Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley): Kids are taking over university campuses around the world for the noblest possible reason anyone could do such a thing in 2024. There are so many reasons to feel pessimistic, but Gen Z’s fierce opposition to the Gaza genocide is a massive reason to have hope for the future.
Magnificent point. This Boomer was beguiled by the Zionists and Neocons. I was a hard core supporter of the Zionist State of Israel. It all came to an abrupt end when I saw a map of "Israel" which was a series of three maps. I proceeded to learn the short history of modern Israel. I learned who the real terrorists are.
The DNC must die! The RNC must die! AIPAC must die! NATO must die! The Anglo-Zionist Empire of Lies and Hate must die! We Americans must de-Nazify our nation to make it worthy of the blessings there from.
If history is any guide, de-Nazification of the American government is a large, difficult, lengthy process that America has no aptitude or patience for. At the end of WWII we got all geared up for the task and then dropped it in favor of whisking all the top German generals and scientists here to lend their expertise to the war machine and building our nuclear arsenal.
The United States of America is the fabled Lebensraum the Nazis sought in the East. The “Heartland” is the cradle of White Nationalism, populated by people who have never met an African-American yet profess to be terrified of them. Angry ignorant Kinder, Kuche und Kirche people. To the South of the Midwest lie the racist apartheid states, and in the West, the alpine strongholds of White Christian Nationalism. It would be one thing if they were confined to just these areas, but Nazis, Christian-Zionists, White Nationalists and all the rest of them are everywhere. You will never rid the country of them. The best we can do is provide for the citizens by way of meaningful job growth and financial security. Plus,a decent network of government agencies to provide for people who need assistance. Other countries manage to do this. Of course it will mean defunding the military, cutting back on our overseas commitments, and redirecting our tax dollars to serve the people of the United States, and not alien and foreign regimes like Israel.
Damn, Nelly, you've encapsulated everything I've written in the past. You wrote a superb comment which is US history since 1945. I could add more like the human experiments, biolabs and using Pacific Islanders for guinea pigs on islands downwind of the H-Bomb Tests.
Sure being humble and calm are important, but not against evil, genocidal rogue states like the US and Israel. I would say the opposite. Be angry. Be very angry against Israel and its backers. Boycott Israel. Destroy the US's dollar hegemony.
No. Don't let the weaklings, who are afraid of losing their "comforts", dictate your words. Store and focus your rage so it can be utilized properly at the right time. Never give it up.
Because of Hollywood and corporate media, we, in the US, were all raised Zionist. I will always be thankful to the Jewish members of my military unit for breaking my media conditioned idea of Israel.
As to your 2nd paragraph, you sound properly pissed off and I relate wholeheartedly. No more of this pathetically weak "Shame on them" or "They should be ashamed." crap we hear from a lot of posters.
Bernie Sanders released a statement in support of Israel. His real message was that once Netanyahu is gone we can all go back to pretending Israel is a good place deserving of our billions and weaponry and continued support for theft of Palestinian land.
You probably read his statement ostensibly in support of protestors, a statement that should be read in light of this being a reelection year for him.
I would remind Bernie that here is the Israel he is supporting:
Re-application for admittance to the World Community
Why I, The State of Israel, believe I am a good candidate.
1) I torture UN workers
2) I bomb embassies
3) I refuse to declare my official borders as I want more and more of other countries' (plural) land
4) I openly interfere in the affairs of other countries.
5) All criticism by any member of the World Community just reinforces my sense of privileged Victimhood
6) I never tell a lie as I have no concept. I only know what serves me.
7) I invented the Samson Option and will take the rest of you with me.
8) I commit collective punishment
9) I kidnap thousands, including children, with no judicial oversight
10) I will commit torture if I see fit and even if I don't
11) I oppress occupied inhabitants and enjoy doing so
12) I commit rape with impunity against mine enemies
13) I steal land with impunity
14) I murder with impunity
15) I commit Genocide
16) I look forward to war and prod my neighbors for more
17) I need money, send a check
18) I commit false flags and if friends or even my own people are sacrificed so be it.
19) I implement the Hannibal Doctrine
20) Treachery and betrayal of my own people are a means to an end
21) I support and conduct terrorism.
22) I openly interfere in the affairs of other countries, seeking support for all of the above
23) I know that I can count on other amoral nations to support my wars, oppression and theft.
24) I know that the World Community will not stop me as I commit future Genocides
Exactly, Andrea. The Gen Z'rs occupying the universities are amazing and I am sooooo glad they are there. But generations before did the same thing and some died for it. Kent State, 1970. Palestinian students are in solidarity with the rest of the student world. That is new, because of social media. Palestinians, students or not, are brave and they do give us hope for real change in the world by their tenacity and resistance.
I do hope the largely Gen Z protesters contemplate that it is the nearly unfettered free speech legal framework of the United States -- established in 1789 -- that helped them turn this around.
If it weren't for that, don't kid yourself that they wouldn't mow down the camps post-haste, completely silencing everyone and everything, in and outside them, Tiananmen Square style. The monsters who run the US (and the West) would like nothing better. Occupy is (was?) their template for pushing the U.S. envelope; the Kent State / Jackson State victims of 1970 did not die in vain.
1. That jerkstain shouting "Kill the Jews!" was assuredly an agent provocateur.
2. Regarding Chinese "expansionism", the last time Chinese troops went into combat was 1979. Contrast the track record of the entirely peaceful and freedom-luvin' United States since that time.
Hell, even Hitler claimed to be defending himself.
I think, actually, they admire Hitler and study how he operated so they can imitate him. I think they have done a good job, perhaps being even a bit more intense than Hitler.
Goebbels is known to specifically praise Bernays' "Propaganda" and to have learned from it. Here's a piece of interview with him expressing admiration of the American way of the time: https://youtu.be/DnPmg0R1M04?t=2616
1. I'm probably what They refer to as a "free-speech absolutist". Chanting "Kill the Jews!" is not cause for arrest, unless a direct order to kill.
That said, it's a very bad look for a protest demanding fair treatment of Palestinians, so it's great that the pro-Israel provocateur who started the chant was outed.
2. And after about a month, Big China's war against little Vietnam ended in a standoff, with Vietnam still in control of Cambodia. (Although Microsoft's AI tells me that Vietnam suffered much heavier casualties.)
"The problem isn't a lack of money, food, water or land. The problem is that you've given control of these things to a group of greedy psychopaths who care more about maintaining their power than helping mankind."
~Bill Hicks, stand-up comedian, social critic (1961-1994)
And we didn't learn. It started with the 1700's Enclosures in England, common lands fenced off and ultimately becoming the possession of 40K ultra-wealthy landowners, fueling the industrial revolution as the dispossessed migrated to cities to become the serfs of factory owners; at least those workers were paid, poorly of course. Now, we freely give our labor to the tech oligarchs by training their algorithms to train us to better train them to train us to be better consumers and contributors of our data, in a reiterative cycle with every click an unpaid contribution to their already hugely excessive wealth. And in that role as techno-serfs ("TechnoFeudalism", Yanis Varoufakis), we are largely un-remunerated. We freaking do it for free. Hence we have devolved economically. Clever stuff by our psychopath masters!
Sure no one can reasonably debate these historical facts, as much as no one cannot debate the fact consciousness exists but science has not yet demonstrated how it exists and what produces it.
The problem I see is the faulty assumption that getting rid of government altogether will resolves the cyclical corruption, when clearly the complex social dynamics of a civilized society requires organized rules, regulations and laws for individual freedom to thrive, and for large groups of people to live in some kind of semblance of equanimity and fairness. Even though one can point to a whole slew of historic incidences where the psychopathic masters have ruled, one can also point to a number of historic incidences where the working class has achieved some victories - including the abolishment of slavery, the regulated, and lawful universal healthcare practiced in most enlightened advance countries today, the greater equality of men and women practiced - and so on.
As like anything, including the scientific investigation of consciousness, from William James to B.F. Skinner, one can find good and bad. Bogus theories and solid empirical data that refutes any kind of false assumptions one may attribute to consciousness or what produces consciousness. For example, correlation is not causation, neural correlation is not the same as neural causation.
The human race does progress at a donkey slow pace. But many mysteries remain unresolved. Including the basis of moral judgement within the human psyche. Or the origination and nature of the human psyche. Why does the psyche even exist? Why does the universe exist? Those who come up with simple, quick banal answers to these questions fail to understand the depth, and scientific enigma of both questions.
Quite a learned disquisition, Jamenta. Er, um… thank you. Yes indeed. Indeed. The topic of course was the student protests against the current Zionist genocide in Gaza.
I sometimes feel like a Stranger in a Strange Land. But I need to get back to practicing Debussy's Reverie. Piano teacher insists I need more legato in my Left Hand. A slave driver! Au Revoir.
"the faulty assumption that getting rid of government altogether will resolves the cyclical corruption"
Exactly. Power always tends to concentrate, as intelligent sociopaths always find a way to claw their way to the top and help themselves, no matter what the political system. Rinse and repeat.
Yes. For me it's more about a problem with the psyche rather than a problem with "grouped social structures" i.e. governments, which I believe are a necessity for any civilized nation. And maybe that's what it's really all about anyway, (all this - reality) the psyche. Afterall, there can be no meaning without the psyche - and reality (perceiving itself) could not even know itself as real, without the psyche.
I agree, governments are necessary, at least to manage complexity in certain ways. (Libertarianism seems easily as big a pipe dream as communism.) Could you define psyche here and its scope? Thanks
LOL. No I really cannot. Even though I have a thousand books sitting here in this room of mine. There are plenty of definitions for it - that's for damn sure. The best I've seen (personally) that I lean toward is Carl Jung's lifetime of work studying the "psyche". But defining it - you got me. Although I do lean toward believing the psyche itself is a fundamental element in the reality we experience, and is not the product of something else. But that remains scientifically unproven. It's just what I feel is likely true - based on what I have read including Jung's own extensive research and work with the psyche, and perhaps the more recent work of scientists like Pim van Lommel.
You raise questions that neither I nor anyone else can answer from our currently limited perspective. But I'm not sure what it has to do with the digital strictures with which we've currently tied ourselves up and their vast empowering impetus to the tech oligarchs and their big corporate associates; in other words, the seduction of this stuff seems like a hell of a challenge for the working class (your reference) to extricate itself from. Maybe you'll be alive to see how the arc of history plays out; I doubt I will be. And while I'm here, I confine my social media presence to groups like this Substack-based one; no X, no FB, no nothing else.
As to consciousness: for me as a systems biologist, I insist on viewing it apart from HUMAN consciousness, considering it rather a feature emergent from the complexity achieved by many complex adaptive systems. Trees are conscious in my schema — particularly complex colonies of trees like aspens with a common root system extending for miles (and of course intimately mutualistic with their mycorrhizal root fungi). The fact that we have difficulty relating to what that consciousness is like, what it might "feel like" is our problem of emotional self-reference; certainly not the tree's fault. And while I know that some folks see my view as nutty, I could care less. I've lived this immersion into other intelligent species intimately my entire life, and as the Paul Simon song goes, "I know what I know".
Technology itself is neutral, as is human knowledge. To blame technology for human evil is about the same as blaming a rock for someone who throws it at someone else.
I have yet to see a scientific theory of "emergence" regarding consciousness that has any rational basis of currently known scientific evidence or workable theory. Even Hameroff and Penrose go so far, and do not (obviously) have a workable or proven theory regarding emergence.
Science cannot even explain how the human psyche perceives the color red, little alone how a consciousness "feels". Aboriginals also "knew what they knew" - but human knowledge has advanced since then, with books and complex digital devices, and one can say the same thing the aboriginals also said even today - but the enigma of reality, and especially the enigma of consciousness remains elusive.
Abiogenesis remains even more scientifically elusive as ever. It appears today, science is even further away from understanding how consciousness originates. And my guess, both of us will be long gone before a reasonable answer (with evidentiary scientific value) is discovered/produced. And from one's own perspective, one can naturally ask - what was it really all about for "me" as an individual? Just a charade of false hopes and dreams? What was it for the 14,000+ Palestinian children just murdered by a sadistic Israeli State?
You're not exactly hearing me. I'm not blaming the technology. I'm blaming the psychopaths — whom it was you who originally cited –- those folks who've cleverly constructed it to enslave; they are not neutral to my mind.
Emergence is clearly a property of systems reaching a certain level of self-regulating complexity, whose dynamic evolution over time can no longer be described by regular predictable (e.g. cyclic feedback) dynamics. In one sense it's true that it's largely theoretical math. But living systems exemplify unexpected, almost irrational nondeterministic outcomes with some regularity, some salubrious, some pathological. I could construct a list of examples, but I'm not writing essays this morning. My point is to get us the hell off the human consciousness standard -- as though the term consciousness must be viewed in that light. There's no reason to say that it does; an expanded view of possibilities is my goal, and I do expect to be long gone as the inquiry and debate rages on.
"I'm not blaming the technology. I'm blaming the psychopaths"
Good. As too often the two become conflated as if both are one and the same.
"Emergence is clearly a property of systems reaching a certain level of self-regulating complexity"
Not even really sure what this even means. As far as I can tell, reductive materialism has proven a no go regarding a rational scientific explanation for consciousness. Even Freud's theories, have for the most part turned out to be mostly unproven sexual mumbo jumbo. It does appear consciousness possesses a spontaneous teleological feature, along with a natural phenomena for symbolic emergence - which may also provide some clue to the self-organizing feature found in other biological systems. Perhaps consciousness serves as some kind of energy trace that causes what one might label as "emergent"? But there is no "physicalist" explanation or hypothesis of "emergence" that has yet to make a lick of scientific sense (to me). How does inorganic material suddenly become "conscious" and self-aware? How do neurons allow the "qualia" that you perceive be the color red? How can a combination of electro-chemical reactions become aware? There is no physicalist answer to this question to date. Not to mention, how physical determinism can explain the collapse of Schrodinger's universal wave function.
"Technology itself is neutral, as is human knowledge. To blame technology for human evil is about the same as blaming a rock for someone who throws it at someone else."
Technology doesn't have agency, but it sure is a component in the progress of anti-social behavior. Power is, essentially, technology; technology always increases; meanwhile, power tends to concentrate, as a "sociopath snowball".
Social media is popular because of social behavior. We're here aren't we, making comments? Heh. Technology provides another avenue of social behavior, but it doesn't remove the inclinations of the human psyche to be social.
I see basically nothing wrong with technology as long as it isn't used for abusive purposes. Like any tool can be used for good or bad. What we need to be concerned about more IMO is the human psyche itself - and how we organize and develop it. Perhaps why education can be so important, along with a healthy society based on collaboration and cooperation, rather than competition and ruthless exploitation, that serves only a relatively few, power hungry psychopaths.
Again, no one is blaming the technology -- it's the clever sociopaths who've constructed that technology into a self-perpetuating web that parasitically feeds off its users, while it enriches (and therefore hugely empowers) them at our expense, for FREE (as compared with the wage slaves of the past who at least received some small compensation for their contribution for work performed) -- in this case giving them data about all aspects of our live and training their bloody algorithms to be more efficient in that entire process. I'd bet you had no experience of the 1980s internet -- an open commons of information transfer that was nothing like it is today. It didn't have to evolve in the way it did. Humans made the choice to drive it in that direction and the rest of us stupidly acquiesced-- of course technology itself is neutral. Anyone feeling the need to preach that to me is wasting his or her breath.
"It started with the 1700's Enclosures in England, common lands fenced off and ultimately becoming the possession of 40K ultra-wealthy landowners"
And today, we (or, the vast majority of the public in the West) think it entirely natural that *every* piece of land is walled off, with some owner, somewhere. It boggles their minds that a piece of land could be free to use.
" 'The problem is that you've given control of these things to a group of greedy psychopaths who care more about maintaining their power than helping mankind.' "
The entropy of politics: Power tends to concentrate, as intelligent sociopaths always claw their way to the top, no matter what the political system. Meanwhile, power is based on technology, and technology always increases.
Power is based on the fact 98% of the population is, essentially, stupid. Evidence of this fact abounds, as in the countless socialist/communist eutopia dreams that, in reality are impossible to realize, and simply result in subjugation of the masses. The prevalence of Ideas like "land free to use" and that "sociopaths "control " things, as if, somehow human power dynamics would not exist, were it not for "socio/psycho paths" are proof of daid stupidity.
A sociopath can't understand why anyone would give up control to cooperate for a common good. "Human power dynamics" among non-sociopaths is tempered by empathy. Among sociopaths, it apparently has no such brakes. So they find it natural to step all over other people on their way to the top, dismissing their socially-cooperating victims as a bunch of idiots.
Communist regimes are the quickest way for sociopaths to exert control (e.g. as vanguards under cover of "dictatorship of the proletariat"), but also is the quickest way for the idiots to get wise. Capitalism takes longer, but it plays out as a leaderless game, and so arguably provides more cover for similar results, in the meantime making highly productive use of the idiots.
Either way, it's great to be an intelligent sociopath, isn't it?
When I saw some videos a couple of days ago of the unprovoked, violent suppression of student and faculty protesters, I thought, “This is it. This has to be the breaking point.” The fascists have completely exposed themselves for what they really are and there is no going back. Enough young people have access to non-MSM information to see that the entire system is rotten to the core. They are not going to back down over a live-streamed genocide being facilitated by their own governments and institutions.
The tactics used by the American police to suppress protests are ISRAELI police tactics designed to suppress the Palestinians. Bludgeon and zip-tie first, maybe ask questions later.
Most of our police training manuals are now based on Israeli ones.
I know this because I was, for a brief time, a member of the Navy's Shore Patrol c. 1990, and WE were trained the old-school way--force only as a last resort and if you use deadly force somebody better have tried to KILL you first--according to Navy Masters-at-Arms who openly despised the Israeli tactics then being taught to the San Diego and LA Police as "anti-American" and "fucking Fascist."
We not only must reject and ultimately starve Zionism to death, but reject their police methods as well.
What has provided me with some hope is actually the extended generation gap from, at one end, pre-Boomers ("greatest generation"?) of UK Holocaust survivors in their 80s and 90s calling out Israeli genocide, at the other, mostly Gen Z Pro-Palestinian Jewish- and Arab-American students in harmony calling for divestment. This coming together of humanity at all its peripheries is desperately needed, and it's finally happening out there. All our moral, physical, and other energies should be directed into its facilitation.
Gen Z's "fierce opposition to the Gaza genocide" does not fill me with hope. As a baby boomer, it's all very familiar to me. In fact my generation had much bigger protests, took over whole universities, mostly in opposition to the Vietnam War. On one hand, we had more cause--the males among us were subject to the draft, and even the women all had lovers of brothers or friends going off to that hellhole. On the other hand, the Gaza debacle is even more horrific, and the constant crimes more visible--note that all the wars in between were sanitized for the public, with reporters embedded and images of flag-drapes coffins prohibited. So millennials and Gen Z have not had such atrocities in their faces before.
But opposition to the Vietnam War, couple with rock n Roll and pot, LSD etc, add in an experimentation with eastern religions, it brought about a real revolution of consciousness...or so it seemed. What has happened since? Most of the 60s hippies now laugh about their "hippie days" or deny them, got to being what our parents wished we were--buttoned down and respectable, interested in our finances and status, wasting our lives like they did. Will Gen Z do the same? Actually I don't think so because The American Way of Life is not just based on injustice--it's also unsustainable even if you're willing to permanently trash and degrade the planet which we clearly are. Thus, big changes are coming. I hope a lot of the Gen Z are preparing for this rather than wasting their time getting college degrees to secure a prosperous career in the 20th century--it ain't never coming back
Im 72 and with my boyfriend made the blotters ( LSD ) that folks were dropping at Woodstock… most of my buddies from those days also completely forgot!! It surprises me also…they are old now and now worried about not having enough money and dying!
But I havent forgotten anything….Im more an activists than ever
I don't believe the war ended because of the protests. What did it was fragging--when the officers couldn't turn their backs on their own men, they couldn't keep the war going. So the Pentagon learned, and quit the draft. Now they rely on the poverty draft, and automation. They kill from planes and from afar using drones; in Ukraine they're using proxies; they're trying to get something similar going using Taiwan to fight the Chinese. It's as evil and ugly as ever, it's never stopped, nor has COINTELPRO, the war at home. I knew in the 70s how many Americans died in Vietnam--58,000, everyone knew that number. But it wasn't until about ten years ago that I heard how many Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians died--between two and four MILLION. Plus all those wounded, all the birth defects from Agent Orange for which the US has never paid reparations--but should.
Yes. Peter, Paul and Mary singing "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" was pretty and hopeful, but ultimately to no avail.
There is a quite exploitable danger in thinking all the members of any "generation" are the same. That's just more wildly successful divisive tactics. There are good people, bad people, and cold-blooded neocons and neoliberals in any generation.
Any generation, any race, any ethnicity, any religion any gender--you can't say anything accurate about any group of people unless it's something physical. People with African ancestry have dark skin. Jews are subject to Tay-Sachs disease. Women have breasts. Baby Boomers have grey hair.
Yep. That's why I snip at millennial grandson when he says okay Boomer. While he is sitting at a PC, playing on the internet. Which were not invented by millennials et al. I am 78 and I do not have much in common, including life experiences, with my 76 years old sister, ffs. And we cannot discuss politics at all. But "blame it on the Boomers" is such a cheap easy shot. As if, say, Buttigieg or Kamala or AOC are going to make anyone's life any better.
Protests were larger in large part because their asses were on the line, as you point out.
Today's protesters aren't afraid of that, although there are other consequences they might suffer still. And yet they are out there, most certainly deserving no less respect, if not more.
HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD as usual Caitlin! I'm applauding all of your perfect efforts to put these atrocities into wise words and catchy headlines! SALUTING you.
Let's support the court case that Columbia students have brought against the university administration at: palestinelegal.org/donate This is the organization who is representing these students. I am sure there will be other students at other universities who will also need our support. If I learn who is representing them, I'll post it.
The USA has NO idea how to deal with China nor did the British during the Opium wars. They move slowly work everything out and keep aggressors waiting.
Both the Chinese and the Russians - and now the Iranians - display huge caution and patience in their dealings with the US who claim to be 'the adults in the room', with their hard headed realistic view of geo-politics. But in fact the Americans behave like angry toddlers, no forethought of consequences, no end goals and tantrum style tactics. Their sober and mature rivals just wait - they have had thousands of years experience of empires from both being empires and being dominated by empires, and they know the pattern. Unfortunately for the world, the US children have been handed access to lethal 4th July fireworks and a box of matches, and will likely burn everything down, including, eventually, their own house.
they are certainly at least equal. Douglas MacGregor is also interesting on all this - he thinks the US supply of weapons and degradation of personnel leaves them vulnerable. He also thinks the war in Ukraine is essentially over with the Russians content to stick where they are, even give up Donbass if there can be a suitable negotiated agreement. However if the US - and the abysmal UK - keep pushing, the Russians will have no choice but to go into western Ukraine. Will out leaders see sense. Unfortunately they have not so far. Maybe the Ukrainians themselves will eventually wake up to the fact that they could never win the war and Russia will never accept NATO on their doorstep. NATO should be disbanded anyway - it's an out of date and dangerous hangover from WW2. The other possibility is that the American public will wake up and realise that everyone is paying tax to support their vaunted arms industry, but only a very few are benefitting- the owners and shareholders of course, and the 750,000 workers that are enjoying lavish lifestyles at the expense of the other 500 million taxpayers. (Unless they remain dumb enough to think that the profits somehow trickle down to them not into CEOs pockets and tax dodging rackets).
I suggest that the US Empire is a very peculiar one, which explains its chaotic behaviors.
There is no one person in charge. Not even a well-defined few.
Rather, the Empire is a vast collection of people or groups of people jockeying for position at a giant trough filled by a limitless money printing machine. This jockeying is what drives much of what we see as political conflict in the Empire. (Many of us are probably involved to some extent in this ourselves.)
However, the people fighting for position at the trough do come together to fend off threats to the trough itself. Since there are not standard procedures or centralized control over how this is done, clear goals and strategies don't develop. This empire's behavior is chaotic and reactive.
just as in Ukraine the mad military morons in the US will keep pushing, keep moving arms into the region - they have already built bases on various small islands - the Chinese government puts up with it. The US parades it's fleet of battleships up and down the coast of China to 'protect shipping' - but no commercial shipping has ever been affected. China puts up with it. Eventually the Americans will be so stupid they will install armaments on Taiwan itself, and that will be the tipping point. A 'Cuba' moment for China. They will insist the US leaves, and if they don't then China has 2 choices. One is a very expensive invasion by sea and air - they surely see what that has cost Russia in Ukraine. The other is to simply flatten Taiwan with missiles. As usual the Americans don't care for the people of Taiwan even slightly - they are quite content to see the country reduced to rubble and hundreds of thousands die just to get a PR victory at home portraying China as the baddies. It's fucking pathetic and insane.
It’s way past time to get the Biden Administration charged under 18 U.S. Code § 1091, which is the statute that incorporated the Genocide Convention in US criminal law. Members of this administration shouldn't go a single day without having this statute in their faces, up front and center at every protest at every meeting, press conference, briefing, and trips home and abroad.
They may feel they are immune now, but let's get them considering what is possible when they leave office, given they have set the precedent of charging former presidents. They should have visions of prison all the days of their lives.
And maybe the propagandists in the Mainstream Media needs tp be encouraged to think about their culpability as well.
Caitlin I love your stuff… I read it every day.
But lets not forget its the sacrifice of the Palestinian people that are saving the world!
They are the ones that are suffering on the cross for the sins of the world!
We thank Gen Z’s for their bravery, intelligence and commitment to stand for the greater good!
Magnificent point. This Boomer was beguiled by the Zionists and Neocons. I was a hard core supporter of the Zionist State of Israel. It all came to an abrupt end when I saw a map of "Israel" which was a series of three maps. I proceeded to learn the short history of modern Israel. I learned who the real terrorists are.
The DNC must die! The RNC must die! AIPAC must die! NATO must die! The Anglo-Zionist Empire of Lies and Hate must die! We Americans must de-Nazify our nation to make it worthy of the blessings there from.
If history is any guide, de-Nazification of the American government is a large, difficult, lengthy process that America has no aptitude or patience for. At the end of WWII we got all geared up for the task and then dropped it in favor of whisking all the top German generals and scientists here to lend their expertise to the war machine and building our nuclear arsenal.
The United States of America is the fabled Lebensraum the Nazis sought in the East. The “Heartland” is the cradle of White Nationalism, populated by people who have never met an African-American yet profess to be terrified of them. Angry ignorant Kinder, Kuche und Kirche people. To the South of the Midwest lie the racist apartheid states, and in the West, the alpine strongholds of White Christian Nationalism. It would be one thing if they were confined to just these areas, but Nazis, Christian-Zionists, White Nationalists and all the rest of them are everywhere. You will never rid the country of them. The best we can do is provide for the citizens by way of meaningful job growth and financial security. Plus,a decent network of government agencies to provide for people who need assistance. Other countries manage to do this. Of course it will mean defunding the military, cutting back on our overseas commitments, and redirecting our tax dollars to serve the people of the United States, and not alien and foreign regimes like Israel.
Damn, Nelly, you've encapsulated everything I've written in the past. You wrote a superb comment which is US history since 1945. I could add more like the human experiments, biolabs and using Pacific Islanders for guinea pigs on islands downwind of the H-Bomb Tests.
Pleased to meet you.🕊️
How much field work have you done in these "Heartland" states?
Pleased to meet you as well, and thank you for the compliment. You may count me among your subscribers.
The use of the word 'Die' is a tactical error on your part and provides very useful fodder for Hasbara.
Point taken. Thanks Levi!
I think it might be better to suggest they be restrained, or stopped. No one needs to 'die.'
It’s meant metaphorically, organisations that must die, perfectly valid.
Thanks Jane.😘
I'm angry and anger is good if directed at those deserving. However, you made a magnificent point! I must cool down, be humble and calm.
Sure being humble and calm are important, but not against evil, genocidal rogue states like the US and Israel. I would say the opposite. Be angry. Be very angry against Israel and its backers. Boycott Israel. Destroy the US's dollar hegemony.
No. Don't let the weaklings, who are afraid of losing their "comforts", dictate your words. Store and focus your rage so it can be utilized properly at the right time. Never give it up.
How about dismantled?
Bullshit. The DNC (the entire uniparty) and AIPAC are vile, corrupt, and evil and no longer have a right to exist. No matter what it takes.
Because of Hollywood and corporate media, we, in the US, were all raised Zionist. I will always be thankful to the Jewish members of my military unit for breaking my media conditioned idea of Israel.
As to your 2nd paragraph, you sound properly pissed off and I relate wholeheartedly. No more of this pathetically weak "Shame on them" or "They should be ashamed." crap we hear from a lot of posters.
Bernie Sanders released a statement in support of Israel. His real message was that once Netanyahu is gone we can all go back to pretending Israel is a good place deserving of our billions and weaponry and continued support for theft of Palestinian land.
You probably read his statement ostensibly in support of protestors, a statement that should be read in light of this being a reelection year for him.
I would remind Bernie that here is the Israel he is supporting:
Re-application for admittance to the World Community
Why I, The State of Israel, believe I am a good candidate.
1) I torture UN workers
2) I bomb embassies
3) I refuse to declare my official borders as I want more and more of other countries' (plural) land
4) I openly interfere in the affairs of other countries.
5) All criticism by any member of the World Community just reinforces my sense of privileged Victimhood
6) I never tell a lie as I have no concept. I only know what serves me.
7) I invented the Samson Option and will take the rest of you with me.
8) I commit collective punishment
9) I kidnap thousands, including children, with no judicial oversight
10) I will commit torture if I see fit and even if I don't
11) I oppress occupied inhabitants and enjoy doing so
12) I commit rape with impunity against mine enemies
13) I steal land with impunity
14) I murder with impunity
15) I commit Genocide
16) I look forward to war and prod my neighbors for more
17) I need money, send a check
18) I commit false flags and if friends or even my own people are sacrificed so be it.
19) I implement the Hannibal Doctrine
20) Treachery and betrayal of my own people are a means to an end
21) I support and conduct terrorism.
22) I openly interfere in the affairs of other countries, seeking support for all of the above
23) I know that I can count on other amoral nations to support my wars, oppression and theft.
24) I know that the World Community will not stop me as I commit future Genocides
Jesus! Israel should be banished to a lunar penal colony.
25) I am the only safe lodge for The Chosen Ones !!
This just about hits the nail on the head, sadly.
Or, might makes right.
Therefore, might is the only value worth respecting and seeking.
Ding! Wrong answer.
I'm not advocating it, I'm describing it.
Ah! I apologize. My fault, I didn’t catch your meaning.
Exactly, Andrea. The Gen Z'rs occupying the universities are amazing and I am sooooo glad they are there. But generations before did the same thing and some died for it. Kent State, 1970. Palestinian students are in solidarity with the rest of the student world. That is new, because of social media. Palestinians, students or not, are brave and they do give us hope for real change in the world by their tenacity and resistance.
Thank goodness for Gen Z
Thank goodness for young people in every generation who see the bullshit of the adults around them. Too bad so many forget it as they get older.
I do hope the largely Gen Z protesters contemplate that it is the nearly unfettered free speech legal framework of the United States -- established in 1789 -- that helped them turn this around.
If it weren't for that, don't kid yourself that they wouldn't mow down the camps post-haste, completely silencing everyone and everything, in and outside them, Tiananmen Square style. The monsters who run the US (and the West) would like nothing better. Occupy is (was?) their template for pushing the U.S. envelope; the Kent State / Jackson State victims of 1970 did not die in vain.
1. That jerkstain shouting "Kill the Jews!" was assuredly an agent provocateur.
2. Regarding Chinese "expansionism", the last time Chinese troops went into combat was 1979. Contrast the track record of the entirely peaceful and freedom-luvin' United States since that time.
Hell, even Hitler claimed to be defending himself.
The rhetoric - followed by actions - of the US/Israel is 100% Hitler-like. Hitler just studied and applied gangster methods in politics.
I think, actually, they admire Hitler and study how he operated so they can imitate him. I think they have done a good job, perhaps being even a bit more intense than Hitler.
Based on history, most of what Hitler (+ Goebbels, etc.) learnt was from the US (eugenics, racism, propaganda (Edward Bernays), etc.).
Goebbels is known to specifically praise Bernays' "Propaganda" and to have learned from it. Here's a piece of interview with him expressing admiration of the American way of the time: https://youtu.be/DnPmg0R1M04?t=2616
figures
Here are two short pamphlets by Ensor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ensor) worth reading to get a sense of what Hitler was and how he was perceived in 1939:
- 'Who Hitler Is' https://archive.org/details/whohitleris0000enso/page/36/mode/2up
- 'Herr Hitler's self-disclosure in Mein Kampf' https://archive.org/details/herrhitlersselfd0000enso/page/30/mode/2up
1. I'm probably what They refer to as a "free-speech absolutist". Chanting "Kill the Jews!" is not cause for arrest, unless a direct order to kill.
That said, it's a very bad look for a protest demanding fair treatment of Palestinians, so it's great that the pro-Israel provocateur who started the chant was outed.
2. And after about a month, Big China's war against little Vietnam ended in a standoff, with Vietnam still in control of Cambodia. (Although Microsoft's AI tells me that Vietnam suffered much heavier casualties.)
I like the expression: Jerk stain. I am indebted to you, Finster.
The Finster aims to please.
"The problem isn't a lack of money, food, water or land. The problem is that you've given control of these things to a group of greedy psychopaths who care more about maintaining their power than helping mankind."
~Bill Hicks, stand-up comedian, social critic (1961-1994)
And we didn't learn. It started with the 1700's Enclosures in England, common lands fenced off and ultimately becoming the possession of 40K ultra-wealthy landowners, fueling the industrial revolution as the dispossessed migrated to cities to become the serfs of factory owners; at least those workers were paid, poorly of course. Now, we freely give our labor to the tech oligarchs by training their algorithms to train us to better train them to train us to be better consumers and contributors of our data, in a reiterative cycle with every click an unpaid contribution to their already hugely excessive wealth. And in that role as techno-serfs ("TechnoFeudalism", Yanis Varoufakis), we are largely un-remunerated. We freaking do it for free. Hence we have devolved economically. Clever stuff by our psychopath masters!
Sure no one can reasonably debate these historical facts, as much as no one cannot debate the fact consciousness exists but science has not yet demonstrated how it exists and what produces it.
The problem I see is the faulty assumption that getting rid of government altogether will resolves the cyclical corruption, when clearly the complex social dynamics of a civilized society requires organized rules, regulations and laws for individual freedom to thrive, and for large groups of people to live in some kind of semblance of equanimity and fairness. Even though one can point to a whole slew of historic incidences where the psychopathic masters have ruled, one can also point to a number of historic incidences where the working class has achieved some victories - including the abolishment of slavery, the regulated, and lawful universal healthcare practiced in most enlightened advance countries today, the greater equality of men and women practiced - and so on.
As like anything, including the scientific investigation of consciousness, from William James to B.F. Skinner, one can find good and bad. Bogus theories and solid empirical data that refutes any kind of false assumptions one may attribute to consciousness or what produces consciousness. For example, correlation is not causation, neural correlation is not the same as neural causation.
The human race does progress at a donkey slow pace. But many mysteries remain unresolved. Including the basis of moral judgement within the human psyche. Or the origination and nature of the human psyche. Why does the psyche even exist? Why does the universe exist? Those who come up with simple, quick banal answers to these questions fail to understand the depth, and scientific enigma of both questions.
Quite a learned disquisition, Jamenta. Er, um… thank you. Yes indeed. Indeed. The topic of course was the student protests against the current Zionist genocide in Gaza.
I sometimes feel like a Stranger in a Strange Land. But I need to get back to practicing Debussy's Reverie. Piano teacher insists I need more legato in my Left Hand. A slave driver! Au Revoir.
That's how you know your piano teacher reads your comments!
"the faulty assumption that getting rid of government altogether will resolves the cyclical corruption"
Exactly. Power always tends to concentrate, as intelligent sociopaths always find a way to claw their way to the top and help themselves, no matter what the political system. Rinse and repeat.
Yes. For me it's more about a problem with the psyche rather than a problem with "grouped social structures" i.e. governments, which I believe are a necessity for any civilized nation. And maybe that's what it's really all about anyway, (all this - reality) the psyche. Afterall, there can be no meaning without the psyche - and reality (perceiving itself) could not even know itself as real, without the psyche.
I agree, governments are necessary, at least to manage complexity in certain ways. (Libertarianism seems easily as big a pipe dream as communism.) Could you define psyche here and its scope? Thanks
"Could you define psyche here and its scope?:
LOL. No I really cannot. Even though I have a thousand books sitting here in this room of mine. There are plenty of definitions for it - that's for damn sure. The best I've seen (personally) that I lean toward is Carl Jung's lifetime of work studying the "psyche". But defining it - you got me. Although I do lean toward believing the psyche itself is a fundamental element in the reality we experience, and is not the product of something else. But that remains scientifically unproven. It's just what I feel is likely true - based on what I have read including Jung's own extensive research and work with the psyche, and perhaps the more recent work of scientists like Pim van Lommel.
What is your definition, if you have one?
You raise questions that neither I nor anyone else can answer from our currently limited perspective. But I'm not sure what it has to do with the digital strictures with which we've currently tied ourselves up and their vast empowering impetus to the tech oligarchs and their big corporate associates; in other words, the seduction of this stuff seems like a hell of a challenge for the working class (your reference) to extricate itself from. Maybe you'll be alive to see how the arc of history plays out; I doubt I will be. And while I'm here, I confine my social media presence to groups like this Substack-based one; no X, no FB, no nothing else.
As to consciousness: for me as a systems biologist, I insist on viewing it apart from HUMAN consciousness, considering it rather a feature emergent from the complexity achieved by many complex adaptive systems. Trees are conscious in my schema — particularly complex colonies of trees like aspens with a common root system extending for miles (and of course intimately mutualistic with their mycorrhizal root fungi). The fact that we have difficulty relating to what that consciousness is like, what it might "feel like" is our problem of emotional self-reference; certainly not the tree's fault. And while I know that some folks see my view as nutty, I could care less. I've lived this immersion into other intelligent species intimately my entire life, and as the Paul Simon song goes, "I know what I know".
Technology itself is neutral, as is human knowledge. To blame technology for human evil is about the same as blaming a rock for someone who throws it at someone else.
I have yet to see a scientific theory of "emergence" regarding consciousness that has any rational basis of currently known scientific evidence or workable theory. Even Hameroff and Penrose go so far, and do not (obviously) have a workable or proven theory regarding emergence.
Science cannot even explain how the human psyche perceives the color red, little alone how a consciousness "feels". Aboriginals also "knew what they knew" - but human knowledge has advanced since then, with books and complex digital devices, and one can say the same thing the aboriginals also said even today - but the enigma of reality, and especially the enigma of consciousness remains elusive.
Abiogenesis remains even more scientifically elusive as ever. It appears today, science is even further away from understanding how consciousness originates. And my guess, both of us will be long gone before a reasonable answer (with evidentiary scientific value) is discovered/produced. And from one's own perspective, one can naturally ask - what was it really all about for "me" as an individual? Just a charade of false hopes and dreams? What was it for the 14,000+ Palestinian children just murdered by a sadistic Israeli State?
You're not exactly hearing me. I'm not blaming the technology. I'm blaming the psychopaths — whom it was you who originally cited –- those folks who've cleverly constructed it to enslave; they are not neutral to my mind.
Emergence is clearly a property of systems reaching a certain level of self-regulating complexity, whose dynamic evolution over time can no longer be described by regular predictable (e.g. cyclic feedback) dynamics. In one sense it's true that it's largely theoretical math. But living systems exemplify unexpected, almost irrational nondeterministic outcomes with some regularity, some salubrious, some pathological. I could construct a list of examples, but I'm not writing essays this morning. My point is to get us the hell off the human consciousness standard -- as though the term consciousness must be viewed in that light. There's no reason to say that it does; an expanded view of possibilities is my goal, and I do expect to be long gone as the inquiry and debate rages on.
"I'm not blaming the technology. I'm blaming the psychopaths"
Good. As too often the two become conflated as if both are one and the same.
"Emergence is clearly a property of systems reaching a certain level of self-regulating complexity"
Not even really sure what this even means. As far as I can tell, reductive materialism has proven a no go regarding a rational scientific explanation for consciousness. Even Freud's theories, have for the most part turned out to be mostly unproven sexual mumbo jumbo. It does appear consciousness possesses a spontaneous teleological feature, along with a natural phenomena for symbolic emergence - which may also provide some clue to the self-organizing feature found in other biological systems. Perhaps consciousness serves as some kind of energy trace that causes what one might label as "emergent"? But there is no "physicalist" explanation or hypothesis of "emergence" that has yet to make a lick of scientific sense (to me). How does inorganic material suddenly become "conscious" and self-aware? How do neurons allow the "qualia" that you perceive be the color red? How can a combination of electro-chemical reactions become aware? There is no physicalist answer to this question to date. Not to mention, how physical determinism can explain the collapse of Schrodinger's universal wave function.
"Technology itself is neutral, as is human knowledge. To blame technology for human evil is about the same as blaming a rock for someone who throws it at someone else."
Technology doesn't have agency, but it sure is a component in the progress of anti-social behavior. Power is, essentially, technology; technology always increases; meanwhile, power tends to concentrate, as a "sociopath snowball".
Social media is popular because of social behavior. We're here aren't we, making comments? Heh. Technology provides another avenue of social behavior, but it doesn't remove the inclinations of the human psyche to be social.
I see basically nothing wrong with technology as long as it isn't used for abusive purposes. Like any tool can be used for good or bad. What we need to be concerned about more IMO is the human psyche itself - and how we organize and develop it. Perhaps why education can be so important, along with a healthy society based on collaboration and cooperation, rather than competition and ruthless exploitation, that serves only a relatively few, power hungry psychopaths.
Again, no one is blaming the technology -- it's the clever sociopaths who've constructed that technology into a self-perpetuating web that parasitically feeds off its users, while it enriches (and therefore hugely empowers) them at our expense, for FREE (as compared with the wage slaves of the past who at least received some small compensation for their contribution for work performed) -- in this case giving them data about all aspects of our live and training their bloody algorithms to be more efficient in that entire process. I'd bet you had no experience of the 1980s internet -- an open commons of information transfer that was nothing like it is today. It didn't have to evolve in the way it did. Humans made the choice to drive it in that direction and the rest of us stupidly acquiesced-- of course technology itself is neutral. Anyone feeling the need to preach that to me is wasting his or her breath.
Dystopia….
"It started with the 1700's Enclosures in England, common lands fenced off and ultimately becoming the possession of 40K ultra-wealthy landowners"
And today, we (or, the vast majority of the public in the West) think it entirely natural that *every* piece of land is walled off, with some owner, somewhere. It boggles their minds that a piece of land could be free to use.
" 'The problem is that you've given control of these things to a group of greedy psychopaths who care more about maintaining their power than helping mankind.' "
The entropy of politics: Power tends to concentrate, as intelligent sociopaths always claw their way to the top, no matter what the political system. Meanwhile, power is based on technology, and technology always increases.
Power is based on the fact 98% of the population is, essentially, stupid. Evidence of this fact abounds, as in the countless socialist/communist eutopia dreams that, in reality are impossible to realize, and simply result in subjugation of the masses. The prevalence of Ideas like "land free to use" and that "sociopaths "control " things, as if, somehow human power dynamics would not exist, were it not for "socio/psycho paths" are proof of daid stupidity.
A sociopath can't understand why anyone would give up control to cooperate for a common good. "Human power dynamics" among non-sociopaths is tempered by empathy. Among sociopaths, it apparently has no such brakes. So they find it natural to step all over other people on their way to the top, dismissing their socially-cooperating victims as a bunch of idiots.
Communist regimes are the quickest way for sociopaths to exert control (e.g. as vanguards under cover of "dictatorship of the proletariat"), but also is the quickest way for the idiots to get wise. Capitalism takes longer, but it plays out as a leaderless game, and so arguably provides more cover for similar results, in the meantime making highly productive use of the idiots.
Either way, it's great to be an intelligent sociopath, isn't it?
When I saw some videos a couple of days ago of the unprovoked, violent suppression of student and faculty protesters, I thought, “This is it. This has to be the breaking point.” The fascists have completely exposed themselves for what they really are and there is no going back. Enough young people have access to non-MSM information to see that the entire system is rotten to the core. They are not going to back down over a live-streamed genocide being facilitated by their own governments and institutions.
The tactics used by the American police to suppress protests are ISRAELI police tactics designed to suppress the Palestinians. Bludgeon and zip-tie first, maybe ask questions later.
Most of our police training manuals are now based on Israeli ones.
I know this because I was, for a brief time, a member of the Navy's Shore Patrol c. 1990, and WE were trained the old-school way--force only as a last resort and if you use deadly force somebody better have tried to KILL you first--according to Navy Masters-at-Arms who openly despised the Israeli tactics then being taught to the San Diego and LA Police as "anti-American" and "fucking Fascist."
We not only must reject and ultimately starve Zionism to death, but reject their police methods as well.
Barbarian, are there close ties between the US police and Israel? Would Israel ever send police here to put down the student demonstrations?
Agree 100%!!
Absolutely correct
What has provided me with some hope is actually the extended generation gap from, at one end, pre-Boomers ("greatest generation"?) of UK Holocaust survivors in their 80s and 90s calling out Israeli genocide, at the other, mostly Gen Z Pro-Palestinian Jewish- and Arab-American students in harmony calling for divestment. This coming together of humanity at all its peripheries is desperately needed, and it's finally happening out there. All our moral, physical, and other energies should be directed into its facilitation.
I can't agree with you more!
Gen Z's "fierce opposition to the Gaza genocide" does not fill me with hope. As a baby boomer, it's all very familiar to me. In fact my generation had much bigger protests, took over whole universities, mostly in opposition to the Vietnam War. On one hand, we had more cause--the males among us were subject to the draft, and even the women all had lovers of brothers or friends going off to that hellhole. On the other hand, the Gaza debacle is even more horrific, and the constant crimes more visible--note that all the wars in between were sanitized for the public, with reporters embedded and images of flag-drapes coffins prohibited. So millennials and Gen Z have not had such atrocities in their faces before.
But opposition to the Vietnam War, couple with rock n Roll and pot, LSD etc, add in an experimentation with eastern religions, it brought about a real revolution of consciousness...or so it seemed. What has happened since? Most of the 60s hippies now laugh about their "hippie days" or deny them, got to being what our parents wished we were--buttoned down and respectable, interested in our finances and status, wasting our lives like they did. Will Gen Z do the same? Actually I don't think so because The American Way of Life is not just based on injustice--it's also unsustainable even if you're willing to permanently trash and degrade the planet which we clearly are. Thus, big changes are coming. I hope a lot of the Gen Z are preparing for this rather than wasting their time getting college degrees to secure a prosperous career in the 20th century--it ain't never coming back
Im 72 and with my boyfriend made the blotters ( LSD ) that folks were dropping at Woodstock… most of my buddies from those days also completely forgot!! It surprises me also…they are old now and now worried about not having enough money and dying!
But I havent forgotten anything….Im more an activists than ever
Give me liberty or give me death!
Make Love….. Not War
Love the ones who hate….!!!
Mary,
The vietnam war did end after the protesting and KILLING of students….
Im praying that we dont need dead students to end this!
I don't believe the war ended because of the protests. What did it was fragging--when the officers couldn't turn their backs on their own men, they couldn't keep the war going. So the Pentagon learned, and quit the draft. Now they rely on the poverty draft, and automation. They kill from planes and from afar using drones; in Ukraine they're using proxies; they're trying to get something similar going using Taiwan to fight the Chinese. It's as evil and ugly as ever, it's never stopped, nor has COINTELPRO, the war at home. I knew in the 70s how many Americans died in Vietnam--58,000, everyone knew that number. But it wasn't until about ten years ago that I heard how many Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians died--between two and four MILLION. Plus all those wounded, all the birth defects from Agent Orange for which the US has never paid reparations--but should.
Yes. Peter, Paul and Mary singing "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" was pretty and hopeful, but ultimately to no avail.
There is a quite exploitable danger in thinking all the members of any "generation" are the same. That's just more wildly successful divisive tactics. There are good people, bad people, and cold-blooded neocons and neoliberals in any generation.
Any generation, any race, any ethnicity, any religion any gender--you can't say anything accurate about any group of people unless it's something physical. People with African ancestry have dark skin. Jews are subject to Tay-Sachs disease. Women have breasts. Baby Boomers have grey hair.
Yep. That's why I snip at millennial grandson when he says okay Boomer. While he is sitting at a PC, playing on the internet. Which were not invented by millennials et al. I am 78 and I do not have much in common, including life experiences, with my 76 years old sister, ffs. And we cannot discuss politics at all. But "blame it on the Boomers" is such a cheap easy shot. As if, say, Buttigieg or Kamala or AOC are going to make anyone's life any better.
Protests were larger in large part because their asses were on the line, as you point out.
Today's protesters aren't afraid of that, although there are other consequences they might suffer still. And yet they are out there, most certainly deserving no less respect, if not more.
HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD as usual Caitlin! I'm applauding all of your perfect efforts to put these atrocities into wise words and catchy headlines! SALUTING you.
Let's support the court case that Columbia students have brought against the university administration at: palestinelegal.org/donate This is the organization who is representing these students. I am sure there will be other students at other universities who will also need our support. If I learn who is representing them, I'll post it.
Thanks Joy.
I'm grateful for Gen Z and this Boomer is with you all the way! I'm not the only one.
Me too a boomer has spent time in prison and fined for protesting.
😘💞 I'm ready to join the cause! I'm on the hunt for announcements of upcoming events so I can march with them.
Hands down, that dude was a fed.
I certainly wouldn't take that bet.
Thank-you for sharing your message…
Your awakening is the yellow rose growing in the rubble in Gaza 🙏🏽♥️
Stupidity reigns Supreme in the US
The USA has NO idea how to deal with China nor did the British during the Opium wars. They move slowly work everything out and keep aggressors waiting.
Both the Chinese and the Russians - and now the Iranians - display huge caution and patience in their dealings with the US who claim to be 'the adults in the room', with their hard headed realistic view of geo-politics. But in fact the Americans behave like angry toddlers, no forethought of consequences, no end goals and tantrum style tactics. Their sober and mature rivals just wait - they have had thousands of years experience of empires from both being empires and being dominated by empires, and they know the pattern. Unfortunately for the world, the US children have been handed access to lethal 4th July fireworks and a box of matches, and will likely burn everything down, including, eventually, their own house.
I think you will find if you listen to Scott Ritter and Simplicius the Russians in particular have way superior weapons to the USA
Reminding everyone…
Jill Stein our ant-genocide candidate got for President got arrested with the students on campus yesterday…. A publicity stunt? Maybe?
A brilliant one!!! 💪 people -planet -peace
they are certainly at least equal. Douglas MacGregor is also interesting on all this - he thinks the US supply of weapons and degradation of personnel leaves them vulnerable. He also thinks the war in Ukraine is essentially over with the Russians content to stick where they are, even give up Donbass if there can be a suitable negotiated agreement. However if the US - and the abysmal UK - keep pushing, the Russians will have no choice but to go into western Ukraine. Will out leaders see sense. Unfortunately they have not so far. Maybe the Ukrainians themselves will eventually wake up to the fact that they could never win the war and Russia will never accept NATO on their doorstep. NATO should be disbanded anyway - it's an out of date and dangerous hangover from WW2. The other possibility is that the American public will wake up and realise that everyone is paying tax to support their vaunted arms industry, but only a very few are benefitting- the owners and shareholders of course, and the 750,000 workers that are enjoying lavish lifestyles at the expense of the other 500 million taxpayers. (Unless they remain dumb enough to think that the profits somehow trickle down to them not into CEOs pockets and tax dodging rackets).
I suggest that the US Empire is a very peculiar one, which explains its chaotic behaviors.
There is no one person in charge. Not even a well-defined few.
Rather, the Empire is a vast collection of people or groups of people jockeying for position at a giant trough filled by a limitless money printing machine. This jockeying is what drives much of what we see as political conflict in the Empire. (Many of us are probably involved to some extent in this ourselves.)
However, the people fighting for position at the trough do come together to fend off threats to the trough itself. Since there are not standard procedures or centralized control over how this is done, clear goals and strategies don't develop. This empire's behavior is chaotic and reactive.
I like your analysis. Thanks!
Well said Chris Leeds!
just as in Ukraine the mad military morons in the US will keep pushing, keep moving arms into the region - they have already built bases on various small islands - the Chinese government puts up with it. The US parades it's fleet of battleships up and down the coast of China to 'protect shipping' - but no commercial shipping has ever been affected. China puts up with it. Eventually the Americans will be so stupid they will install armaments on Taiwan itself, and that will be the tipping point. A 'Cuba' moment for China. They will insist the US leaves, and if they don't then China has 2 choices. One is a very expensive invasion by sea and air - they surely see what that has cost Russia in Ukraine. The other is to simply flatten Taiwan with missiles. As usual the Americans don't care for the people of Taiwan even slightly - they are quite content to see the country reduced to rubble and hundreds of thousands die just to get a PR victory at home portraying China as the baddies. It's fucking pathetic and insane.
I’m proud of these protesters! - Old Vietnam War Protester
It’s way past time to get the Biden Administration charged under 18 U.S. Code § 1091, which is the statute that incorporated the Genocide Convention in US criminal law. Members of this administration shouldn't go a single day without having this statute in their faces, up front and center at every protest at every meeting, press conference, briefing, and trips home and abroad.
They may feel they are immune now, but let's get them considering what is possible when they leave office, given they have set the precedent of charging former presidents. They should have visions of prison all the days of their lives.
And maybe the propagandists in the Mainstream Media needs tp be encouraged to think about their culpability as well.
Let us find the way.