This will never stop until we stop it. I feel like I'm watching a time loop. Like why is anyone shocked? So long as we keep going to work, keep playing the game by their rules, nothing will change unless THEY change it.
Their entire job is jangling keys and the illusion of agency. Fantasy football 24/7. These people do not make policy. The fact that they have no real policy differences is the first clue. They abolished voting LONG ago.
I'm tired of both reading and typing the same things.
But don't stop. Their plan is to grind and wear people down. Hell, Eugene Debs ran for president from a jail cell and his light of truth outlasts Woodrow Wilson's shameful record.
But, you never know, one of those five could be the one to make the difference. Massive political change is always instigated by a small group of dedicated, committed people who step into the opportunity for change.
Are those five in the same group "making the difference" together? Figuratively speaking, of course. What I'm saying, it must be a group of people working together to advance "massive political change". Currently, that'd be considered "treason" or whatever and with agents swarming all around - look at these FBI people raiding Ritter's house, they're your neighbors next door - such groups are discovered in no time and dealt with.
Would you consider Ritter one of those trying to "make a difference"? Well, looks like he's about to be shut down.
Yep! The TIM (Tireless Irate Minority) that Sam Adams told us about ... setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men. Keep firing Mark, ignore the trollies 🤙🏼😎
There are a number of good biographies and history of the time that go into depth on Debs and the broad, truly progressive movement (unlike now) he ignited. Somewhere around here I have a good biography of him, but God only knows which bookshelf it is tucked away in.
And who is ultimately winning? I love debs, but his accomplishment amounts to cool quotes in a dystopia. From orbit look at what we've gained. I see literally nothing but potential, which so far is an empty promise. So far, agriculture was a bad idea. Sure there are more of us, but each case just suffers more so it was a pain multiplier, and the only real gain was the OPTION of doing better, like all the promise of techno futurism. But so far it's clear that every tech upgrade has just been shelved or used for evil/suffering. :( https://innomen.substack.com/p/the-end-of-ai-debate
It took me long enough. Now I've always known partially. I was a banking major and interested in finance and currency creation since middle school. But consciously incorporating the data, synthesizing it into a cohesive world view didn't genuinely happen until a year or two ago. That's why I write, I'm trying to skip people ahead. If I had met me when I was 19 my life would have a lot more agency and positive impact. /sigh
I have so much evidence, and no one cares. Maybe the AI will, eventually.
It took me long enough." I knew it, but not enough... and let it slide like most... By sheer luck when very young, I avoided stepping into a bank to ask for a loan to build a home and fell into a condition that only people who know Lady Luck very well ever get to experience. I've written all about that time and avoided banking tentacles without much awareness of my luck.. Anyway, that's a whole other story, and a story that should be experienced by everyone. .
Innomen, I would dearly love to become privy to some of your evidence. I too have a lot on my mind regarding banksters and ever-growing perplexing thoughts about these culprits. Stuart Scott, founder of https://www.youtube.com/c/FacingFuture , the person who introduced Greta Thunberg at COP 24, strongly believed that banking systems are the most insidious presence in our lives., as well as in our minds. I will try to find a direct connection to your email (if that's allowed) as I feel we may have some viable common interests.
I try to avoid talking human policy one on one because it concerns us all and I like to avoid duplication of effort, that said, feel free to message me on here and I'll reply. It will just be low effort compared to what I'd say more openly, as for evidence, just ask what I think about something and I'll provide my position and you can ask for receipts about any aspect of it. I've arrived where I am almost mechanically, like an elevator made of sound but numerous components attached to a solid floor. If any weaknesses are found I'm pleased to inspect and replace.
Policy is an engineering problem imo. I appreciate your replies and time spent reading mine. A platform is a privilege, even if small.
Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian, tee-totaler, and dog lover among other generally recognized virtues. Will you dismiss vegetarianism and advocate alcoholism and dog hating because of that, Gregor?
The suppression of speech and opposing views has already begun with FBI raids. Harris's entitled snide tone confirms the obvious, no matter which way the November election rolls we are on the road to totalitarianism.
Something significant happened yesterday that will get little attention: "DOMESTIC CRACKDOWN BEGINS: Home Of Journalist Scott Ritter Raided By FBI" ... As for the Foreign Agents Registration Act, perhaps the FBI agents confused Ritter’s address for the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee's. https://mark192.substack.com/p/domestic-crackdown-begins-home-of
While Ritter's raid and the confiscation of his passport is getting some coverage, makes me wonder how many are being quietly intimidated into silence.
As Orwell noted: "“You are free to be a drunkard, an idler, a coward, a backbiter, a fornicator; but you are not free to think for yourself.”
The first part of that quote is a perfect description of Netanyahu and his Congressional AIPAC cult.
Scott Ritter actually cares about the US and has great ideas about how "crash & burn" (my term) can be avoided. Perhaps this is why his home was raided. Truly Orwellian times. I'm shocked most around me can't/won't acknowledge it. They read The Times, WSJ, WaPo, listen to NPR and are therefore FULLY INFORMED! They ask me, "You think you know more?" And laugh in my face.
Yes the deep state has tried for years ever since in sworn testimony before Congress, Scott Ritter exposed the lie of Iraq having weapons of mass destruction and that it was merely a pretext for a long planned invasion, they have sought to destroy his life.
"I'm shocked most around me can't/won't acknowledge it." by "it" I assume you infer the brainwashed, or all the slaves of the empire? Unfortunately, not shocking in the least.... and the empire knows it.
One by one, dissenters will be picked off and intimidated into silence. The message is not just for Ritter but anyone who refuses to fall in line. The aggressive prosecution of the 1/6 protesters was to make it clear the laws in the US Constitution could be ignored whenever it suited the people in power.
Yes, and our job is to continue speaking out instead of bending over and accepting their abuse. Throw rocks and gravel in the gears of the death machine.
"While Ritter's raid and the confiscation of his passport is getting some coverage, makes me wonder how many are being quietly intimidated into silence.".... If 99% isn't a close enough figure, I'd be surprised.
Don't know if it is that high. Over 50,000 were in the streets of DC protesting Netanyahu's butt licking by Congress. For everyone there, there were many like myself who would have liked to be there and appreciated their bravery.
Like many steely-eyed, determined opportunists, Kamala possesses no charm or warmth (just like Hillary Clinton) and exposes herself as an authoritative, mean spirited person who will brook no disagreement. She will be 100% behind whatever issue benefits her no matter how destructive it is to the US or other countries or what lie it’s built on. In the few interviews she’s given as VP, her arrogance and contempt are just below the surface when confronted with questions about inconvenient failures on her watch.
Neither Trump nor Kamala will do one damn thing for the benefit of average citizens. The health care system will be just as expensive, educational standards low, and BiBi will get everything he needs to destroy Palestinians.
What it comes down for me is not who is the lesser of two evils but who is the least likely to start a nuclear war and can be best trusted with the codes? I don’t trust Kamala at all. I’ve voted third party for the last three Presidential elections but this time I’m voting for Trump—not as a MAGA or any belief he’s some kind of savior or will stop Israel’s rampage — but as a better bet to negotiate before engaging in all out war.
I agree with your assessment on the state of things, though I would use the word "authoritarian" instead or "authoritative" in describing Harris.
Given both parties are in service to and under direction of the corporate war state, I can't see voting for either T or H. As an empty husk, Trump was manipulated by the Boltons and Pompeos and took us out of one of the last nuclear treaties with Russia, which has directly accelerated the nuke race. Hell, he even refused to release all the JFK files as he had promised because the NSA told him not to.
When the corporate war state says it is time for war, we will go to war ... regardless of who is president because -- as Biden proves daily -- the president is not in charge of anything important. The president is like the manager of your local Walmart.
Third party or even not voting helps erode the tawdry facade of credibility masking the whole mess.
I take your point and have no personal regard for Trump and he filled his previous administration with people like Bolton and Nikki Haley (who was on stage at the RNC convention). I realize this is a weak argument but with the world in such a precarious place, an even 1% chance Trump would be more likely to resist a nuclear attack is better than what we could get with Kamala. I could be wrong and my faith in any of them is at low tide.
You have to make the choice that works best for you and I respect that, I'm just saying there is a less than 1% either Trump or Harris will not do what they are told to do when they are told to do it.
I'd just encourage you to be active outside the irrelevant uniparty political process. Direct action, protest, mutual aid, supporting groups and labor movements and news sources that are doing good work etc are more productive routes of action than the useless political process.
Gypsy you have just written the single best political assessment of 2024!
And you did it in only 35 words!!!!
The political system is dead, done and ... fucked.
It's a charade ... a con ... an empty cheap suit. As Harris and Trump demonstrae, it is one corrupt corporate uniparty. I think the only path is the one I laid out in the last paragraph of the comment you responded to.
Last night Sabby Sabs noted on her show that Kama-chameleon’s remarks to the protestors were VERY Hillary-like. Her mannerisms as well, acting like some elite as opposed to the peasants chanting against genocide. A light bulb went off over my head. Kama-chameleon is Hitlery with a spray tan! 😳
And the bitch had the fucking nerve to do it in DETROIT!
This event (Scott Ritter being targeted by the FBI) doesn't surprise me. What surprises me is that they didn't try such stunts sooner. The Empire always goes after people it considers its enemies (Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, many others).
There is precious little good to say about Trump, but if he were to be elected, it is tragicomic how Team D and the MSM would suddenly rediscover human rights.
Anyway, humans are as easily led as sheep, lemmings or dogs. Remember how Obama got elected and the antiwar movement disappeared in a puff of smoke, once the wars became St. Barack's wars?
Doesn't it seem more and more like both sides are more interested in hating each other rather than focusing on much needed changes domestically and globally? That is the shtick used by both sides of the uniparty - distract them by making them fight against each other so that the status quo remains the same and the 1% maintain their dominion over the 99%.
Unfortunately, I see the same thing in the comment sections of substacks such as these (where people should know better if they've been paying attention to what Caitlin has been writing about).
Just to be clear....the first sentence above was written by Caitlin and it moved me so much I had to toss in my tuppence of agreement.
Especially now that it has been reported that "This morning White House National Security Advisor to the Vice President Phil Gordon tweeted , “VP has been clear: she will always ensure Israel is able to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups. She does not support an arms embargo on Israel. She will continue to work to protect civilians in Gaza and to uphold international humanitarian law." in response to the protests. Wanting to howl to the heavens above with rage!!
Even though we're constantly told that it's impossible for a third party to win, we can make third parties more viable by refusing to participate with a false binary.
Do you think that Cornel West is pro-war? He parted ways with the Green Party, and his stated reason was that the Greens simply don’t prioritize targeting the white supremacist core of the American Empire. If I look dispassionately at the Green party’s track record, they have been remarkably lame at growing their numbers. So I am inclined to believe West. I think he was insulted when Stein publicly invited him to “put his country before his ego.” That is rich coming from a perennial footnote in American electoral history.
"We can make third parties more viable by refusing to participate with a false binary."... Anyone who has listened to Jill Stein has 3 choices... A red dragon, a puppet, or a potential human...
For all we know, third parties already DO win; they're just not credited w/ their wins, because THE VOTES GET "COUNTED" IN SECRET. The only way around this--if we the voters can't take over the vote-counting for ourselves (& even if we could do that at our polling places, how could we do that when the polling places get tallied together?), is to refuse to lend legitimacy to the farce by voting. https://www.thepolemicist.net/2016/09/strike-vote.html
The Carter Foundation already tried it (or whatever the name of the international election observer program is). They monitor elections all over the world and report on their legitimacy. They were refused access to monitor U.S. elections. That would have been maybe 2004. Jimmy Carter said we don't have a democracy.
Good guys lose because we play fair. Unfortunately, we probably need a bait and switch strategy. Infiltrate with our own candidates who present as establishment tools, once we get critical mass, make positive change. Right now we have the reverse. Bait and switch
...so that the Deep State elites & their "intelligence" agencies believe that "our" guys are really THEIR guys, & flip the vote-counts in their favor? Like, the intel agencies wouldn't find out (& aren't reading this)?
I'm not shutting up and I'm not voting for anyone who has supported genocide (that includes 3 of the morons running - the cackling gal, the orange guy and the raspy one). I hope this will keep her from winning MI.
"3 of the morons running - the cackling gal, the orange guy and the raspy one)." Agreed, but what about a fourth.. Jill Stein? Unless she has a hidden agenda, a common practice with the political elite, and I was a U.S. citizen, you could do a lot worse than Stein.
I might vote for the Raspy one because I like all his other positions and I think his VP is more measured on the ‘support Israel unconditionally’ horse shit. But, my confidence is low that it would be any better than the Trump Israel First plan or Scamala Shitlib Inc.
I think I agree on your assessment of RFKs other positions and supported him until his declaration that he supported Israel's measures. Stein would still be my choice, most especially because of her stance on the Genocide in Gaza, which she vehemently condemns.
Yes, at least it's POSSIBLE to have a verifiable election using paper ballots, as opposed to using touch-screen computers, which are 100% unverifiable. However, there are many ways to rig elections using paper ballots. Bev Harris goes over them all thoroughly in BLACK BOX VOTING.
Actually, you'd be surprised how many people have heard of Jill Stein. They see my bumper stickers and say things like, "I voted for her in 2016," or "My son has been talking to me about her." So it's not that ordinary folks don't know her. I think there's outright censorship by the AIPAC-controlled parties and blocking of mass media mentions to make people think she's not "popular", yet on a recent poll of Arab American voters, Jill was right at the top, 18 points ahead of Kopmala. So word of mouth does spread good news even in the day and age of the internet.
It all depends on where you are in the US and what groups of people you are asking. I would say that BOTH you and Revolution Continues are right - in that it varies greatly what responses you will receive.
My opinion: Older people only watch TV so they don’t even know about her. Social conservatives hate those pushing the trans bs, fiscal conservatives think she’ll just waste more money, general conservatives are falling for the ‘she’s a scary communist’ scare tactic, liberal Jews and Christian Zionists are falling for the ‘she’s antisemitic’, or worse, ‘she supports terrorism against America’. Libertarians think she’ll take away important individual freedoms to meet her radical version of equality and her idea of protecting the general welfare of Americans. She’ll make the world Green by killing all the humans….
From what she has voiced on social media platforms, her reasoning on difficult and controversial issues are commendable. I'm not familiar (intentionally) with much political rhetoric. i.e., liberal, fiscal and social conservative, liberal Jews, , even Christian Zionists or making the World Green. .I have always valued taking the KISS principle, and wouldn't know how to debate the merits of any of the above because when you put someone in a political box, or restrain arguments with Left and Right rhetoric for example, I am as lost as Apollo 13 was when trying to debate where the Earth was.
What I can vouch for Stein is that she avoids political rhetoric and makes her points of view as clear as simplicity can make them.
I don't think being an older person implies only watching TV... On a rational metric, there are probably as many young tv only watchers as older ones... I'm old.
For all we know, most ppl DID vote for Stein. However, w/ electronic vote-flipping or mailed-in ballots which are "counted" long after the voters have gone home, whoever gets to count the votes gets to pick The Winnah. BUT, TPTB DESPERATELY NEED lots of ppl to vote in order to lend credibility to their fraud. How's The Winnah gonna say "I got a mandate from the voters," when only 3% of the electorate bothered to vote? EVERYONE would see it as the fraud it is. https://www.thepolemicist.net/2016/09/strike-vote.html
Jill Stein was arrested for being near the Empire's "debate" venue, and held illegally in an undisclosed location until the "debate" was over. That was 2012 or 2016. She was arrested this year protesting genocide. And I think a few years ago for protesting an illegal pipeline through Native American land. The Empire's media does not cover this. Now the Empire has to block people from finding independent media online.
Then when people learn they want to vote for her, they get blasted with Trump derangement hysteria or something, and are afraid they'll get blamed for the crimes of the next Empire toady if anyone finds out they voted third party.
Nothing is more discouraging to me politically than seeing tens of millions of people vote for the enemies of humanity, whether due to ignorance or misguided strategy.
In one of Glenn Grennwald's excellent segments he shows a clip of Kamala on the View expounding her love of Gen Z. Then comes the BUT. But we can't ignore all the Oct. 7 dead. Which proceeds into the chorus of lies — Hamas did it, Israel's innocent, must be allowed to defend itself etc, etc. In other words, carbon copy of the extant Biden administration with a Kamala special word-salad dressing to the standard rhetoric, namely: lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie . . . ad nauseam. Shite-eating idiots who lap this up deserve their mental dysentery. Unfortunately, as you point out, the rest of us must suffer depressing co-existence with these cretins. And shouting wake up dumb brainwashed Democrat shitlibs does little good because they're congenitally deaf to recognizing the sources of their own demise.
I think it was Hunter S. Thompson who commented on the special problems that the very rich face.
You need a maid who is just smart enough to be able to make the beds, but not smart enough to ask why there is a different set of naked people in the bed each morning. You need a landscaper who is smart enough to trim the hedges without being continually supervised, but not smart enough to ask why thee are naked people climbing in and out of the windows in the mornings.
The problem with my country (the USA) is the dominance of big money donors in the form of PACs. That’s how a foreign entity has been able to sack an entire party and essentially all of another using big money, narrative control, religion, fear. Thomas Massie (an outlier, a true unique principled individual) laid it out in his amiable way in the interview with Tucker Carlson, not one other Republican disputed any of what he revealed. Massie is a target now and it will be a warning to other career politicians who are ‘in it to win it’ as they add to campaign war chests and set up their relatives.
In other words, by and large, self-interest trumps public interest, something our congresspeople demonstrated they've completely abandoned in their cheering for Bibi's denigration of the right to protest. Imagine, swearing to protect and defend the Constitution then failing to boo the hell out of a foreign leader who craps on free speech, perhaps the saving core founding principle of an otherwise insane society.
I don't think the people attending a rally will be representative of the population. I recall Biden speaking at church earlier this year or late 2023, and a small handful of people criticized him for supporting genocide - they got shouted down and escorted out to standing ovations for Biden.
I think some events are by invitation only. I attended a rally for Bernie Sanders, I heard about it from my brother who was a student at the University he was speaking at. Don't remember if I had to get a ticket or anything. This was about eight years ago.
So yeah I think one way or another there is self-selection bias. I think these rallies are overwhelmingly attended by Democrat partisans.
They are. They will do a fast sweep of the crowd and eliminate anyone that doesn't "look right" before the candidate takes the stage. They've thrown out Dem party faithful types because they chose to dress in colors/clothing that looked too "Arab" at one place recently. It's a gamble on their part losing some members, but then the audience is 99.9% pro-Dem.
Equating protestors' opposition to genocide with wanting Trump to win is the cheapest, dirtiest way for Harris to deflect attention from her own complicity in the on-going horrors in Gaza, and to shift blame for her incompetence and political vacuity should she lose the election. She insists on speaking and shutting others up, but has absolutely nothing substantial to say. If she were a three-tier wedding cake, she'd be coated in sugary icing, decorated with pink candy roses and crowned with doves, but when you cut into her, you'd find a hollow cardboard frame built only for show.
Exactly. Harris is as narcissistic as the next AIPAC owned puppet. It's all about her "winning" and she doesn't give a sh*t about a genocide going on. It's taking away from her publicity.
If Kamala Harris is going to tell pro Palestinian activists to remain silent in the face of the ongoing genocide, then Americans might as well just vote in Trump. Politicians would sell their very souls in order to get into office, and Harris is no exception to that rule. Jill Stein or Cornel West for president. And the rest can go f*** themselves
I am completely nauseated by my Democrat friends and associates cheering on Kamala and Walz. It’s as if they have been consumed by the Body Snatchers and left dead-eyed and soulless. Guess genocide and endless war not a deal breaker for them
Thank you, Caitlin for this post. The die-hard supporters of the Democratic Party, still believing that they are on the side of truth, justice and the American Way, are so clueless and so ignorant that all they have to offer as an excuse for their idiocy is more idiocy: viz., "Do you want Trump to win?" Empty heads obediently consenting to continue in their emptiness and then later will pretend that they don't understand why nothing has changed. And they will continue to worship St. Obama, as well.
This will never stop until we stop it. I feel like I'm watching a time loop. Like why is anyone shocked? So long as we keep going to work, keep playing the game by their rules, nothing will change unless THEY change it.
Their entire job is jangling keys and the illusion of agency. Fantasy football 24/7. These people do not make policy. The fact that they have no real policy differences is the first clue. They abolished voting LONG ago.
I'm tired of both reading and typing the same things.
https://innomen.substack.com/p/we-dont-have-a-government
But don't stop. Their plan is to grind and wear people down. Hell, Eugene Debs ran for president from a jail cell and his light of truth outlasts Woodrow Wilson's shameful record.
Wilson's name is on institutions and banknotes, while Eugene V. Debs is largely forgotten.
Not by me and millions of others! Our task is to carry on and spread his example.
To be fair, if you asked 1,000 humans on the street "who was Eugene V. Debs?" I would be shocked if five could answer that question.
But, you never know, one of those five could be the one to make the difference. Massive political change is always instigated by a small group of dedicated, committed people who step into the opportunity for change.
Are those five in the same group "making the difference" together? Figuratively speaking, of course. What I'm saying, it must be a group of people working together to advance "massive political change". Currently, that'd be considered "treason" or whatever and with agents swarming all around - look at these FBI people raiding Ritter's house, they're your neighbors next door - such groups are discovered in no time and dealt with.
Would you consider Ritter one of those trying to "make a difference"? Well, looks like he's about to be shut down.
V. I. Lenin had some practical insights on the topic, but he was too "mean" for the average activist of today.
Yep! The TIM (Tireless Irate Minority) that Sam Adams told us about ... setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men. Keep firing Mark, ignore the trollies 🤙🏼😎
You know Mark I really truly like you a lot.
BUT it is too late.
We should, and I say that without a hint of snark intended.
Educate us about Debs. Please. Tell us. Our souls thirst for inspiration in this land and time of betrayal, deceit, strife and constant dismay.
There are a number of good biographies and history of the time that go into depth on Debs and the broad, truly progressive movement (unlike now) he ignited. Somewhere around here I have a good biography of him, but God only knows which bookshelf it is tucked away in.
You make a point FF. A mass murderer's giant head is on a Dakota mountain. Apparently We the People will allow anything if fed enough lies. ;-).
~~ j ~~
And who is ultimately winning? I love debs, but his accomplishment amounts to cool quotes in a dystopia. From orbit look at what we've gained. I see literally nothing but potential, which so far is an empty promise. So far, agriculture was a bad idea. Sure there are more of us, but each case just suffers more so it was a pain multiplier, and the only real gain was the OPTION of doing better, like all the promise of techno futurism. But so far it's clear that every tech upgrade has just been shelved or used for evil/suffering. :( https://innomen.substack.com/p/the-end-of-ai-debate
excellent point!
Nobody like Caitlin to bring America back to its brutal essence, untiringly
Thanks
Loved the clip in your link Innomen... Right on!
Thank you :) I don't know which one you mean, the link is a mess, but thank you :)
The clip (or clips) that include "Banks"... Congratulations... You have identified the most important culprits on the planet...
It took me long enough. Now I've always known partially. I was a banking major and interested in finance and currency creation since middle school. But consciously incorporating the data, synthesizing it into a cohesive world view didn't genuinely happen until a year or two ago. That's why I write, I'm trying to skip people ahead. If I had met me when I was 19 my life would have a lot more agency and positive impact. /sigh
I have so much evidence, and no one cares. Maybe the AI will, eventually.
innomem,
Can't help but wonder at the above coincidence, but when Lady Luck beckoned , regarding the story I relayed below, I was 19....
"Innoem,
It took me long enough." I knew it, but not enough... and let it slide like most... By sheer luck when very young, I avoided stepping into a bank to ask for a loan to build a home and fell into a condition that only people who know Lady Luck very well ever get to experience. I've written all about that time and avoided banking tentacles without much awareness of my luck.. Anyway, that's a whole other story, and a story that should be experienced by everyone. .
Innomen, I would dearly love to become privy to some of your evidence. I too have a lot on my mind regarding banksters and ever-growing perplexing thoughts about these culprits. Stuart Scott, founder of https://www.youtube.com/c/FacingFuture , the person who introduced Greta Thunberg at COP 24, strongly believed that banking systems are the most insidious presence in our lives., as well as in our minds. I will try to find a direct connection to your email (if that's allowed) as I feel we may have some viable common interests.
I try to avoid talking human policy one on one because it concerns us all and I like to avoid duplication of effort, that said, feel free to message me on here and I'll reply. It will just be low effort compared to what I'd say more openly, as for evidence, just ask what I think about something and I'll provide my position and you can ask for receipts about any aspect of it. I've arrived where I am almost mechanically, like an elevator made of sound but numerous components attached to a solid floor. If any weaknesses are found I'm pleased to inspect and replace.
Policy is an engineering problem imo. I appreciate your replies and time spent reading mine. A platform is a privilege, even if small.
Catturd? That fascist prick?
I would advise avoiding ideology as a basis for whether someone is accurately describing observable reality. Not "Do they conform to my priors?"
I have been known to quote for truth, among others, V.I. Lenin and Hermann Goering, although I am neither a Marxist-Leninist nor a national socialist.
Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian, tee-totaler, and dog lover among other generally recognized virtues. Will you dismiss vegetarianism and advocate alcoholism and dog hating because of that, Gregor?
Ad Hominem. I care more about what was said than who said it. Yes he's a prick, but he's also occasionally not wrong.
The suppression of speech and opposing views has already begun with FBI raids. Harris's entitled snide tone confirms the obvious, no matter which way the November election rolls we are on the road to totalitarianism.
Something significant happened yesterday that will get little attention: "DOMESTIC CRACKDOWN BEGINS: Home Of Journalist Scott Ritter Raided By FBI" ... As for the Foreign Agents Registration Act, perhaps the FBI agents confused Ritter’s address for the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee's. https://mark192.substack.com/p/domestic-crackdown-begins-home-of
While Ritter's raid and the confiscation of his passport is getting some coverage, makes me wonder how many are being quietly intimidated into silence.
As Orwell noted: "“You are free to be a drunkard, an idler, a coward, a backbiter, a fornicator; but you are not free to think for yourself.”
The first part of that quote is a perfect description of Netanyahu and his Congressional AIPAC cult.
Scott Ritter actually cares about the US and has great ideas about how "crash & burn" (my term) can be avoided. Perhaps this is why his home was raided. Truly Orwellian times. I'm shocked most around me can't/won't acknowledge it. They read The Times, WSJ, WaPo, listen to NPR and are therefore FULLY INFORMED! They ask me, "You think you know more?" And laugh in my face.
Yes the deep state has tried for years ever since in sworn testimony before Congress, Scott Ritter exposed the lie of Iraq having weapons of mass destruction and that it was merely a pretext for a long planned invasion, they have sought to destroy his life.
AJF
"I'm shocked most around me can't/won't acknowledge it." by "it" I assume you infer the brainwashed, or all the slaves of the empire? Unfortunately, not shocking in the least.... and the empire knows it.
I'm a one-time print journalist and your assessment of the corporate media is spot on.
One by one, dissenters will be picked off and intimidated into silence. The message is not just for Ritter but anyone who refuses to fall in line. The aggressive prosecution of the 1/6 protesters was to make it clear the laws in the US Constitution could be ignored whenever it suited the people in power.
Yes, and our job is to continue speaking out instead of bending over and accepting their abuse. Throw rocks and gravel in the gears of the death machine.
They follow the motto - "Rules for thee but not for me".
Mark,
"While Ritter's raid and the confiscation of his passport is getting some coverage, makes me wonder how many are being quietly intimidated into silence.".... If 99% isn't a close enough figure, I'd be surprised.
Don't know if it is that high. Over 50,000 were in the streets of DC protesting Netanyahu's butt licking by Congress. For everyone there, there were many like myself who would have liked to be there and appreciated their bravery.
They also attacked Tulsi Gabbard, a politician with a questionable record but who tends to be consistently anti-war
Except now she is fully onboard with the US/Israel genocide.
Yep, they got to her
Like many steely-eyed, determined opportunists, Kamala possesses no charm or warmth (just like Hillary Clinton) and exposes herself as an authoritative, mean spirited person who will brook no disagreement. She will be 100% behind whatever issue benefits her no matter how destructive it is to the US or other countries or what lie it’s built on. In the few interviews she’s given as VP, her arrogance and contempt are just below the surface when confronted with questions about inconvenient failures on her watch.
Neither Trump nor Kamala will do one damn thing for the benefit of average citizens. The health care system will be just as expensive, educational standards low, and BiBi will get everything he needs to destroy Palestinians.
What it comes down for me is not who is the lesser of two evils but who is the least likely to start a nuclear war and can be best trusted with the codes? I don’t trust Kamala at all. I’ve voted third party for the last three Presidential elections but this time I’m voting for Trump—not as a MAGA or any belief he’s some kind of savior or will stop Israel’s rampage — but as a better bet to negotiate before engaging in all out war.
I agree with your assessment on the state of things, though I would use the word "authoritarian" instead or "authoritative" in describing Harris.
Given both parties are in service to and under direction of the corporate war state, I can't see voting for either T or H. As an empty husk, Trump was manipulated by the Boltons and Pompeos and took us out of one of the last nuclear treaties with Russia, which has directly accelerated the nuke race. Hell, he even refused to release all the JFK files as he had promised because the NSA told him not to.
When the corporate war state says it is time for war, we will go to war ... regardless of who is president because -- as Biden proves daily -- the president is not in charge of anything important. The president is like the manager of your local Walmart.
Third party or even not voting helps erode the tawdry facade of credibility masking the whole mess.
Yessir! Note to self: Order T-shirts ...
"Stop voting for president. It's killing you."
~~ j ~~
Mark. “Manager of local walmart “! Yep, so true.
The president still has the power to say no to deployment of US forces.
Technically yes. Reagan did it. But THE question is why doesn't he? Because he's not in charge.
I take your point and have no personal regard for Trump and he filled his previous administration with people like Bolton and Nikki Haley (who was on stage at the RNC convention). I realize this is a weak argument but with the world in such a precarious place, an even 1% chance Trump would be more likely to resist a nuclear attack is better than what we could get with Kamala. I could be wrong and my faith in any of them is at low tide.
You have to make the choice that works best for you and I respect that, I'm just saying there is a less than 1% either Trump or Harris will not do what they are told to do when they are told to do it.
I'd just encourage you to be active outside the irrelevant uniparty political process. Direct action, protest, mutual aid, supporting groups and labor movements and news sources that are doing good work etc are more productive routes of action than the useless political process.
Mark, we are fucked if Trump is elected.
We are fucked if Kama-chameleon is elected.
We are NOT fucked if Jill Stein et al are elected.
But considering the unlikelihood of this happening, WE ARE FUCKED.
Gypsy you have just written the single best political assessment of 2024!
And you did it in only 35 words!!!!
The political system is dead, done and ... fucked.
It's a charade ... a con ... an empty cheap suit. As Harris and Trump demonstrae, it is one corrupt corporate uniparty. I think the only path is the one I laid out in the last paragraph of the comment you responded to.
Agreed.
Funny you mentioned that, SW.
Last night Sabby Sabs noted on her show that Kama-chameleon’s remarks to the protestors were VERY Hillary-like. Her mannerisms as well, acting like some elite as opposed to the peasants chanting against genocide. A light bulb went off over my head. Kama-chameleon is Hitlery with a spray tan! 😳
And the bitch had the fucking nerve to do it in DETROIT!
This event (Scott Ritter being targeted by the FBI) doesn't surprise me. What surprises me is that they didn't try such stunts sooner. The Empire always goes after people it considers its enemies (Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, many others).
There is precious little good to say about Trump, but if he were to be elected, it is tragicomic how Team D and the MSM would suddenly rediscover human rights.
Anyway, humans are as easily led as sheep, lemmings or dogs. Remember how Obama got elected and the antiwar movement disappeared in a puff of smoke, once the wars became St. Barack's wars?
Doesn't it seem more and more like both sides are more interested in hating each other rather than focusing on much needed changes domestically and globally? That is the shtick used by both sides of the uniparty - distract them by making them fight against each other so that the status quo remains the same and the 1% maintain their dominion over the 99%.
Unfortunately, I see the same thing in the comment sections of substacks such as these (where people should know better if they've been paying attention to what Caitlin has been writing about).
This is exactly what would happen. Suddenly they would care about a genocide.
If that's what it takes... to stop the mass murder of children and babies and innocents, so be it.
In the meantime, pls sign and share: https://www.change.org/outlawAIPAC
Done!
We really do need a cat for president, Feral. I nominate you, and my Jodi for VP.
She matches you and takes no shit from anyone 😁
"Ah well. The fight goes on. Even if these pricks are going to set the whole world on fire, we can still at least try to make it difficult for them."
Damn right!! I was so disgusted when I saw what Kamala did and became even more determined to stop their insane policies. Thank you for this post!
Just to be clear....the first sentence above was written by Caitlin and it moved me so much I had to toss in my tuppence of agreement.
Especially now that it has been reported that "This morning White House National Security Advisor to the Vice President Phil Gordon tweeted , “VP has been clear: she will always ensure Israel is able to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups. She does not support an arms embargo on Israel. She will continue to work to protect civilians in Gaza and to uphold international humanitarian law." in response to the protests. Wanting to howl to the heavens above with rage!!
Even though we're constantly told that it's impossible for a third party to win, we can make third parties more viable by refusing to participate with a false binary.
Absolutely. I am voting Jill Stein, because she is the ONLY truly and sincerely anti-war candidate.
This will be my third time voting for Dr. Jill.
Do you think that Cornel West is pro-war? He parted ways with the Green Party, and his stated reason was that the Greens simply don’t prioritize targeting the white supremacist core of the American Empire. If I look dispassionately at the Green party’s track record, they have been remarkably lame at growing their numbers. So I am inclined to believe West. I think he was insulted when Stein publicly invited him to “put his country before his ego.” That is rich coming from a perennial footnote in American electoral history.
Cornel West has ALWAYS been Anti-War. Many people don't seem to get him, but I do.
Pamela,
"We can make third parties more viable by refusing to participate with a false binary."... Anyone who has listened to Jill Stein has 3 choices... A red dragon, a puppet, or a potential human...
But if their vote isn't counted ACCURATELY, it doesn't matter. All they did, in the end, was lend credibility to a fraudulent election.
maybe....
For all we know, third parties already DO win; they're just not credited w/ their wins, because THE VOTES GET "COUNTED" IN SECRET. The only way around this--if we the voters can't take over the vote-counting for ourselves (& even if we could do that at our polling places, how could we do that when the polling places get tallied together?), is to refuse to lend legitimacy to the farce by voting. https://www.thepolemicist.net/2016/09/strike-vote.html
what is needed is a huge bunch of International Observers.
How can we go about getting International Observers? I'd really think US elections need some. Is there anyway a mere human can ask the UN for some?
I do not know how one can do this. I am pretty sure that the US will not like being treated like "banana republic" which it obviously is.
It's fairly obvious that NO western power should do this but maybe China which of course will be villified.
The Carter Foundation already tried it (or whatever the name of the international election observer program is). They monitor elections all over the world and report on their legitimacy. They were refused access to monitor U.S. elections. That would have been maybe 2004. Jimmy Carter said we don't have a democracy.
:-)
Good guys lose because we play fair. Unfortunately, we probably need a bait and switch strategy. Infiltrate with our own candidates who present as establishment tools, once we get critical mass, make positive change. Right now we have the reverse. Bait and switch
...so that the Deep State elites & their "intelligence" agencies believe that "our" guys are really THEIR guys, & flip the vote-counts in their favor? Like, the intel agencies wouldn't find out (& aren't reading this)?
I'm not shutting up and I'm not voting for anyone who has supported genocide (that includes 3 of the morons running - the cackling gal, the orange guy and the raspy one). I hope this will keep her from winning MI.
Me too! Not voting for the Republocrat corporate uniparty.
Jana,
"3 of the morons running - the cackling gal, the orange guy and the raspy one)." Agreed, but what about a fourth.. Jill Stein? Unless she has a hidden agenda, a common practice with the political elite, and I was a U.S. citizen, you could do a lot worse than Stein.
John,
I did not include Stein in the moron list because she seems the only sane choice. If she is on my ballot I will likely vote for her, again.
I might vote for the Raspy one because I like all his other positions and I think his VP is more measured on the ‘support Israel unconditionally’ horse shit. But, my confidence is low that it would be any better than the Trump Israel First plan or Scamala Shitlib Inc.
Michael,
I think I agree on your assessment of RFKs other positions and supported him until his declaration that he supported Israel's measures. Stein would still be my choice, most especially because of her stance on the Genocide in Gaza, which she vehemently condemns.
So why the fuck don't people vote for Jill Stein?
Some of us do.
Yes. But OUR VOTES aren't counted FOR Stein, or whichever other 3rd party. That's what the computers ARE FOR.
Vote on paper ballots. You have that option (at least in my state you do).
Yes, at least it's POSSIBLE to have a verifiable election using paper ballots, as opposed to using touch-screen computers, which are 100% unverifiable. However, there are many ways to rig elections using paper ballots. Bev Harris goes over them all thoroughly in BLACK BOX VOTING.
Not enough coverage and MONEY!
Stein is still a progressive who believes in STATE-MANDATED / LAW-MANDATED "liberalism"
A contradiction in terms, IMHO
That’s my problem with her. She wants to give MORE power to a horribly corrupt central government. No thanks Jill
Don't worry, she won't win, even if everyone votes for her.
Yep, don't vote for her, vote for Freedom of Association™. Vote, dammit!!
Levi
"So why the fuck don't people vote for Jill Stein?" Beats me ?????
My SWAG:
1. Few people even have heard of her.
2. Those who have, figure she has no chance to win, which also is a reason so few have heard of her.
Actually, you'd be surprised how many people have heard of Jill Stein. They see my bumper stickers and say things like, "I voted for her in 2016," or "My son has been talking to me about her." So it's not that ordinary folks don't know her. I think there's outright censorship by the AIPAC-controlled parties and blocking of mass media mentions to make people think she's not "popular", yet on a recent poll of Arab American voters, Jill was right at the top, 18 points ahead of Kopmala. So word of mouth does spread good news even in the day and age of the internet.
I hope you are correct. When I mention her I get either "who?" or "kook!" in response.
It all depends on where you are in the US and what groups of people you are asking. I would say that BOTH you and Revolution Continues are right - in that it varies greatly what responses you will receive.
Chang, when I tell people I’m voting for her, I explain her platform and always receive a positive response.
Even “Blue no matter who” hubs is voting for her. He’d fucking well better, or will be seriously deprived! 😉
My opinion: Older people only watch TV so they don’t even know about her. Social conservatives hate those pushing the trans bs, fiscal conservatives think she’ll just waste more money, general conservatives are falling for the ‘she’s a scary communist’ scare tactic, liberal Jews and Christian Zionists are falling for the ‘she’s antisemitic’, or worse, ‘she supports terrorism against America’. Libertarians think she’ll take away important individual freedoms to meet her radical version of equality and her idea of protecting the general welfare of Americans. She’ll make the world Green by killing all the humans….
Michael....
From what she has voiced on social media platforms, her reasoning on difficult and controversial issues are commendable. I'm not familiar (intentionally) with much political rhetoric. i.e., liberal, fiscal and social conservative, liberal Jews, , even Christian Zionists or making the World Green. .I have always valued taking the KISS principle, and wouldn't know how to debate the merits of any of the above because when you put someone in a political box, or restrain arguments with Left and Right rhetoric for example, I am as lost as Apollo 13 was when trying to debate where the Earth was.
What I can vouch for Stein is that she avoids political rhetoric and makes her points of view as clear as simplicity can make them.
I don't think being an older person implies only watching TV... On a rational metric, there are probably as many young tv only watchers as older ones... I'm old.
You're not a US citizen, you said? Regardless, apparently you have no idea how "elections" and "voting" happen in the US. That's why it "beats you".
And btw, if you're in the US you can still vote, no need to be a US citizen. That law is for suckers.
For all we know, most ppl DID vote for Stein. However, w/ electronic vote-flipping or mailed-in ballots which are "counted" long after the voters have gone home, whoever gets to count the votes gets to pick The Winnah. BUT, TPTB DESPERATELY NEED lots of ppl to vote in order to lend credibility to their fraud. How's The Winnah gonna say "I got a mandate from the voters," when only 3% of the electorate bothered to vote? EVERYONE would see it as the fraud it is. https://www.thepolemicist.net/2016/09/strike-vote.html
Don't kid yourself. I wish Stein were more popular than she is, but she isn't.
And you know this because...?
Ask a hundred humans who Jill Stein is.
I shall! Could be interesting. Thank-you for the suggestion.
Curious to see the results provided you'll be using proper sampling procedures.
Jill Stein was arrested for being near the Empire's "debate" venue, and held illegally in an undisclosed location until the "debate" was over. That was 2012 or 2016. She was arrested this year protesting genocide. And I think a few years ago for protesting an illegal pipeline through Native American land. The Empire's media does not cover this. Now the Empire has to block people from finding independent media online.
Then when people learn they want to vote for her, they get blasted with Trump derangement hysteria or something, and are afraid they'll get blamed for the crimes of the next Empire toady if anyone finds out they voted third party.
Nothing is more discouraging to me politically than seeing tens of millions of people vote for the enemies of humanity, whether due to ignorance or misguided strategy.
Thinking about it. She still isn't on the ballot for sure in my state, or at least what the map on her website showed just now when I checked it.
Why don't people still vote for the good guys running to be part of the Mafia?? Got me.
In one of Glenn Grennwald's excellent segments he shows a clip of Kamala on the View expounding her love of Gen Z. Then comes the BUT. But we can't ignore all the Oct. 7 dead. Which proceeds into the chorus of lies — Hamas did it, Israel's innocent, must be allowed to defend itself etc, etc. In other words, carbon copy of the extant Biden administration with a Kamala special word-salad dressing to the standard rhetoric, namely: lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie . . . ad nauseam. Shite-eating idiots who lap this up deserve their mental dysentery. Unfortunately, as you point out, the rest of us must suffer depressing co-existence with these cretins. And shouting wake up dumb brainwashed Democrat shitlibs does little good because they're congenitally deaf to recognizing the sources of their own demise.
I think it was Hunter S. Thompson who commented on the special problems that the very rich face.
You need a maid who is just smart enough to be able to make the beds, but not smart enough to ask why there is a different set of naked people in the bed each morning. You need a landscaper who is smart enough to trim the hedges without being continually supervised, but not smart enough to ask why thee are naked people climbing in and out of the windows in the mornings.
Most humans are that maid or landscaper.
As the Italians would say, "La verità"
The problem with my country (the USA) is the dominance of big money donors in the form of PACs. That’s how a foreign entity has been able to sack an entire party and essentially all of another using big money, narrative control, religion, fear. Thomas Massie (an outlier, a true unique principled individual) laid it out in his amiable way in the interview with Tucker Carlson, not one other Republican disputed any of what he revealed. Massie is a target now and it will be a warning to other career politicians who are ‘in it to win it’ as they add to campaign war chests and set up their relatives.
In other words, by and large, self-interest trumps public interest, something our congresspeople demonstrated they've completely abandoned in their cheering for Bibi's denigration of the right to protest. Imagine, swearing to protect and defend the Constitution then failing to boo the hell out of a foreign leader who craps on free speech, perhaps the saving core founding principle of an otherwise insane society.
All the supporters of Kamala Harris can go fuck themselves in my opinion. Genocide loving scum.
They’re Nazis.
Yep.
I don't think the people attending a rally will be representative of the population. I recall Biden speaking at church earlier this year or late 2023, and a small handful of people criticized him for supporting genocide - they got shouted down and escorted out to standing ovations for Biden.
And why are these people not representative of the population? Are those events by invitation only? How is the selection process set up?
I think some events are by invitation only. I attended a rally for Bernie Sanders, I heard about it from my brother who was a student at the University he was speaking at. Don't remember if I had to get a ticket or anything. This was about eight years ago.
So yeah I think one way or another there is self-selection bias. I think these rallies are overwhelmingly attended by Democrat partisans.
They are. They will do a fast sweep of the crowd and eliminate anyone that doesn't "look right" before the candidate takes the stage. They've thrown out Dem party faithful types because they chose to dress in colors/clothing that looked too "Arab" at one place recently. It's a gamble on their part losing some members, but then the audience is 99.9% pro-Dem.
Equating protestors' opposition to genocide with wanting Trump to win is the cheapest, dirtiest way for Harris to deflect attention from her own complicity in the on-going horrors in Gaza, and to shift blame for her incompetence and political vacuity should she lose the election. She insists on speaking and shutting others up, but has absolutely nothing substantial to say. If she were a three-tier wedding cake, she'd be coated in sugary icing, decorated with pink candy roses and crowned with doves, but when you cut into her, you'd find a hollow cardboard frame built only for show.
She's the cardboard. Others do the decorating.
Exactly. Harris is as narcissistic as the next AIPAC owned puppet. It's all about her "winning" and she doesn't give a sh*t about a genocide going on. It's taking away from her publicity.
https://www.change.org/outlawAIPAC
Poetically said Diane Engelhardt! Thank you.
If Kamala Harris is going to tell pro Palestinian activists to remain silent in the face of the ongoing genocide, then Americans might as well just vote in Trump. Politicians would sell their very souls in order to get into office, and Harris is no exception to that rule. Jill Stein or Cornel West for president. And the rest can go f*** themselves
I just saw the clip. KH should be ashamed of herself, and her support of Israel's genocide.
I am completely nauseated by my Democrat friends and associates cheering on Kamala and Walz. It’s as if they have been consumed by the Body Snatchers and left dead-eyed and soulless. Guess genocide and endless war not a deal breaker for them
We've all lost what were supposed to be friends..........lucky escape.
Thank you, Caitlin for this post. The die-hard supporters of the Democratic Party, still believing that they are on the side of truth, justice and the American Way, are so clueless and so ignorant that all they have to offer as an excuse for their idiocy is more idiocy: viz., "Do you want Trump to win?" Empty heads obediently consenting to continue in their emptiness and then later will pretend that they don't understand why nothing has changed. And they will continue to worship St. Obama, as well.
"Ah well. The fight goes on. Even if these pricks are going to set the whole world on fire, we can still at least try to make it difficult for them."
It's like Chris Hedges said: "I don't fight fascists because I'll win, I fight them because they're fascists."