This entire disgusting gushing coverage of Eden Andersen in the MSM has brought me to the precipice of gigantic reverse peristalsis. A US-Israel dual-drone Zionist is just about the last traitorous entity I want to hear about, much less celebrate release of. May he and all Zionazis -- especially those idiot Americans who crave a stint in the IDF -- all burn in Hades together.
It's sickening how the legacy media celebrates an IDF Muslim-hating babykiller but won't breathe a damn word about his young victims. Americans are too fucking stupid to realize warmongering, evil Zionists hijacked our governent long ago and won't realize it until they are deported or incarcerated.
What is ignored is the core racism of the situation. America, a white supremacist country, counts on this underlying prejudice when reporting on Israel and its genocide. Then they use anti-semitism as a weapon against free speech which the oligarch and their political toadies have been trying to kill in this country. And this is for both Parties so let's get over our belief that we have 2 different political Parties in the US. They both have attacked free speech and both have supported racism. They both are war mongering and imperialist with the same hegemonic belief in their superiority and entitlement to control the world and all its people. And this includes doing away with millions of people whom they see as excess population that no longer serve any use.
That is my exact point! People of color are treated the same by white western supremacist and I include the Israelis as well as they subscribe to the same vile hatred of dark skin people, even when they are Jewish! FYI, there are Black, African Jews that trace their heritage back to the 12 tribes. They were treated like scum when they immigrated to Israel. And so are the darker Misrahi Jews that hailed from the ME historically (Morocco for example)
One thing we don't hear is there are about 23,000 Americans serving in the IDF!!! using their dual citizenship. This article says GOP wants military benefits to Americans serving the IDF!!!!! People need to know this and make calls, write letters, post on social media loud protests!
With Russia we need to remember that ever since their revolution, 1917-18 that State has been serially labelled an enemy with hostile characterizations. It is a country that most Americans know nothing about so they serve as an invisible 'germ' to promote fear mongering propaganda in this country. If it weren't for the USSR WWII would have been lost with Russia losing about 30 million people. Ukraine that was totally nazified during WWII, killing about 60,000 Jews and is still a Nazi controlled State has been sold to Americans as our allies. Talk about turning reality on its head. Is it any wonder that Russia has serious issues with the current Ukraine nazified ideology controlling that State and destroying the Russian speaking population there!
It isn't that Americans are stupid, but rather ill-informed.
Caitlin didn't say anything about how dumb Americans are and so she communicates her position in a way that won't offend people.
It is also helpful to provide links to help persuade people of your position.
For example, I don't call them "Zionists" because that deflects from the criminal nature of the structure which springs from Capitalism itself. I call them the "Jewish Mafia" (related to Meyer Lansky's National Crime Syndicate) or the "Jewish Lobby" (AIPAC or ADL)
Aaron Good has an outstanding series of YouTubes on the "Jewish Mafia" which back up the many articles he posts on his web site. Lansky was one of many participants in the murder of JFK. Jack Ruby worked for Lansky. This organization didn't just "go away". It is still very much in control of portions of the American geopolitical economy.
But it is important to realize that the "Jewish Mafia" is just a subset of the American Oligarchy. Good delves into the history of the Oligarchy in his outstanding YouTube series "Empire and the Deep State". There are also the technofeudalists and the Boston Brahmins. A new participant is making itself known: The South African Cabal.
And AI search returns:
"President Trump has invited white South Africans, specifically Afrikaners, to seek refugee status in the U.S., claiming they face discrimination in South Africa. This initiative allows them a fast-tracked pathway to citizenship, contrasting with the suspension of other refugee programs."
Peter Thiel and Elon Musk are members of this group.
There are many other subsets or groupings of the Oligarchy. They make and break alliances whenever it is convenient. Trump is an expert at creating the chaos in which he can change direction on a dime depending on who offers the best bribe. The new 747 for example may have been the clincher in the deal to abandon Netanyahu. (Of course, the fact that Ansar Allah kicked the US navy in the teeth has a lot to do with Trump's retreat, but the "news" is all about the 747.)
A quote which I forget who to attribute to is, "The purest expression of Capitalism is the mafia." Some scholars have suggested that the first implementations of Capitalism were just protection rackets.
A little Marx from Wolff, Hudson and Joti Brar will explain that the USA is now in "end-stage capitalism". The criminals are only interested in maintaining their positions of power and prestige. This is why Trump is turning his back on Ukraine and Europe. The US lost. It is important to understand that it was the Jews in the PNAC crowd that lead the criminal Oligarchy on its disastrous attempt to attain American Hegemony. The other crime families went along with it because it was profitable. But now, well the South African criminals are maneuvering to take out the Jews. We are the mice getting trampled by the elephants.
Israel is nothing more than a proxy, like Ukraine (which was used to try to overthrow the Russian government), to create international chaos which could then be used to exploit the nations of the Middle East. Israel was supported to install settler-colonialists in the Middle East. An often repeated tactic. Richard Wolff's PhD thesis was on how the British used these tactics to take over Kenya.
The PNAC crowd stumbled on the rock of iran, which was suppose to be taken out before Russia -- next on the list, allowing the USA to pivot to Asia (China). Luckily for Iran, Russia and China the PNAC crowd was not well organized with different "members" advocating different approaches. The other cohorts that make up the American Oligarchy are now realizing this is the time to tear the "Jewish Mob" apart.
If you don't know who the real criminals are you get lost supporting different factions. In the end you still are ruled by criminals.
I prefer to see Americans, etc as intentionally dumbed down so they can be controlled. This is the job of propaganda. Our social institutions are all constructed to support the Economic one; ie Capitalism. Our education system is quite perfect in its role of providing the kind of thinking and skills sought by Capitalism and its corporate controllers. The education tracking system has disappeared only in name as children are still tracked, oftimes surreptitiously with differential expectations, support offered or not, access to meaningful books, etc. Organized religion does its part to keep people in line. The family is always required to support the system or it is attacked; ie children removed when parents want to home school or teach a different politic or attitudes about the medical industry, etc. Demanding obedience instead of independent thinking is core to the process.
It's far worse even, because all these algorithms we take for granted are written for efficiency. Of what? Profitability, for the most part, of course. This builds in biases that are never examined except by enlightened mathematicians like Cathy O'Neill (in her book, "Weapons of Math Destruction", highly recommended). Poor, minority already ostracized communities get further removed from wealth and power as a consequence of these hidden algorithmic biases, and no one gives a crap because they serve the interests of our Capitalist oligarch massas.
The media doesn’t point out that Eden is an American who joined the Israeli military so he could kill unarmed Palestinians. If this ‘brave’ young man wanted to protect innocents he could have joined the American military… or wait…they don’t protect innocents either.
"Our real enemies are not those living in a distant land whose names or policies we don’t understand; The real enemy is a system that wages war when it’s profitable, the CEOs who lay us off our jobs when it’s profitable, the insurance companies who deny us health care when it’s profitable, the banks who take away our homes when it’s profitable. Our enemies are not 5000 miles away. They are right here at home."
One step further. Illegal under the freaking Espionage Act -- i.e., treason. Particularly touchy one for me: When I worked for DOE with a security clearance, managers would wave the Espionage Act at us with a vengeance. Just for the hell of it. There were posters in secure vaults of that imprisoned supposedly turncoat FBI agent whose name I can gratefully no longer recall (was a famous case) -- to let us know that jail time awaited violators who might improperly handle a piece of classified info [HA, Biden and Trump both cleaned their toilets with some]. BUT, you can go kill babies for bloody Israel -- that's not treason. BOLLOCKS!!!
Prior to the war, Nirim had a population of just over 400 residents. It is located close to Kibbutz Nir Oz, which was also utterly abandoned by the IDF until the early afternoon hours of October 7, when it was mostly too late to confront Hamas’s terrorists, who had by then almost entirely returned to Gaza.
Residents did acknowledge to The Jerusalem Post that there are many more IDF positions nearby now and that Nirim’s White House – a small nearby outpost – now has four times as many military personnel as it did on October 7, including more tanks.
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Half of the IDF around Gaza were on leave on October 7th because it was both the Sabbath and a Jewish Holiday. And Hamas knew it, and the IDF knew Hamas knew it, because it was all laid out in Hamas' plan for Oct 7th which the Israelis had captured a year before October 7th.
In the early morning hours of Oct 7th an emergency meeting was held by top Israeli generals. There was extremely strong intelligence gathered that said Hamas was about to jailbreak. Someone ask Edan Alexander what sort of warning he was given in the early morning hours of October 7th.
ASK HIM
Netanyahu **wanted** Edan Alexander sacrificed for a pretext to commit the Gaza Holocaust and to
keep Netanyahu out of jail.
Netanyahuhu is the Great Betrayer.
He seduced Israel, like a Darth Vader, to take their souls into The Dark Side and become Genociders.
My exact thoughts and anger. This guy deserved what he got and is quite lucky to be alive. I have no sympathy for him as he went to a country to kill people of color simply for being different and demanding their own self-determination for themselves and their culture. He chose to support destroying them genocidally
Here in America Democrats and Republicans will never do the right thing because of BIG MONEY in federal elections.
Democrats and Republicans will never vote in 100% federal funding for all federal campaigns, because that would remove BIG DONORS and their BIG MONEY from their BIG BANK ACCOUNTS.
If we don't get started, it will never happen.
As long as BIG MONEY, BIG DONORS are allowed to fill U.S. Congresspersons and U.S. Senators bank accounts, that's how long AIPAC will control U.S. foreign policy and mega-corporations and special interests will control U.S. domestic policy.
The new political party I'm building calls for a federally-subsidized, publicly-owned underground new fiber optic network and electrical grid, running fiber optic cable to every address in America.
We The People need such a publicly-owned hardwire network to escape the clutches of FOR-PROFIT media and carriers: COMCAST, DIRECTV, COX, etc.
CNN, MSNBC, FOXNEWS subvert reality for the purpose of Israel and the U.S. military industrial complex.
CNN, MSNBC, FOXNEWS want you to believe that Hamas, Russians, Iranians and Chinese soldiers are about to break in your bathroom window any minute now.
After 75 years of pro-war propaganda, U.S. legacy media is still serving up massive, massive lies in furtherance of war and proxy wars.
That's a petty kind of comment, isn't it? kind of meaningless, really. I think most of us who are reading this understand that "big money" and capitalism are synonymous. Maybe you underestimate the intelligence of the rest of us.
Fuck you. You missed the point. The point is we don't have to eliminate capitalism before We The People vote BIG MONEY OUT OF FEDERAL ELECTIONS.
You're an idiot for conflating capitalism with instituting 100% federal funding of all federal campaigns. I was an adviser to a Congressperson for eight years, I might know a thing or two about democratic process and where all the bodies are buried. You should open a charm school.
The CIA had a memo leaked and they want to 'keep americans engaged in the elections'. Why? because as long as we vote they have the ability to rig it however they want and maintain legitimacy
People don't realize the real (Social) democracy has been swapped for so-called "Bourgeois democracy", which means only the Ruling Class/Oligarchs have an actual vote.
The public "elections" is a theater performance designed for a single purpose - give the people the Illusion of "choice/turnover of power" and maintain legitimacy/status quo of the Ruling Class.
Sadly, Susan T, pressing the reply button does not produce the results that would allow a reply to be significant if it ends up 13 comments further down the line. I do not know why this happens.
Yes, Capitalism is the enemy. You spent too many years embedded in a system that is totally self-serving while denying the fact that Capitalism is a system that only promotes power thru capital; ie, money. The very concept of Capitalism is antagonistic to democracy and only marries well with Fascism which is what was are seeing developing without the remnants of the masks it wore.
Ron, your response displayed the level of the kind of allowed discourse today's NeoLiberal Politicians embrace. That is a disturbing indicator that you don't have the empathy to understand the question posed to you, maybe. I believe one has to have a certain level of empathy to participate honestly in conversation. You display defensiveness not confidence in your position.
Part of the problem with the greedy politicians is the willing lack of empathy for who they are supposed to represent.
That's not going to encourage people to vote for your political party. I don't see what new electrical and Internet infrastructure has to do with getting BIG MONEY out of government either
U.S. politicians and pundits fold up like a lawn chair whenever someone invokes October 7:
Why are you defending Hamas and Palestinians? October 7, October 7, October 7.
99.9% of Americans have no idea how to respond to October 7 invocations.
Even Bernie Sanders begins any speech about Palestinians with the obligatory genuflection towards "the victims of October 7" and animus towards Hamas on October 7.
I built an entire website explaining these issues.
I've actively researched Israel/Palestinians for over 25 years and the only people I've ever heard cite the primary reason for the Oct. 7 "Operation Al Aqsa Flood" are Palestinians themselves, Iranian leaders and Hamas.
Ever since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Israelis initiated conflict each and every time Israel wanted to expand their territory and steal more Palestinian land.
Each and every Israeli Prime Minister utilizes a tool that Israelis refer to as "Swatting the Hornet's Nest."
Israelis have always held military superiority over Palestinian resistance and thus were always the ones to initiate battle with Palestinians, because Israelis knew they would succeed in stealing more land each time they initiate battle.
The technique every Israeli Prime Minister uses to initiate battle is to Swat the Hornet's Nest, which means sending Israeli police and settlers into the Al Aqsa mosque to beat, hogtie and arrest worshippers during service.
Benjamin Netanyahu began "Swatting the Hornet's Nest" a few weeks after Netanyahu was indicted on fraud, bribery and corruption charges and CONSISTENTLY dispatched Israeli police and settlers to beat and harrass worshippers, even during Ramadan, dragging goats into the holy mosque to slit the throat of goats to piss off worshippers.
Here's a video of Israeli police beating worshippers inside the Al Aqsa mosque during Ramadan prayer service on Sept. 17, days prior to October 7, 2023:
During the several years that Netanyahu avoided his criminal trial, Netanyahu repeatedly "Swatted the Hornet's Nest" in his attempt to foment an attack on Israel from Hamas, so Netanyahu could start NAKBA 2023 to further distract and delay his trial.
For several years prior to October 7, Hamas repeatedly warned Netanyahu that he better stop swatting the hornet's nest or face attack.
Hamas even produced a video depicting what they would do to Israel if Netanyahu didn't stop swatting the hornet's nest and sent the video to Netanyahu, along with attack plans in a big thick book.
Netanyahu was not only 100% aware of Hamas imminent attack, Netanyahu fomented Hamas imminent attack for his own personal purposes.
Palestinians have suffered over 150 "October 7ths" since NAKBA 1948 and are still suffering October 7ths every day in Gaza.
So the next time some jackass pops off about the precious Israelis suffering an October 7 attack, remind them that Israel executed dozens and dozens of October 7 attacks and kidnappings on the Palestinian people every year for the past 75 years.
Remind the perpetrator that EVERY DAMN DAY PALESTINIANS SUFFER AN OCTOBER 7-styled attack from Israelis and Israelis expect and demand thank you notes from their victims.
The U.S. media is so anti-Muslim that any pundit appearing on CNN, MSNBC, FOX NEWS would never simply recite the legal rights of the Palestinian people for fear of being called a terrorist sympathizer.
It's disgusting how the U.S. media fawns over the Oct. 7 Israeli hostages without mentioning the fact that Israel has been kidnapping thousands and thousands of Palestinian men, women and children and hauling them back to Israel to be held hostage in Israeli prisons indefinitely, incommunicado without charges.
Israeli soldiers have been kidnapping Palestinians since NAKBA 1948 and have traded them for certain concessions over the years and decades, yet the goddamn U.S. media will not breathe a word about Israel's longstanding, institutionalized practice of kidnapping Palestinans and holding them hostage in Israeli prisons.
As we speak thousands of Palestinians are still being held hostage by Israelis yet the goddamn media won't even mention the Palestinian hostages.
In fact, Hamas stated that the purpose of Al Aqsa Flood was to kidnap Israelis to trade for Palestinian hostages and to make Israel stop swatting the hornet's nest.
Some Middle East scholars pose that the Law of Reciprocity applies in the instance of Oct. 7.
Israel would never have existed if it didn't serve the white supremacist western society. Even Biden noted that "if Isreal didn't exist, we would have to create it!" Perhaps a rare moment of honesty that deserves the question--what purpose does it serve. Well, it serves the imperialist goals to control the world's resources (oil, transportation roads, etc). Israel has one of the world's biggest 'security' industries; ie, intelligence. Having no constitution and not being American, it can do the slime with impunity that the US cannot do due to our laws. Of course the US does its own slime but needs to be more circumspect about how it does it.
As for Oct 7? Most of the dead were killed by the IDF, not Hamas! Israel has what it called the Hannibal Directive which mandated killing Israeli's to prevent them being captured and used for hostage exchange. Given the 1000's of Palestinians kidnapped and held imprisoned for years without charge, this is a real issue for Israel. And there are many who do know and write about this and contradict the hasbara about 1200 innocents killed by Hamas on Oct 7.
Another question about this whole fabrication is the refusal to look at the goal of Zionism which was always ethnic cleansing of the region (read their documents going back to the late 19c). The illegal Occupation, a word formally censored in the US media, was always and ever increasingly brutal. Oct 7 was simply a righteous uprising waged by a Liberation Movement. It never was an attempt to take over Israel or to kill massive numbers of Israelis. As a matter of fact, Hamas fighters took care to not kill or maim Israeli captives as described by those people themselves.
No, but I'm from Holland. My parents, uncles, aunts and grandparents were under nazi occupation from 1940 to 1945. Both my grandfathers were leaders of the Dutch Resistance. My grandfather on my mother's side commanded an underground team and my grandma was a bomb maker.
During those five years my Opa's team protected and hid an entire extended Jewish family without a single loss except through starvation. My Opa's team lost half including the former commander. Nobody talked. That's how the rest survived.
My family knew starvation. Toward the end the war the nazis were stealing the food to feed the whermacht. Holland survived because bombers dropped food to the people of Holland in Operations Chow Hound and Manna. My uncle told me that the children starve first and if it wasn't for the bombers bombing Holland with boxes of food hanging from parachutes I would not exist.
My grandparents received certificates of gratitude from the zionist state. I wonder what they would do today.
Great Story, bro. WWII was replete with them. One alternate thread was the common German occupation soldier who hated Naziism. My friend Remo's family in Teramo, Italy had frequent visits from Werner and Ernest, two German sergeants, who brought them food and played the violin, and just wanted the allies to move up from the south so they could retreat and go home; hated Hitler.
In the 23 years and eight months that have passed since 9-11, the most important political lesson I’ve learned is that almost everyone—no matter how intelligent—massively underestimates the power of propaganda. In the 19 months that have passed since 7 October 2023, the two most important lessons I’ve learned are: the “rule of law” is a myth—there is only violence and the threat of violence; and most people living in “developed countries” are more complicit in genocide than the “good Germans” c.1933-1945.
" If you come across a key piece of information about the empire’s criminality you’ve got to hold onto it and remember its significance for yourself, because the imperial press sure aren’t going to remind you. They’re going to be acting like it never happened by next week."
It's amazing how much "journalistic amnesia" occurs in the Western press. It's up to us to keep reminding them and each other what's actually happening in the world and what stories are the most important ones. Children being starved to death while their families are being bombed into rubble tends to be more important, IMO, than the "filler stories" you find on network TV news for instance. You got to wonder that if during the Vietnam War we had this level of manipulation and "journalistic amnesia" would so many have protested in the streets and brought about a quicker end to the conflict? (Probably not.)
and that is what empire learned from the vietnam episode. opposition to empire that doesn't break it down but merely reforms, makes it stronger. if it's not dismantled, it will learn from the experience and close the tiktok /social media windows for future generations. in europe the call for a social media-ban for minors is getting louder, and though they claim it's for the kids' mental health, I'm sure it ain't really that (more like uncomfortable questions, imo).
I have been waiting for 20 or 30 years for the press or someone with some power to express serious anxiety about the climate crisis. When I worked at a job that dealt with climate change, our government was pushing to teach people to adapt. Nothing at all about mitigation. Our politicians push for more pipelines. They act as if electric cars are the answer without considering all the mining that happens to keep batteries operating. Make money make money make money. Don't worry about the forests that are burning down or the extremes in climate. Nope. Just think about the economy. That is what really matters. And wars, bombs, weapons that contribute even more to climate change than cars? Again, they just CANNOT let all that money go. Weapons and fighter planes make those at the top of the money pile a lot more money. Can't let go of that.
It has always been about the interests of the corporate class. Power never concedes power on its own. Until the people organize and stand up against this power we will not get any change. This is really a class war and keeping the public divided is a major tactic of the controlling elite protecting it from real attacks. This is never about social issues, which is a major distraction used today, but one of power relationships with the people on the losing end--so far!
The most depressing and infuriating thing about trying to show friends and family the media grift that Caitlin describes, is how people accept the media's conclusions (like "Putin is an evil madman who cannot be reasoned with") as arguments for why to accept that same media's framing of events. The media has people on a hamster wheel of hatred and emotional instability, and those on it hate no one more than the person who tries to point that out to them
One of the disgusting, subversive tactics CNN, MSNBC, FOX NEWS employs is to allow their non-lawyer anchors to pontificate endlessly on legal matters of which they know not.
Time and time again I hear these legacy media anchors and pundits wax on about legal matters that either do not exist in a courtroom or in law, or are skewed beyond recognition.
I find the best tool for making one's mind harder to be manipulated is to just not ingest the propaganda.
I don't even own a TV, as there's nothing of value allowed to be on it in the first place. I remain far more informed on world events than any half dozen people I know, but through sources I choose to follow and trust.
The example of the plandemic is relevant; it could have been ended in the original "two weeks" if the MSM news facilities had been bombed into oblivion.
You know, that’s really not as effective as people think it is. I have TONS of liberal friends who claim to never pay attention to MSNBC, the Times, CNN etc. And I believe them. They believe that propaganda doesn’t impact them because they eschew media; they also tend to believe in Russiagate, that Russia was unprovoked, and that mass rapes occurred in Israel on Oct 7.
To believe that ignoring media makes you immune from propaganda is like believing you aren’t inhaling particulate matter because you don’t breathe oxygen; people are much safer from propaganda if they DO read media and know HOW it works and who it works for; it’s best to always be perfectly aware of what Empire is wanting people to believe on any given subject.
True, but it's a good first step. I haven't owned a TV for over twenty years and don't miss it in the slightest. If nothing else, it frees up a lot of time, some of which could be used on thinking.
I live in the EU, so I honestly don't consume US media (I don't have access...) BUT - when I do go home to the US and happen to see it, man... it's not even well done propaganda. Even so, it's remarkably effective, even on those of us who do not watch it.
Why? Because we yanks are primed for tribalism from our earliest school experiences. Think of the amount of time we spend on team sports, for example. Pep rallies, cheerleading, sport-ball games, team mascots, 'be true to your school' nonsense. And then, how much of our education is about 'patriotism' - pledging allegiance to a piece of cloth and singing songs about it while we are still in pre-school.
We are WIRED for group think, well before we have any critical thinking ability at all, and the price for disloyalty from our 'team' is social death. Because this indoctrination begins so young, our bodies and brains feel this as a threat to our literal survival.
And even if we leave our team of origin, we look for another team to join... (and that team is always 'better')
So, even if YOU or I do not personally watch CNN or MSNBC, members of our 'team' do, and woe to you and your membership to that team if you don't think Reagan was the greatest or Obama was the best; your fellows WILL turn on you and it WILL be bloody.
Those of us who are kind of immune to propaganda are likely to be those who were rather non-conformist kindergartners to begin with.
I'm not American but we also get the tribal exceptionalism conditioning in Britain, if in a slightly more subtle way. We don't do flags and pledges of alliance and that crap, it's all a bit OTT. We'll stick to sensible stuff like an inherited monarchy and gold coaches, lol.
At the end of the day, we're basically monkeys and that means we're designed to live in troops. So yes, being an outsider/straggler is asking to be supper, and our systems capitalise on that, especially now that they are chucking so much psychology and social science stuff at the propaganda. I don't think that the basic need of itself is intrinsically problematic but when it's weaponised against you, that's clearly a different matter.
I'm certainly realising that it's actually been a blessing to have been an outsider all my life, ergo, not trapped in any team allegiance that might make it harder to live in accordance with my values.
Well articulated Slightly Lucid! So true - it is the fear of being social outcasts from our perceived 'in-groups' that put pressure on people conforming to things they don't necessarily think are right and agree with.
I've seen this time and again in so many societies and cultures. Our human need for connection can too easily be hijacked into 'us vs. them' dynamics.
I certainly agree. While not absorbing too much of it, I find it both best and cheaper to minimally access it in order to help understand what they're currently saying at the given moment. You don't have to have MSNBC or CNN etc, just the (3) off-air networks: NBC, ABC and CBS..or PBS for that matter.
I (thanks be to God) cannot access US news channels because I don't live there - but, sadly, my friends do, and I can see how the blatant repetition of anchor-news talking points worms their way into their brains; it doesn't even register that they are hearing their beloved anchors and pundits and 'journalists' using the EXACT SAME PHRASES over and over again before they themselves are repeating them... ex: Joe Biden is 'Sharp as a Tack,' Russia's invasion of Ukraine was absolutely 'UnProvoked,' etc... (and don't even GET me started on 'What about the Hostages!')
The last two articles by Caitlin on the reasons why and how the media does what it does and the people's reaction to it and how than can bypass such well planned propaganda have added even more credit to the lady in question. Not that she needs or pursues any credit or praise..
But I can smell victory. There are too many little things happening that are favourable which were not visible 3 months ago. I won't list them as I see them in my various online and truthful media avenues, as in each country they seem to be slightly different, some more relevant than others.
An example follows, sent to a major Capital city newspaper with almost no changes, as follows….
*******
"From an (elderly) reader of your newspaper (name withheld). Previously, a resident of your city for 35 years. Something important for our Prime Minister to read and understand….
The important statement…..
"The Jewish Council of XXXXX is a movement of over 1000 Jews nationwide. We’re ramping up pressure on (Prime Minster's name) to act – and working side by side with our Palestinian allies to demand that our government pressure Israel to stop killing Palestinians. We are a bold and growing Jewish movement that won’t stay silent in the face of genocide. This government will hear us – and we won’t let them look away."
Republished from The Jewish Council of XXXXX, 7 May 2025.
One feels that it is time for me to go find all these people and embrace them all. They are my kind of people….they are truly my countrymen….definitely my friends….. kindred spirits, one and all.
They are not genocide supporters, but real citizens and pleased to state it. These people are Jewish, as I in my long life have always known Jewish people to be.
Prime Minister and (your) government…. take note.
*******End of letter. Will it get printed? It is a Western Government, so, most unlikely.
In other words, there IS always a reason the news is framed the way it is, or why it is not reported. The narrative must ALWAYS fit the interests of the ongoing Empire. This is why independent media are so important.
Some independent media have toed the line all the way from7 Oct and areola now poking a toe out, even after many, many letters from readers. Let's see hiw long they stay the course before slithering back cap-in-hand.
But they will be mouthpieces for neoliberalism. The Establishment media know that their mainstream spokespeople are less likely to appeal to younger audiences and so that's where other outlets come in. Defending the rich is always a nice little earner. So non-oligarch funded media should be described as ….? Independent?
No indeed - Rogan platforms oligarchs and Establishment figures - he’s part of the problem. I think I was lucky that my parents warned me about the mainstream media from a young age and I grew up with scepticism about their commentary. I wish I knew though how to put this across clearly to others: “if they speak for the rich and powerful, don’t trust what they say” is the best I can do.
The importance if the release of the Israili-American , from my perspective. Is 1) Trump ( for his own reasons,attempting to stop the erosion if his approval by the public and show his singular power) negotiating directly with Hamas, creating a deep rift with the Netanyahu coalition..leading ,
Netanyahu to publicly refer to the need to ,"detox" from American support.
Despite denials, this signals a break with past alliance. Yes, Trump continues to supply weapons but he has begun a process of unilateral decision making that changes the calculus in ways profound but as yet unpredictable.....Trump wants to show his power as a peacemaker and this puts him at odds with a regime whose power is based on war. We have yet to reckon in Trump's' incompetence, but Hamas is being very welcoming of this political divorce.
Without US support. Israel is crippled and so this attempt by Trump to operate independently in terms if Hamas exposes Israel's weakness..and this may force them to make concessions the mask with increased brutality. In a divided Usrael where one side calls for a final solution and another, led by the hostage families, calls Netanyahu a murdere for putting his own political survival ahead if saving the lives of the remains hostages. This division within Israel both strengthens Gazan resistance and creates pressure for the ruling regime to abandon its maniacal fantasy of "total victory ."
These are possible trajectories we can glimpse by reading between the lines beyond the spectacular of one soldier being released.
Spotting the propaganda can become a healthy mental game. How is it being spun? What are you encouraged to believe? Who benefits from the perception being put on offer?
And there are actually some news sources that give more accurate perspectives. Consortium News is one source that I appreciate.
>>"Spotting the propaganda can become a healthy mental game."
True, but using mental energy to discern the barrage of propaganda in today's world (online and offline) can be energy draining. Along the lines of Daniel Kahneman's "Thinking, Fast and Slow", discerning propaganda involves slow thinking - which uses more mental energy resources - which is one reason why people prefer fast thinking (and often avoid slow thinking). The same applies to why people don't think critically - because it involves more effort - and in our present-day lifestyles and living modes people often prefer the easier/lighter-cognitive-mental-load path.
Each time I would read in the media the ever repeated statement re "Oct 7 Hamas atrocities" then the extremely mild words "Israeli attacks" or "Israeli conflict" made my blood boil.
Hamas wanted to draw attention to the brutality handed out every day in Gaza.
It worked, too well, because Israel then showed the world just how brutal they truly are when Hamas broke the deal that Netanyahu has/had with Qatar passing on money to keep Hamas under the boot of Israel.
So I am well aware, after 85 years in his world, that the use of words, how they are placed, in order to get the ^right^ reaction from the public, which is Israel always the victim, Palestine always the bad guys. Well, people are waking up to that nasty little trick and have decided enough is more than enough.
Yes, Carolyn L Z some of us may not need Caitlin's advice on this Newsletter but there are many out there who may need it, who are confused and ignorant of how the capitalist media works, that the mainstream media is part of the establishment.To make believe in the myth of their democracy.
By now the discerning among us have come to realise the distortions, the omissions, the manipulation, the use/abuse of language that Caitlin is talking about.
Noam Chomsky used to say that he finds the truth by reading between the lines of legacy media.
Epstein “collected” people. What’s more telling is the recent emphasis on Chomsky having known him in an attempt to disqualify Chomsky’s entire body of work, while completely ignoring the 26+ times Clinton flew the Lolita express, ignoring the missing video tapes in FBI custody, ignoring the assassinations of Epstein’s victims.
This is really exactly what Caitlyn’s article is about. Look where media is placing its emphasis, and why.
This entire disgusting gushing coverage of Eden Andersen in the MSM has brought me to the precipice of gigantic reverse peristalsis. A US-Israel dual-drone Zionist is just about the last traitorous entity I want to hear about, much less celebrate release of. May he and all Zionazis -- especially those idiot Americans who crave a stint in the IDF -- all burn in Hades together.
It's sickening how the legacy media celebrates an IDF Muslim-hating babykiller but won't breathe a damn word about his young victims. Americans are too fucking stupid to realize warmongering, evil Zionists hijacked our governent long ago and won't realize it until they are deported or incarcerated.
https://progressives.substack.com/p/heres-how-to-respond-to-ubiquitous
What is ignored is the core racism of the situation. America, a white supremacist country, counts on this underlying prejudice when reporting on Israel and its genocide. Then they use anti-semitism as a weapon against free speech which the oligarch and their political toadies have been trying to kill in this country. And this is for both Parties so let's get over our belief that we have 2 different political Parties in the US. They both have attacked free speech and both have supported racism. They both are war mongering and imperialist with the same hegemonic belief in their superiority and entitlement to control the world and all its people. And this includes doing away with millions of people whom they see as excess population that no longer serve any use.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X0UmfBwA_U
Dylan's "Only a pawn in their Game."
Substitute the Israeli Settlers for the "Whites" and the Palestinians for the "Blacks.
That is my exact point! People of color are treated the same by white western supremacist and I include the Israelis as well as they subscribe to the same vile hatred of dark skin people, even when they are Jewish! FYI, there are Black, African Jews that trace their heritage back to the 12 tribes. They were treated like scum when they immigrated to Israel. And so are the darker Misrahi Jews that hailed from the ME historically (Morocco for example)
Thanks, hadn't heard this one in awhile.
Pretend that Andersen were Russian. We'd hear a non-stop chorus of outrage.
One thing we don't hear is there are about 23,000 Americans serving in the IDF!!! using their dual citizenship. This article says GOP wants military benefits to Americans serving the IDF!!!!! People need to know this and make calls, write letters, post on social media loud protests!
With Russia we need to remember that ever since their revolution, 1917-18 that State has been serially labelled an enemy with hostile characterizations. It is a country that most Americans know nothing about so they serve as an invisible 'germ' to promote fear mongering propaganda in this country. If it weren't for the USSR WWII would have been lost with Russia losing about 30 million people. Ukraine that was totally nazified during WWII, killing about 60,000 Jews and is still a Nazi controlled State has been sold to Americans as our allies. Talk about turning reality on its head. Is it any wonder that Russia has serious issues with the current Ukraine nazified ideology controlling that State and destroying the Russian speaking population there!
the russians indeed got one of theirs out too recently. alexander druev, a journalist.
It isn't that Americans are stupid, but rather ill-informed.
Caitlin didn't say anything about how dumb Americans are and so she communicates her position in a way that won't offend people.
It is also helpful to provide links to help persuade people of your position.
For example, I don't call them "Zionists" because that deflects from the criminal nature of the structure which springs from Capitalism itself. I call them the "Jewish Mafia" (related to Meyer Lansky's National Crime Syndicate) or the "Jewish Lobby" (AIPAC or ADL)
Aaron Good has an outstanding series of YouTubes on the "Jewish Mafia" which back up the many articles he posts on his web site. Lansky was one of many participants in the murder of JFK. Jack Ruby worked for Lansky. This organization didn't just "go away". It is still very much in control of portions of the American geopolitical economy.
https://americanexception.com/american-exception-hegemony-and-the-dissimulation-of-the-state/
But it is important to realize that the "Jewish Mafia" is just a subset of the American Oligarchy. Good delves into the history of the Oligarchy in his outstanding YouTube series "Empire and the Deep State". There are also the technofeudalists and the Boston Brahmins. A new participant is making itself known: The South African Cabal.
And AI search returns:
"President Trump has invited white South Africans, specifically Afrikaners, to seek refugee status in the U.S., claiming they face discrimination in South Africa. This initiative allows them a fast-tracked pathway to citizenship, contrasting with the suspension of other refugee programs."
Peter Thiel and Elon Musk are members of this group.
There are many other subsets or groupings of the Oligarchy. They make and break alliances whenever it is convenient. Trump is an expert at creating the chaos in which he can change direction on a dime depending on who offers the best bribe. The new 747 for example may have been the clincher in the deal to abandon Netanyahu. (Of course, the fact that Ansar Allah kicked the US navy in the teeth has a lot to do with Trump's retreat, but the "news" is all about the 747.)
A quote which I forget who to attribute to is, "The purest expression of Capitalism is the mafia." Some scholars have suggested that the first implementations of Capitalism were just protection rackets.
A little Marx from Wolff, Hudson and Joti Brar will explain that the USA is now in "end-stage capitalism". The criminals are only interested in maintaining their positions of power and prestige. This is why Trump is turning his back on Ukraine and Europe. The US lost. It is important to understand that it was the Jews in the PNAC crowd that lead the criminal Oligarchy on its disastrous attempt to attain American Hegemony. The other crime families went along with it because it was profitable. But now, well the South African criminals are maneuvering to take out the Jews. We are the mice getting trampled by the elephants.
Israel is nothing more than a proxy, like Ukraine (which was used to try to overthrow the Russian government), to create international chaos which could then be used to exploit the nations of the Middle East. Israel was supported to install settler-colonialists in the Middle East. An often repeated tactic. Richard Wolff's PhD thesis was on how the British used these tactics to take over Kenya.
The PNAC crowd stumbled on the rock of iran, which was suppose to be taken out before Russia -- next on the list, allowing the USA to pivot to Asia (China). Luckily for Iran, Russia and China the PNAC crowd was not well organized with different "members" advocating different approaches. The other cohorts that make up the American Oligarchy are now realizing this is the time to tear the "Jewish Mob" apart.
If you don't know who the real criminals are you get lost supporting different factions. In the end you still are ruled by criminals.
I prefer to see Americans, etc as intentionally dumbed down so they can be controlled. This is the job of propaganda. Our social institutions are all constructed to support the Economic one; ie Capitalism. Our education system is quite perfect in its role of providing the kind of thinking and skills sought by Capitalism and its corporate controllers. The education tracking system has disappeared only in name as children are still tracked, oftimes surreptitiously with differential expectations, support offered or not, access to meaningful books, etc. Organized religion does its part to keep people in line. The family is always required to support the system or it is attacked; ie children removed when parents want to home school or teach a different politic or attitudes about the medical industry, etc. Demanding obedience instead of independent thinking is core to the process.
It's far worse even, because all these algorithms we take for granted are written for efficiency. Of what? Profitability, for the most part, of course. This builds in biases that are never examined except by enlightened mathematicians like Cathy O'Neill (in her book, "Weapons of Math Destruction", highly recommended). Poor, minority already ostracized communities get further removed from wealth and power as a consequence of these hidden algorithmic biases, and no one gives a crap because they serve the interests of our Capitalist oligarch massas.
The media doesn’t point out that Eden is an American who joined the Israeli military so he could kill unarmed Palestinians. If this ‘brave’ young man wanted to protect innocents he could have joined the American military… or wait…they don’t protect innocents either.
"Our real enemies are not those living in a distant land whose names or policies we don’t understand; The real enemy is a system that wages war when it’s profitable, the CEOs who lay us off our jobs when it’s profitable, the insurance companies who deny us health care when it’s profitable, the banks who take away our homes when it’s profitable. Our enemies are not 5000 miles away. They are right here at home."
"The Real Terrorist Was Me"
- Michael Prysner, U.S. Army veteran
It needs to be illegal to serve in a foreign military
👍
From one Gypsy to another.
One step further. Illegal under the freaking Espionage Act -- i.e., treason. Particularly touchy one for me: When I worked for DOE with a security clearance, managers would wave the Espionage Act at us with a vengeance. Just for the hell of it. There were posters in secure vaults of that imprisoned supposedly turncoat FBI agent whose name I can gratefully no longer recall (was a famous case) -- to let us know that jail time awaited violators who might improperly handle a piece of classified info [HA, Biden and Trump both cleaned their toilets with some]. BUT, you can go kill babies for bloody Israel -- that's not treason. BOLLOCKS!!!
Haaretz (Israel's "paper of record") has this:
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Alexander, a 20-year-old IDF Golani Brigade soldier, was abducted from a guard post at the "White House" outpost near Kibbutz Nirim.
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That puts him 2 km (less than 2 miles) from the Gaza Wall on Oct 7th.
He was an occupier on Occupied Land!
He was part of an elite IDF army unit.
I did a search on "White House" and found this Jerusalem Post article:
Title: Probe reveals Nirim deserted by IDF on Oct. 7, residents still feel betrayed by gov’t
[they should feel betrayed as that was what Oct 7th was - a planned betrayal by Netanyahu to create a pretext for the Gaza Holocaust]
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-848841
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Prior to the war, Nirim had a population of just over 400 residents. It is located close to Kibbutz Nir Oz, which was also utterly abandoned by the IDF until the early afternoon hours of October 7, when it was mostly too late to confront Hamas’s terrorists, who had by then almost entirely returned to Gaza.
Residents did acknowledge to The Jerusalem Post that there are many more IDF positions nearby now and that Nirim’s White House – a small nearby outpost – now has four times as many military personnel as it did on October 7, including more tanks.
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Half of the IDF around Gaza were on leave on October 7th because it was both the Sabbath and a Jewish Holiday. And Hamas knew it, and the IDF knew Hamas knew it, because it was all laid out in Hamas' plan for Oct 7th which the Israelis had captured a year before October 7th.
In the early morning hours of Oct 7th an emergency meeting was held by top Israeli generals. There was extremely strong intelligence gathered that said Hamas was about to jailbreak. Someone ask Edan Alexander what sort of warning he was given in the early morning hours of October 7th.
ASK HIM
Netanyahu **wanted** Edan Alexander sacrificed for a pretext to commit the Gaza Holocaust and to
keep Netanyahu out of jail.
Netanyahuhu is the Great Betrayer.
He seduced Israel, like a Darth Vader, to take their souls into The Dark Side and become Genociders.
My exact thoughts and anger. This guy deserved what he got and is quite lucky to be alive. I have no sympathy for him as he went to a country to kill people of color simply for being different and demanding their own self-determination for themselves and their culture. He chose to support destroying them genocidally
No dual Israeli/American citizenship.
I'm looking forward to "True Promise 3", but fear that Trump is now negotiating to prevent is.
Here in America Democrats and Republicans will never do the right thing because of BIG MONEY in federal elections.
Democrats and Republicans will never vote in 100% federal funding for all federal campaigns, because that would remove BIG DONORS and their BIG MONEY from their BIG BANK ACCOUNTS.
If we don't get started, it will never happen.
As long as BIG MONEY, BIG DONORS are allowed to fill U.S. Congresspersons and U.S. Senators bank accounts, that's how long AIPAC will control U.S. foreign policy and mega-corporations and special interests will control U.S. domestic policy.
The new political party I'm building calls for a federally-subsidized, publicly-owned underground new fiber optic network and electrical grid, running fiber optic cable to every address in America.
We The People need such a publicly-owned hardwire network to escape the clutches of FOR-PROFIT media and carriers: COMCAST, DIRECTV, COX, etc.
CNN, MSNBC, FOXNEWS subvert reality for the purpose of Israel and the U.S. military industrial complex.
CNN, MSNBC, FOXNEWS want you to believe that Hamas, Russians, Iranians and Chinese soldiers are about to break in your bathroom window any minute now.
After 75 years of pro-war propaganda, U.S. legacy media is still serving up massive, massive lies in furtherance of war and proxy wars.
https://thediversityparty.com
Why are you afraid to use the word CAPITALISM, instead of a euphemism like "big money"?
That's a petty kind of comment, isn't it? kind of meaningless, really. I think most of us who are reading this understand that "big money" and capitalism are synonymous. Maybe you underestimate the intelligence of the rest of us.
Fuck you. You missed the point. The point is we don't have to eliminate capitalism before We The People vote BIG MONEY OUT OF FEDERAL ELECTIONS.
You're an idiot for conflating capitalism with instituting 100% federal funding of all federal campaigns. I was an adviser to a Congressperson for eight years, I might know a thing or two about democratic process and where all the bodies are buried. You should open a charm school.
Can't vote your way out of a rigged system..
The CIA had a memo leaked and they want to 'keep americans engaged in the elections'. Why? because as long as we vote they have the ability to rig it however they want and maintain legitimacy
People don't realize the real (Social) democracy has been swapped for so-called "Bourgeois democracy", which means only the Ruling Class/Oligarchs have an actual vote.
The public "elections" is a theater performance designed for a single purpose - give the people the Illusion of "choice/turnover of power" and maintain legitimacy/status quo of the Ruling Class.
youtube.com/watch?v=QVyQpznIA5E
I was not replying to you. I pressed the reply under Carolyn Zaremba's comment. Chill out.
Sadly, Susan T, pressing the reply button does not produce the results that would allow a reply to be significant if it ends up 13 comments further down the line. I do not know why this happens.
But it does.
Hi Con
It helps to address the person you’re replying to by name in your comment: avoids confusion that way 🙂
Being an advisor to a politician. Just not wanting to know what’s in the making of the sausage.
FU, bro, too.
Yes, Capitalism is the enemy. You spent too many years embedded in a system that is totally self-serving while denying the fact that Capitalism is a system that only promotes power thru capital; ie, money. The very concept of Capitalism is antagonistic to democracy and only marries well with Fascism which is what was are seeing developing without the remnants of the masks it wore.
Ron, your response displayed the level of the kind of allowed discourse today's NeoLiberal Politicians embrace. That is a disturbing indicator that you don't have the empathy to understand the question posed to you, maybe. I believe one has to have a certain level of empathy to participate honestly in conversation. You display defensiveness not confidence in your position.
Part of the problem with the greedy politicians is the willing lack of empathy for who they are supposed to represent.
That's not going to encourage people to vote for your political party. I don't see what new electrical and Internet infrastructure has to do with getting BIG MONEY out of government either
Great way to persuade people to join your party. /s/s/s
Hope you plan on telling people where those bodies are buried too, others you're just another cog in the machine aren't you?
the follow up responses seem to prove the point of your question. 'holy' capitalism.
Ron, that's a damn good comment!
U.S. politicians and pundits fold up like a lawn chair whenever someone invokes October 7:
Why are you defending Hamas and Palestinians? October 7, October 7, October 7.
99.9% of Americans have no idea how to respond to October 7 invocations.
Even Bernie Sanders begins any speech about Palestinians with the obligatory genuflection towards "the victims of October 7" and animus towards Hamas on October 7.
I built an entire website explaining these issues.
I've actively researched Israel/Palestinians for over 25 years and the only people I've ever heard cite the primary reason for the Oct. 7 "Operation Al Aqsa Flood" are Palestinians themselves, Iranian leaders and Hamas.
Ever since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Israelis initiated conflict each and every time Israel wanted to expand their territory and steal more Palestinian land.
Each and every Israeli Prime Minister utilizes a tool that Israelis refer to as "Swatting the Hornet's Nest."
Israelis have always held military superiority over Palestinian resistance and thus were always the ones to initiate battle with Palestinians, because Israelis knew they would succeed in stealing more land each time they initiate battle.
The technique every Israeli Prime Minister uses to initiate battle is to Swat the Hornet's Nest, which means sending Israeli police and settlers into the Al Aqsa mosque to beat, hogtie and arrest worshippers during service.
Benjamin Netanyahu began "Swatting the Hornet's Nest" a few weeks after Netanyahu was indicted on fraud, bribery and corruption charges and CONSISTENTLY dispatched Israeli police and settlers to beat and harrass worshippers, even during Ramadan, dragging goats into the holy mosque to slit the throat of goats to piss off worshippers.
Here's a video of Israeli police beating worshippers inside the Al Aqsa mosque during Ramadan prayer service on Sept. 17, days prior to October 7, 2023:
https://youtu.be/ibsb4QQXa5U
During the several years that Netanyahu avoided his criminal trial, Netanyahu repeatedly "Swatted the Hornet's Nest" in his attempt to foment an attack on Israel from Hamas, so Netanyahu could start NAKBA 2023 to further distract and delay his trial.
For several years prior to October 7, Hamas repeatedly warned Netanyahu that he better stop swatting the hornet's nest or face attack.
Hamas even produced a video depicting what they would do to Israel if Netanyahu didn't stop swatting the hornet's nest and sent the video to Netanyahu, along with attack plans in a big thick book.
Netanyahu was not only 100% aware of Hamas imminent attack, Netanyahu fomented Hamas imminent attack for his own personal purposes.
Palestinians have suffered over 150 "October 7ths" since NAKBA 1948 and are still suffering October 7ths every day in Gaza.
So the next time some jackass pops off about the precious Israelis suffering an October 7 attack, remind them that Israel executed dozens and dozens of October 7 attacks and kidnappings on the Palestinian people every year for the past 75 years.
Remind the perpetrator that EVERY DAMN DAY PALESTINIANS SUFFER AN OCTOBER 7-styled attack from Israelis and Israelis expect and demand thank you notes from their victims.
The U.S. media is so anti-Muslim that any pundit appearing on CNN, MSNBC, FOX NEWS would never simply recite the legal rights of the Palestinian people for fear of being called a terrorist sympathizer.
It's disgusting how the U.S. media fawns over the Oct. 7 Israeli hostages without mentioning the fact that Israel has been kidnapping thousands and thousands of Palestinian men, women and children and hauling them back to Israel to be held hostage in Israeli prisons indefinitely, incommunicado without charges.
Israeli soldiers have been kidnapping Palestinians since NAKBA 1948 and have traded them for certain concessions over the years and decades, yet the goddamn U.S. media will not breathe a word about Israel's longstanding, institutionalized practice of kidnapping Palestinans and holding them hostage in Israeli prisons.
As we speak thousands of Palestinians are still being held hostage by Israelis yet the goddamn media won't even mention the Palestinian hostages.
In fact, Hamas stated that the purpose of Al Aqsa Flood was to kidnap Israelis to trade for Palestinian hostages and to make Israel stop swatting the hornet's nest.
Some Middle East scholars pose that the Law of Reciprocity applies in the instance of Oct. 7.
https://progressives.substack.com/p/heres-how-to-respond-to-ubiquitous
Israel would never have existed if it didn't serve the white supremacist western society. Even Biden noted that "if Isreal didn't exist, we would have to create it!" Perhaps a rare moment of honesty that deserves the question--what purpose does it serve. Well, it serves the imperialist goals to control the world's resources (oil, transportation roads, etc). Israel has one of the world's biggest 'security' industries; ie, intelligence. Having no constitution and not being American, it can do the slime with impunity that the US cannot do due to our laws. Of course the US does its own slime but needs to be more circumspect about how it does it.
As for Oct 7? Most of the dead were killed by the IDF, not Hamas! Israel has what it called the Hannibal Directive which mandated killing Israeli's to prevent them being captured and used for hostage exchange. Given the 1000's of Palestinians kidnapped and held imprisoned for years without charge, this is a real issue for Israel. And there are many who do know and write about this and contradict the hasbara about 1200 innocents killed by Hamas on Oct 7.
Another question about this whole fabrication is the refusal to look at the goal of Zionism which was always ethnic cleansing of the region (read their documents going back to the late 19c). The illegal Occupation, a word formally censored in the US media, was always and ever increasingly brutal. Oct 7 was simply a righteous uprising waged by a Liberation Movement. It never was an attempt to take over Israel or to kill massive numbers of Israelis. As a matter of fact, Hamas fighters took care to not kill or maim Israeli captives as described by those people themselves.
So true, Ron. When October 7, 2023 happened it immediately reminded me of October 14, 1943. Both were revolts in concentration camps.
I hear you bro.....were you in a concentration camp? just wondering.
No, but I'm from Holland. My parents, uncles, aunts and grandparents were under nazi occupation from 1940 to 1945. Both my grandfathers were leaders of the Dutch Resistance. My grandfather on my mother's side commanded an underground team and my grandma was a bomb maker.
During those five years my Opa's team protected and hid an entire extended Jewish family without a single loss except through starvation. My Opa's team lost half including the former commander. Nobody talked. That's how the rest survived.
My family knew starvation. Toward the end the war the nazis were stealing the food to feed the whermacht. Holland survived because bombers dropped food to the people of Holland in Operations Chow Hound and Manna. My uncle told me that the children starve first and if it wasn't for the bombers bombing Holland with boxes of food hanging from parachutes I would not exist.
My grandparents received certificates of gratitude from the zionist state. I wonder what they would do today.
Great Story, bro. WWII was replete with them. One alternate thread was the common German occupation soldier who hated Naziism. My friend Remo's family in Teramo, Italy had frequent visits from Werner and Ernest, two German sergeants, who brought them food and played the violin, and just wanted the allies to move up from the south so they could retreat and go home; hated Hitler.
...SOUNDS FAMILIAR.....I hear you sir. God Bless You.
Caitlin, this is a great article after the one you wrote yesterday. You describe the machinations perfectly.
Caitlin is preaching to the choir in my case.
In the 23 years and eight months that have passed since 9-11, the most important political lesson I’ve learned is that almost everyone—no matter how intelligent—massively underestimates the power of propaganda. In the 19 months that have passed since 7 October 2023, the two most important lessons I’ve learned are: the “rule of law” is a myth—there is only violence and the threat of violence; and most people living in “developed countries” are more complicit in genocide than the “good Germans” c.1933-1945.
" If you come across a key piece of information about the empire’s criminality you’ve got to hold onto it and remember its significance for yourself, because the imperial press sure aren’t going to remind you. They’re going to be acting like it never happened by next week."
It's amazing how much "journalistic amnesia" occurs in the Western press. It's up to us to keep reminding them and each other what's actually happening in the world and what stories are the most important ones. Children being starved to death while their families are being bombed into rubble tends to be more important, IMO, than the "filler stories" you find on network TV news for instance. You got to wonder that if during the Vietnam War we had this level of manipulation and "journalistic amnesia" would so many have protested in the streets and brought about a quicker end to the conflict? (Probably not.)
and that is what empire learned from the vietnam episode. opposition to empire that doesn't break it down but merely reforms, makes it stronger. if it's not dismantled, it will learn from the experience and close the tiktok /social media windows for future generations. in europe the call for a social media-ban for minors is getting louder, and though they claim it's for the kids' mental health, I'm sure it ain't really that (more like uncomfortable questions, imo).
I have been waiting for 20 or 30 years for the press or someone with some power to express serious anxiety about the climate crisis. When I worked at a job that dealt with climate change, our government was pushing to teach people to adapt. Nothing at all about mitigation. Our politicians push for more pipelines. They act as if electric cars are the answer without considering all the mining that happens to keep batteries operating. Make money make money make money. Don't worry about the forests that are burning down or the extremes in climate. Nope. Just think about the economy. That is what really matters. And wars, bombs, weapons that contribute even more to climate change than cars? Again, they just CANNOT let all that money go. Weapons and fighter planes make those at the top of the money pile a lot more money. Can't let go of that.
It has always been about the interests of the corporate class. Power never concedes power on its own. Until the people organize and stand up against this power we will not get any change. This is really a class war and keeping the public divided is a major tactic of the controlling elite protecting it from real attacks. This is never about social issues, which is a major distraction used today, but one of power relationships with the people on the losing end--so far!
Good information. Like our baby's first chomsky book.
The most depressing and infuriating thing about trying to show friends and family the media grift that Caitlin describes, is how people accept the media's conclusions (like "Putin is an evil madman who cannot be reasoned with") as arguments for why to accept that same media's framing of events. The media has people on a hamster wheel of hatred and emotional instability, and those on it hate no one more than the person who tries to point that out to them
One of the disgusting, subversive tactics CNN, MSNBC, FOX NEWS employs is to allow their non-lawyer anchors to pontificate endlessly on legal matters of which they know not.
Time and time again I hear these legacy media anchors and pundits wax on about legal matters that either do not exist in a courtroom or in law, or are skewed beyond recognition.
https://progressives.substack.com/p/heres-how-to-respond-to-ubiquitous
I find the best tool for making one's mind harder to be manipulated is to just not ingest the propaganda.
I don't even own a TV, as there's nothing of value allowed to be on it in the first place. I remain far more informed on world events than any half dozen people I know, but through sources I choose to follow and trust.
The example of the plandemic is relevant; it could have been ended in the original "two weeks" if the MSM news facilities had been bombed into oblivion.
You know, that’s really not as effective as people think it is. I have TONS of liberal friends who claim to never pay attention to MSNBC, the Times, CNN etc. And I believe them. They believe that propaganda doesn’t impact them because they eschew media; they also tend to believe in Russiagate, that Russia was unprovoked, and that mass rapes occurred in Israel on Oct 7.
To believe that ignoring media makes you immune from propaganda is like believing you aren’t inhaling particulate matter because you don’t breathe oxygen; people are much safer from propaganda if they DO read media and know HOW it works and who it works for; it’s best to always be perfectly aware of what Empire is wanting people to believe on any given subject.
True, but it's a good first step. I haven't owned a TV for over twenty years and don't miss it in the slightest. If nothing else, it frees up a lot of time, some of which could be used on thinking.
I live in the EU, so I honestly don't consume US media (I don't have access...) BUT - when I do go home to the US and happen to see it, man... it's not even well done propaganda. Even so, it's remarkably effective, even on those of us who do not watch it.
Why? Because we yanks are primed for tribalism from our earliest school experiences. Think of the amount of time we spend on team sports, for example. Pep rallies, cheerleading, sport-ball games, team mascots, 'be true to your school' nonsense. And then, how much of our education is about 'patriotism' - pledging allegiance to a piece of cloth and singing songs about it while we are still in pre-school.
We are WIRED for group think, well before we have any critical thinking ability at all, and the price for disloyalty from our 'team' is social death. Because this indoctrination begins so young, our bodies and brains feel this as a threat to our literal survival.
And even if we leave our team of origin, we look for another team to join... (and that team is always 'better')
So, even if YOU or I do not personally watch CNN or MSNBC, members of our 'team' do, and woe to you and your membership to that team if you don't think Reagan was the greatest or Obama was the best; your fellows WILL turn on you and it WILL be bloody.
Those of us who are kind of immune to propaganda are likely to be those who were rather non-conformist kindergartners to begin with.
I'm not American but we also get the tribal exceptionalism conditioning in Britain, if in a slightly more subtle way. We don't do flags and pledges of alliance and that crap, it's all a bit OTT. We'll stick to sensible stuff like an inherited monarchy and gold coaches, lol.
At the end of the day, we're basically monkeys and that means we're designed to live in troops. So yes, being an outsider/straggler is asking to be supper, and our systems capitalise on that, especially now that they are chucking so much psychology and social science stuff at the propaganda. I don't think that the basic need of itself is intrinsically problematic but when it's weaponised against you, that's clearly a different matter.
I'm certainly realising that it's actually been a blessing to have been an outsider all my life, ergo, not trapped in any team allegiance that might make it harder to live in accordance with my values.
Yeah, me too. But being an outsider is really lonely 😞
Well articulated Slightly Lucid! So true - it is the fear of being social outcasts from our perceived 'in-groups' that put pressure on people conforming to things they don't necessarily think are right and agree with.
I've seen this time and again in so many societies and cultures. Our human need for connection can too easily be hijacked into 'us vs. them' dynamics.
Well said Slightly Lucid! EVERYONE is susceptible to propaganda, regardless of the source.
I certainly agree. While not absorbing too much of it, I find it both best and cheaper to minimally access it in order to help understand what they're currently saying at the given moment. You don't have to have MSNBC or CNN etc, just the (3) off-air networks: NBC, ABC and CBS..or PBS for that matter.
I (thanks be to God) cannot access US news channels because I don't live there - but, sadly, my friends do, and I can see how the blatant repetition of anchor-news talking points worms their way into their brains; it doesn't even register that they are hearing their beloved anchors and pundits and 'journalists' using the EXACT SAME PHRASES over and over again before they themselves are repeating them... ex: Joe Biden is 'Sharp as a Tack,' Russia's invasion of Ukraine was absolutely 'UnProvoked,' etc... (and don't even GET me started on 'What about the Hostages!')
Grrrr. I'm soooo pissed off but can't do anything effective about it. Frustration, unlimited...all the time.
Robert,
The last two articles by Caitlin on the reasons why and how the media does what it does and the people's reaction to it and how than can bypass such well planned propaganda have added even more credit to the lady in question. Not that she needs or pursues any credit or praise..
But I can smell victory. There are too many little things happening that are favourable which were not visible 3 months ago. I won't list them as I see them in my various online and truthful media avenues, as in each country they seem to be slightly different, some more relevant than others.
An example follows, sent to a major Capital city newspaper with almost no changes, as follows….
*******
"From an (elderly) reader of your newspaper (name withheld). Previously, a resident of your city for 35 years. Something important for our Prime Minister to read and understand….
The important statement…..
"The Jewish Council of XXXXX is a movement of over 1000 Jews nationwide. We’re ramping up pressure on (Prime Minster's name) to act – and working side by side with our Palestinian allies to demand that our government pressure Israel to stop killing Palestinians. We are a bold and growing Jewish movement that won’t stay silent in the face of genocide. This government will hear us – and we won’t let them look away."
Republished from The Jewish Council of XXXXX, 7 May 2025.
One feels that it is time for me to go find all these people and embrace them all. They are my kind of people….they are truly my countrymen….definitely my friends….. kindred spirits, one and all.
They are not genocide supporters, but real citizens and pleased to state it. These people are Jewish, as I in my long life have always known Jewish people to be.
Prime Minister and (your) government…. take note.
*******End of letter. Will it get printed? It is a Western Government, so, most unlikely.
Thank You, Contrarian 33. You have given example of change that is well worth keeping in mind. Thank You
Thanks...a great, comforting comment. (Does Neturei Karta have, even peripherally, something to say/contribute...?)
In other words, there IS always a reason the news is framed the way it is, or why it is not reported. The narrative must ALWAYS fit the interests of the ongoing Empire. This is why independent media are so important.
Some independent media have toed the line all the way from7 Oct and areola now poking a toe out, even after many, many letters from readers. Let's see hiw long they stay the course before slithering back cap-in-hand.
But they will be mouthpieces for neoliberalism. The Establishment media know that their mainstream spokespeople are less likely to appeal to younger audiences and so that's where other outlets come in. Defending the rich is always a nice little earner. So non-oligarch funded media should be described as ….? Independent?
Until they turn on you...
And...are now...
I hate spellcheck.
Independent media is important but don't think for one second that Joe Rogan et al are independent.
No indeed - Rogan platforms oligarchs and Establishment figures - he’s part of the problem. I think I was lucky that my parents warned me about the mainstream media from a young age and I grew up with scepticism about their commentary. I wish I knew though how to put this across clearly to others: “if they speak for the rich and powerful, don’t trust what they say” is the best I can do.
The importance if the release of the Israili-American , from my perspective. Is 1) Trump ( for his own reasons,attempting to stop the erosion if his approval by the public and show his singular power) negotiating directly with Hamas, creating a deep rift with the Netanyahu coalition..leading ,
Netanyahu to publicly refer to the need to ,"detox" from American support.
Despite denials, this signals a break with past alliance. Yes, Trump continues to supply weapons but he has begun a process of unilateral decision making that changes the calculus in ways profound but as yet unpredictable.....Trump wants to show his power as a peacemaker and this puts him at odds with a regime whose power is based on war. We have yet to reckon in Trump's' incompetence, but Hamas is being very welcoming of this political divorce.
Without US support. Israel is crippled and so this attempt by Trump to operate independently in terms if Hamas exposes Israel's weakness..and this may force them to make concessions the mask with increased brutality. In a divided Usrael where one side calls for a final solution and another, led by the hostage families, calls Netanyahu a murdere for putting his own political survival ahead if saving the lives of the remains hostages. This division within Israel both strengthens Gazan resistance and creates pressure for the ruling regime to abandon its maniacal fantasy of "total victory ."
These are possible trajectories we can glimpse by reading between the lines beyond the spectacular of one soldier being released.
Spotting the propaganda can become a healthy mental game. How is it being spun? What are you encouraged to believe? Who benefits from the perception being put on offer?
And there are actually some news sources that give more accurate perspectives. Consortium News is one source that I appreciate.
Drop Site News another
Hi Diana
Also you may wish to check out If Americans Knew and Mondoweiss if you haven’t done so yet.
>>"Spotting the propaganda can become a healthy mental game."
True, but using mental energy to discern the barrage of propaganda in today's world (online and offline) can be energy draining. Along the lines of Daniel Kahneman's "Thinking, Fast and Slow", discerning propaganda involves slow thinking - which uses more mental energy resources - which is one reason why people prefer fast thinking (and often avoid slow thinking). The same applies to why people don't think critically - because it involves more effort - and in our present-day lifestyles and living modes people often prefer the easier/lighter-cognitive-mental-load path.
Each time I would read in the media the ever repeated statement re "Oct 7 Hamas atrocities" then the extremely mild words "Israeli attacks" or "Israeli conflict" made my blood boil.
Hamas wanted to draw attention to the brutality handed out every day in Gaza.
It worked, too well, because Israel then showed the world just how brutal they truly are when Hamas broke the deal that Netanyahu has/had with Qatar passing on money to keep Hamas under the boot of Israel.
So I am well aware, after 85 years in his world, that the use of words, how they are placed, in order to get the ^right^ reaction from the public, which is Israel always the victim, Palestine always the bad guys. Well, people are waking up to that nasty little trick and have decided enough is more than enough.
At a mere 84, I agree.
I’m 71; I feel like such a child 😳
I have come to look forward to reading your posts, Davina. You tell it like it is.
Thank you, we have to do what we can for those who cannot.
One person doesn't; keeps telling me to F myself... such erudition 🤣
Y’all tell him right back Davina…if he can find his own prick 😁
I don't need this advice. I pay no attention to capitalist propaganda media. I don't believe anything they say.
Yes, Carolyn L Z some of us may not need Caitlin's advice on this Newsletter but there are many out there who may need it, who are confused and ignorant of how the capitalist media works, that the mainstream media is part of the establishment.To make believe in the myth of their democracy.
By now the discerning among us have come to realise the distortions, the omissions, the manipulation, the use/abuse of language that Caitlin is talking about.
Noam Chomsky used to say that he finds the truth by reading between the lines of legacy media.
Noam Chomsky took “big money” from Epstein. Say what?
Epstein “collected” people. What’s more telling is the recent emphasis on Chomsky having known him in an attempt to disqualify Chomsky’s entire body of work, while completely ignoring the 26+ times Clinton flew the Lolita express, ignoring the missing video tapes in FBI custody, ignoring the assassinations of Epstein’s victims.
This is really exactly what Caitlyn’s article is about. Look where media is placing its emphasis, and why.
Mossad agent Epstein. That’s clear.
Great analysis Caitlin, thanks. It should be in every media literacy class.
BTW, Epstein raped children. Call that collecting ppl. For shame on your thinking.
That is in dusute.
Dispute...
Effective propaganda is mostly thr truth to gain trust, tulip in the lie. If you don,t tend the lines, g
You can't read between the lies to find what is being covered up.