if "prison system" is restricted to the domestic scene: the figures don't lie, or no one is challenging them: the highest rate of incarceration, and the highest absolute figures. But when you add on foreign policy, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and dozens of drop off centres where torture is outsourced, like the civilized country of Sweden, then there is no counter argument whatever. And competitors don't make pious claims about human rights, as does the US. As for leaking Top Secret Info, it's a matter of principle: "Here come da judge, here come da deciders- so don't fuck with us." It's a bizarre take on "freedom and democracy," all right.
The first casualty of war is the truth...and the US govt is *always* at war, so...deception is a feature, not a bug.
Note how the MSM now does the spooks' dirty work for them.
Pretend that the WaPo or NYT were to receive The Pentagon Papers today. How they would respond is left as an exercise for the reader.
That the common trope, "If you have nothing to hide, you wouldn't object to surveillance" is only applied to the common folk, and never to the powerful, is just another jaw-dropping double-standard that has always defined imperial Western civilization. That today's commoners of every political stripe don't recognize double standards even when they're drowning in them is testament to the power of mass propaganda.
"Slashing government secrecy" is core to getting ourselves out of this massive black hole we are continuously being sucked further into.
Bull's-eye, Caitlin! . . . Abundant thanks to you and to Branko Marcetic. Thank you for sharing this with those of us who might have missed it otherwise.
Sun-Tzu’s maxim about deceiving the enemy shows who the US thinks one of its enemies is--its own citizens!
Yep, you got it... all true.
And as the water circles the drain
The average American is so brainwashed they have no idea of the propaganda mind games the media is using.
The government jumps from one exclusive to the next I guess they must rather enjoy it.
However, there is one thing that the media and the 4th branch of government have absolutely no control over; they can misdirect, confuse and lie about it but they can’t stop the collapse.
The warmongers can start conflicts all over the globe as they loose control but the world will not be contained any longer by the petro dollar.
Democracy is founded on open government, and a government responsive to the public or "We The People". You can't call the US a democracy anymore. It is no longer open or responsible toward its US citizens. What exists now is inverted Totalitarianism.
💯 “Transparency for the powerful, privacy for the powerless” ought to be the way of things—so how do we make it a reality?
What’s really bizarre is (if we’re to believe the narrative) that this dude - unlike snowden or manning - leaked information for social clout rather than out of the desire to be a whistleblower.
The Jacobin piece linked to a WaPo April 10 story that said:
"The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which appears to have produced the leaked document, declined to comment, as did the National Security Council."
That DNI origin and possible leak source has disappeared from the news.
I've watched videos of experts who claim that is is physically impossible for the alleged leaker to have access to some of the documents that were leaked, because they are internal CIA documents that are not accessible to Pentagon and others, except for DNI.
The best analysis I've seen of the leak source and motives is at Naked Capitalism:
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/04/larry-johnson-and-other-former-insiders-debunk-air-guardsman-as-pentagon-leaker-story-as-press-cheers-arrest.html#comment-3875630
The most plausible theory is that this is a US national security state leak designed to serve 2 purposes: 1) support passage of the RESTRICT Act, and 2) take down Biden.
This could be the second shoe dropping in the take down Biden campaign, the first being Sy Hersh's Nord Steam sabotage. The third could be Hersh's story of corruption.
You are far more noble than I Caitlin because if I found that Genie there would be a whole slew of people who would just disappear!
•“GENERAL! SHOULD NEW YORK TIMES REPORTERS JUST BE GIVEN BADGES AND SIDE ARMS, SO THEY CAN HANDLE THE ARREST WHILE POLICE AND FEDS FILM THEM IN FUTURE?"
• "GENERAL, GENERAL! SHOULD JOURNALISTS BE ALLOWED IN PRESS BRIEFINGS AT ALL, AND WHY HAVEN'T YOU ARRESTED US ALREADY!"
• "SIR, SIR, FOLLOW UP: WILL YOU BE ARRESTING US NOW, IF NOT WHY NOT AND WHAT STEPS ARE YOU TAKING TO ENSURE THE PUBLIC DOESNT GET IN THE WAY OF UNFETTERED CAPITAL AND GVT CORRUPTION GOING FWD?"
• "SIR, OVER HERE! COULDNT YOU MAKE A PROGRAM WHICH DELETES EACH LETTER AS WE TYPE IT, AND WHY HAVENT YOU? WHO IS TO BLAME? AND SHOULDNT I BE IMPRISIONED FOR REPORTING ON IT?" _JC
"The amount of power you have should be inversely proportional to the amount of secrecy you're allowed."
Yeah which makes it sort of weird that there are ~0 positive branding programs a la non-GMO food etc. for politicians. They could in theory sign binding non-compete contracts with arbitrators (like what big pharma requires of their employees) and the revolving door with e.g. the defense industry would shut immediately. But it doesn't happen, because there's no real political competition. https://rangevoting.org
Christ it’s another absolutely beautiful bit of writing Caitlin. Bravo.
I think you could safely say the US has the most draconian prison system on the planet, even if "prison system" is restricted to the domestic scene: the figures don't lie, or no one is challenging them: the highest rate of incarceration, and the highest absolute figures. But when you add on foreign policy, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and dozens of drop off centres where torture is outsourced, like the civilized country of Sweden, then there is no counter argument whatever. And competitors don't make pious claims about human rights, as does the US. As for leaking Top Secret Info, it's a matter of principle: "Here come da judge, here come da deciders- so don't fuck with us." It's a bizarre take on "freedom and democracy," all right.