Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley): In remarks defending the brutal suppression of university demonstrations protesting his genocide in Gaza, President Biden argued that protesting is allowed in the United States so long as it’s polite and doesn’t disrupt anything or upset anybody.
Pretend that the cops in Russia or some other country we don't like were firing rubber bullets at students protesting their government's genocidal policy.
Every politician, thinktanker and MSM jackhole in the land would be falling all over themselves to declare "solidarity" and demand that Something Be Done.
Hell, look at the outrage when the Georgian police cleared protesters protesting a law remarkably similar to FARA in the United States.
Looking at the Hong Kong comparos is what really drives it home. Ridiculous.
Oh, not directed at you, but anyone else notice all the Zionist assholes in Taibbi's comments lately? I canceled my sub because he deleted several of my comments. Free speech, my ass. LOL
Yes. For that matter, the various CIA-sponsored protests in Ukraine. Boy, those protesters were all so obedient, never disobeyed a police order, right?
Yep. And IIRC, they've spotted snipers on the rooftops at several of the campuses in the Midwest. Hmm...where have we seen that before? Nuland "retired" but that probably gives her a lot of free time to bake and hand out cookies, no?
True. Gonna be hard to assign/attribute any snipings to anyone but the government. If this was Ukraine, they'd blame it on the protestors. (which of course is the opposite of what they did there)
No idea where this comment will end up but I feel that is it so hypocritical for all those people in the US government to compete with each other for the prize to be the most outspoken Zionist bugle blower . Until the USA finds its way home to being a decent America first, second and third country ( a country without its little favourites like Israel ), we are going to see those political extremists like DeSantos who are so outspoken in their Israeli scripted / anti-Palestinian comment as to be assured of Jewish support for at least one more election, State or Federal, thereby being assured of a nice salary and continuing benefits. That man is a dangerous extremist as are both Biden and Trump.
What a selection.
There are some politicians who must feel so secure in this Israeli controlled environment that they can say anything. Some comments are so rightwing that they really warrant condemnation by their associates. Unlikely to happen however, all hanging in there for a helping hand at election time.
America has to find some way of determining what is a genuine contribution by an individual to a party (what a pity there are only two look-a-likes) as opposed to a grand corrupted financial "gift" by a Jewish wealthy banker, Israeli controlled lobby (AIPAC) or pressure group, all which answer to a foreign country, the worst state in living history, a genocidist 21st Century Third Reich (and then some), who, on every day in every way possible, gives the feeble Genocide Joe and his bunch of corrupted wimps the big finger.
The” war witch “ is readying herself for Halloween and auditioning for the Wicked Witch role on a remake of Oz. Said to be Having trouble finding “liver of black mamba” but I’m sure the CIA in Africa can accession it.
Yes. And like I explained to someone else, I don't blame Matt for not reading all the comments, but when it's my anti-Zionist comments and pointing out of the hypocrisy - or at the least serious journalistic lack of curiosity on the Uri Berliner Zionist angle - that gets deleted from comments, while rabid Zionist lies get to stay up, I'm done.
I watched the Greenwald Taibbi interview video that was shared elsewhere in this thread, and Glenn tried to prod him in that direction while Matt generally punted on the ethical/moral aspect and of course focused on general censorship (which is fine as a topic unto itself, but the ORIGINAL cancel culture was pro-Israel and he rarely if ever addresses that). At least Greenwald calls Bari Weiss a nasty Zionist hypocrite (not exactly those words, but close).
What I find funny is that these people claims to be dead against The Deep State, but like the dog returneth to its vomit, they buy the lies over and over again.
They don't buy the lies. They know the lies. They know the difference. Their content is tailored to a specific audience (for practical puropses).
People always assume that MSM are the only ones that are biased and have an agenda. The reality is that ALL journalists/reporters (and humans) are biased - including so-called independent journalists like Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibi, Kim Iverson, Jimmy Dore, Ben Norton, ... (the list is really long).
While MSM is ruled/controlled/influenced by Empire Managers and the Power Elite, Independent Media is compelled to rely on its audience (for funding purposes). Hence, there is an unstated bias in their perspectives that is tailored towards that audience - as they cannot afford to alienate said audience and jeopardize their survival.
The world is too complex and nuanced to be able to be understood by most people on the planet. Hence, media/journalists/reporters interpret and represent and overly simpify (IMHO) things by categorizing events into ideological pigeonholes (often not reflective of reality) that the masses can absorb.
I am always cautious of bias, regardless of MSM or independent journalism. And - I am often questioning my own bias (though this can sometimes be challenging). At the end of the day - question everything - and question everything continuously. Yes, life was never meant to be easy. People need to stop expecting news/analysis/information to be handed to them on a silver platter without the need to engage their critical thinking faculties (regardless of the source of said information).
Good advice Chang. I admit that I am biased, but I like to think that my bias is towards truth, justice and peace. Trying to be kind and caring. Feel moved by the plight of our struggling fellow humans. Find extremes of wealth and power nauseating and obscene. A strong bias for the oppressed and a contemptuous dislike of the neoliberal ruling classes. Totally biased against capitalism and its neoliberal manifestation - its inequities of wealth, class, greed and its military industrial complex and endless wars. Its web of lies and propaganda designed to disinform and mould the citizenry. Strongly biased towards the colonised, past and present, and vehemently opposed to the coloniser whatever guises they have taken over time.
Was one with and biased towards the first Holocaust victims. Completely biased against what they have become - power hungry, land grabbing, vile and with never a second thought about mass killing of innocents, genocidal.
Completely biased towards and one with the people of Gaza.
The propaganda media has nothing to enlighten us about. Except to view them with derision. I do question everything - and with a good dose of skepticism.
I made some comments about Zionazis and other similar language. No, it wasn't a "pissing match" and AFAIK a few of the actual "pissing matches" I *was* involved in are still up. Examples include calling someone out for pretending that history began on October 7 or providing a list of verifiable quotes made by hardline Israeli rabbis or from the Talmud in response to nasty comments about Palestinians.
Your last line makes me curious, though. Is there no gray area between "supporting the Jewish lobby" and toeing a very fine line not to piss them off? Because clearly he's doing the latter. Can you find one statement he or Kirn have made recently that openly/directly condemn the genocide being perpetrated by Israel in Gaza rather than sorta talking around it or 'both-sidesing' it?
Taibbi has always seemed to me a bit of a chicken. Often so mealy-mouthed it's hard to figure out what he's trying to say. On one hand on the other hand type of guy.
I've followed him for a long time. Like since the beginning of his career. It's gotten worse as time and fame have accrued. Almost like that Chris Hayes character on MSNBC (which I don't watch, but read about on Twitter) who will say all sorts of provocative (and true) things in his books and on social media, but then suddenly becomes a much more milquetoast mealy mouthed center-right liberal on air (apparently).
Taibbi has become similar, especially on Russia-Ukraine but even more so on Israel-Palestine. His old books were awesome as was his writing at RS and early Substack days. But now mealy mouthed and vague to the point of obviousness is the perfect way to describe his writing on the latter since "history began" (the belief of a huge portion of his commentariat) on October 7, 2023. He talks out of both sides of his mouth on the topic, but at the same time refuses to say anything about the one-sided genocide that might alienate some of his "right-wing" (ex. the Bari Weiss crowd) pro-Israel subscribers. It only got annoying when some of my comments started getting deleted recently.
Again yes Mango. Bari Weiss and others of the 'Free Speech' crowd have come out as open Zionazis. I almost think the whole move to Free Speech has been to allow them to say racist things and to be allowed to support and encourage genocides with impunity.
that is indeed a tactic used on substacks. alternative comment section are very often hi-jacked by reactionary mobs (often looks organised troll farm-like, imo - it serves to present e.g. glenn greenwald as 'right-wing'). the blind obedience of empire's militants makes them a much better organised machine. anti-empire sentiments are of course not allowed to organise at all or will be heavily infiltrated.
He's fabulously wealthy now and was never going to hurt for money with his dad's estate. But that is exactly what's happening minus the money part. He knows that there is a 'third rail' in "acceptable" American journalism, and wink...wink...I think the Congress just demonstrated what that is. We can piss on or burn an American flag or the flag of any other country except.....Hmmm....I'm drawing a blue and white blank.
Still, his comments are now full of raving Zionist liars and traitors who are more loyal to Israel than their own country.
WRT "the gray line", it is very much open to interpretation. Since Taibbi went all pay-wall I haven't been following him too closely so I may have to concede your point.
OTOH, he has a few interviews on Jimmy Dore (search for them on Dore's channel) where he kind of explains he has to be very careful. The "dustup" with Brianna joy Grey is a case in point where she made false claims about his position in going through the "Twitter Files" being "anti-progressive".
"Yes, he's walking a "fine line" and he admits it over and over again."
I'm not seeing this. Is there a timestamp in the video? Where has he made his opinion on Israel-Gaza known one way or another and specifically when has he said he has to toe a line? What line would that be?
"Would the world be a better place if there was no Taibbi?"
That's approaching straw man territory now. If Substack comments allowed, I could take a picture of my bookshelf which houses every single hardcover copy of every book Taibbi has ever published to paper.
"He's reporting on Israel/Gaza censorship."
Specific timestamp or article, please? What has he said about his former compatriot Bari Weiss on the matter? Especially recently? She's one of the biggest purveyors of pro-Israel cancel culture and censorship I can think of. Has he called her out? And since the tone of this conversation leads me to believe that I'll be misunderstood, I am genuinely asking a question and not implying that I know the answer is "no."
Eh maybe fair. But his convos with Kirn every week are not done as "reporters" and my main beef with his SS is the comments overrun with zionist fascists.
Oooh. I remembered one. I made a comment pointing out that Uri Berliner - the guy who resigned from NPR recently - seemed to have been just fine with working there all through Russiagate, COVID, the DEI stuff and only decided to resign in "protest" after NPR started turning an ever-so-critical eye on Israel's genocide in Gaza. And that it wasn't a coincidence he turned first to Bari Weiss (the free speech hypocrite queen of Zionist cancel culture) and her "Free Press" Substack to break the story.
Comment deleted.
So speaking of, has Matt come out against Bari's cancel culture hypocrisy? When it comes to criticizing Israel? Not that I can recall. Can you?
It is probably a moderator. It's hard to imagine he reads every comment. When you see a "comment deleted" in recent threads (last two weeks) there's a good chance it was one of my comments, and I didn't delete it/them myself.
On December 8, 1967, Senator J. William Fulbright gave a speech on the floor of the Senate. The subject was the Vietnam War.
The prior month, on November 17, LBJ held a press conference in which he said, amongst other things, the following regarding the governments attitude towards dissent IRT the war in SE Asia:
"We don't stop the publication of any papers. We don't fine anyone for something they say....."
Fulbright in his Senate remarks responded with the following:
"I should like to make it clear that I am not the slightest bit grateful to the administration for my freedom of speech. That freedom is an inalienable right which the American people reserved to themselves when they established a constitutional government. It is not the people's freedom which is a gift from their Government, but the Government's authority which is a gift from the people, a retractable trust to be discharged at their pleasure. When the Government abstains from suppressing dissent, it is doing nothing more than complying with one of the explicit conditions of its constitutional trust. That is not a thing for which gratitude is owed."
It is inconceivable that ANY member of the Congress would be capable of saying anything even remotely like this today.
"Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present, controls the past… The mutability of the past is the central tenet of Ingsoc. Past events, it is argued, have no objective existence, but survive only in written records and in human memories. The past is whatever the records and the memories agree upon. And since the Party is in full control of all records, and in equally full control of the minds of its members, it follows that the past is whatever the Party chooses to make it."
Remember who owns the New York Times. They are part of the "Jewish Lobby". Note they also have a lot of WASP in the family. Think about why Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, converted to Judaism. It had nothing to do with religion. That's why "Jewish Lobby" has to always be in quotes.
No -- Zionist, and Israeli will not do. The "Jewish Lobby" doesn't give a rat's toenail about Israel as a home for Jews. Unfortunately, Plutocracy and/or Oligarchy don't quite provide the right "flavor" of who these people are. I'm all in favor though of a new, more definitive label.
Something that is not discussed in many places is the subjugation of the christian religion by judaism. All the works have been corrupted with the message the Judaism is superior to Christianity because they are Gods chosen people. The religions savior - Jesus is a jew, the entire framework of christian belief is filled with the idea that Christians should defend and support Judaism. That somehow Christians owe Judaism something. They have continued this sleight of hand for centuries and truly enforced it where they can by rewriting history, changing the societies to fit their goals.
For my 2 cents I see Judaism being just as barbaric and backwards as Islam. Controlling peoples appearance, the food they eat, the timing of their lives, the words they speak at ritualized events in their lives. Its all very much about domination and control of humanity. Islam and Judaism see the other as vying for their control over humanity. is that the basis of their hatred of each other ?
The mythos of 1984 strikes a similar parallel for me, the party and Oceana have become the new religion and the new church. You are only accepted if you comply, only allowed to live in you continue to comply. Compliance above all else is what Israel wants.
Perhaps we should just call Israel the Inner Party ?
In your article you mentioned how in the past Christians "were encouraged to forget about the material comforts enjoyed by their rulers and focus instead on how great it’s going to be when they die and go to Heaven."
That is why I am so glad to be a Muslim. Yes we believe in the hereafter but we also believe in speaking out and fighting against Injustice as it is a religious duty to do so. Fighting against Injustice and tyranny is not just political rhetoric but a sign of one's true belief in the Islamic faith. The teachings of Islam are very much rooted in the here and now and what must be done to ensure the justice is carried out on the Earth.
I think we need to see how to empower ourselves to perform our sacred duty as citizens to remove our government and hold them accountable and make sure they never get this type of imperial authority over us again. At present we are far away from this, trapped in corporate collusion by the govt that can seize your property if you don’t pay taxes, censor public discourse and rig elections as a choice between two satans.
And don't forget spy on your every mode of communication while denying you access to anything they do. Ultimate transparency for the citize... I mean CONSUMER and ultimate opacity for our "betters" - the grownups - in the government.
My and Many Others had a Better Life here with Trump as President. I agree with Your view of the Feral GrubMint. But with Hilarity Rotten Clintoon or Dementia JObama as alternate choices, I'll vote (for what it's worth) for Trump in 2024 as I did in 2016 & 2020.
Spare me any RFK,Jr or Jill Greenie "choices" commentary, jousting at windmills, imo.
If the measure is that your life was better under Trump ican agree that is the best yardstick. Just try to avoid being a partisan, left vs right, Democrat vs republican is all a game to keep the unthinking masses chasing their tails.
I would hope that Orwell is turning in his grave, seeing as how he merely printed another scripted playbook on the creation of the totalitarian state, rather than being sufficiently consciously liberated to provide a playbook/script which related how humanoids awaken to their higher, sublime liberated universal conscious awareness of timeless, whole-y Unicity/Oneness Reality.
We cheer any movement away from the dreaded "1984 posts," not realizing we passed those posts decades ago and we're now cheering driving deeper into the storm.
Please explain/elaborate more fully what you mean by "it being too much of a shotgun"???
I find 'anti-satanic' to be a very potently descriptive and necessary point of awareness... mind you, I am not using any religious based definition, but in holding to my sense that "satan" is a metaphorical term referring to the lower, unevolved, unawakened, unconscious states of limited, separative/divisive biological/humanoid, ego-identified interpretations of existence.
In other words, those lower evolved levels of awareness that are too DENSELY STUPID to wield the rational capacity that would permit one to cognize that whatever one imposes upon one's planetary neighbors, one thereby inevitably imposes upon one's own life, self, and family.
This is the simple glaring primary principle of universal intelligent insight which relegates all egocentric, divisive, competitive ego wrangling politics to the hellish cesspool of mutually destructive ignorance and insanity.
Unfortunately, Caitlin Johnstone is similarly likewise feeding this delusional divisiveness by repeatedly/densely imparting blame against only "liberals & democrats," thereby herself helping tear down the USA by playing into Divide & Conquer dynamics.
The greater and more insidious problem often overlooked by those who are content in continuing to bash either "the Left" or "the Right" is that this endlessly prevents us from leaving our intelligence available to actually focus on the real underlying cause of our diseased societal state, i.e., NO, it is not "the liberals only"; NO, it is not "the conservatives only," but rather, it is the all-around unawakened satanically dense egocentric (selfish, megalomaniac, narcissistic) ignorance of the universal principle of walking in this world while sustaining the capacity to be concernedly and mindfully considerate of all our living neighbors on earth --- to be ourselves capable of wielding the intelligence not to pollute any part of our earth environment and lives with egoic ignorance-based delusional divisiveness, deviltry, and destructiveness... and to bless not in a selfish manner --- i.e., to not merely and miserly bless only one's own family, one's own community, one's own state/province/country --- but to bless ALL AS ONE, for this is the highest conscious awakened quantum truth of Reality: ALL IS ONE. THIS is why it is true that whatever you feed your neighbor, you feed yourself; whatever gifts you pour upon your neighbors, you pour upon your own existence; by whatever manner you nurture and bless your neighbors, you thereby simultaneously nurture and bless yourself.
This is what I call a word salad (reminescent of Jordan Peterson), and more spiritual BULLSHIT masquerading as something intellectual. I'm sure there are many suckers that will buy such crap (as evidenced by the endless supply of so-called "gurus" using the Capitalist system to enrich themselves).
Here's one suggestion for you : there is a book called "Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Public Health Threat" (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62874269-conspirituality) that goes into more details about the "spiritual industry".
"to bless ALL AS ONE, for this is the highest conscious awakened quantum truth of Reality: ALL IS ONE" :-)
"Satanic" is hard to define; several different rabbit-holes, but I just mean it as it is casually used in conversation.
"Semite" is an already misapplied word, and there would be many tangents that people would take-off-on to substitute "Satan"; too many "fighting words", and vague meanings.
If it is in the sense of the "liberal" party in Britain, sure.
If it is in the sense of "economics", sure
If it is in the sense of "social interaction", not so much. (of course, then there's the problem of whether or not "liberal" is synonymous with "libertarian".
Check out the political compass. Some of their definitions are (IMHO) inconsistent but I feel like it is important to try to not use labels that are meaningless. "Liberal" being one of them.
It's in reference to American shitlibs, as stated by James Baldwin, Malcolm X and MLK Jr.
“In any case, it's not enough to be a liberal...That is something that people have a great deal of difficulty with. But it is not enough to be a liberal, to have the right attitudes and even to give money to the right causes. You have to know more than that. You have to be prepared to risk more than that. I am telling you this because I have watched what happened to many of my liberal friends when the civil rights movement was in Alabama, let us say, in the Deep South, and they were very indignant. And then I watched what happened imperceptibly but fatally when the same movement moved north to Brooklyn, to Pittsburgh, Detroit, and New York. And their attitudes changed. I really have to put it to you that way, but that is what happened. Their attitudes changed because they began to feel more and more threatened, and a liberal facade or even a liberal attitude was not enough to deal with the speed with which the movement was moving and the complications of American life as revealed in the fact by the interracial tensions in every major city, and being liberal was no defense against that and no interpretation of that.”
― James Baldwin, The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings
And there's a great quote somewhere out there about how American liberals will be the loudest voices in the room, until a fight starts, then they're the first to leave.
Liberals are the petit bourgeoise - the laptop class - the PMC. The people who will loudly cheer for these protests from behind their computer screens, but when push comes to shove always favor "order" over anything resembling disorder to them. Whatever makes them or their patrons uncomfortable. Joe Biden, US Democrats, for example. Those who perpetrated the "quiet" racism in the US north.
It's a straight line continuum. I'm not sure why you are so offended. Neoliberal and austerity economics are also a direct offshoot. The liberal will sell out the working class in the same way he/she sells out the marginalized among us. I think you're probably too caught up on the dictionary definition of the political term which is merely that of a more enlightened or open minded "conservative."
There is nothing more vulnerable than a line of uniformed cops bristling with pepper-spray, tazers, tear-gas and clubs. Nets! Hooks! Poison Ivy! Tie them in knots!
I find 'anti-satanic' to be a very potently descriptive and necessary point of awareness & discernment... mind you, I am not using any religious based definition, but in holding to my sense that "satan" is a metaphorical term referring to the lower, unevolved, unawakened, unconscious, limited states of separative/divisive, sadomasochistic, destructive, biological/humanoid, ego-identified interpretations of existence.
In other words, those lower evolved levels of awareness that are too DENSELY STUPID to wield the tool of sublime rationality that enables oneself and one's fellow folks to cognize that whatever one imposes upon one's planetary neighbors, one thereby inevitably imposes upon one's own life, self, and family! Duhh! Yet even in this, the "21st century," there are far too many beings of insufficiently evolved intelligence to grasp, let alone to convey and to always put into practice this utterly primary perennial principle of awakened, insightful, sane, civil, civilized & *divine human decency*!
This is the simple glaring primary principle of universal intelligent insight which relegates all egocentric, divisive, competitive political ego wrangling to the hellish cesspool of mutually destructive ignorance and insanity! It is now glaringly apparent --- and in greater glaring immediacy than ever before --- that if we do not change our direction, we are likely to end up where we are headed, i.e., the state of mutually stupid mutual annihilation, which is clearly precisely what the satanic zionazis are hellbent upon inducing.
Unfortunately, Caitlin Johnstone is similarly likewise feeding this delusional divisiveness by densely and repeatedly imparting blame against only "liberals & democrats," thereby herself helping tear down the USA by playing into Divide & Conquer dynamics.
The greater and more insidious problem often overlooked by those who are content in continuing to bash either "the Left" or "the Right" is that this endlessly prevents us from leaving our intelligence available to actually focus on the real underlying cause of our diseased societal state, i.e., NO, it is not "the liberals only"; NO, it is not "the conservatives only," but rather, it is the all-around unawakened satanically dense egocentric (selfish, megalomaniac, narcissistic) ignorance of the universal principle of walking in this world while sustaining the wisdom of whole-y Oneness which contains the capacity to be always also fully concerned and mindfully considerate of all our living neighbors on earth in mutual concern for ourselves --- i.e., to be ourselves capable of wielding the intelligence not to pollute any part of our earth environment and our lives with egoic ignorance-based delusional divisiveness, deviltry, and destructiveness... and to bless life not in a selfish manner --- i.e., to not merely and miserly bless only one's own family, one's own community, one's own town/state/province/country --- but to bless ALL AS ONE, for this is the highest conscious awakened quantum truth of Reality: ALL IS ONE. THIS is why it is true that whatever you feed your neighbor, you feed yourself; whatever gifts you pour upon your neighbors, you pour upon your own existence; by whatever manner you nurture and bless your neighbors, you thereby simultaneously nurture and bless yourself.
Good will tell you he's not happy with the label "Deep State" which (I understand) was coined by Peter Dale Scott who writes a lot of articles in collaboration with Good. Good has several outlets called "The American Exception" the title of his PhD thesis.
This is why I us the term "Jewish Lobby" (which is hardly made up of Jews, but I'm not going to explain that again) A better label would be excellent.
Basically, the WASPs who came to this country and founded it included frauds and con-men who established for themselves positions of extreme privilege. They will do anything, and I mean anything, to maintain that privilege.
Their podcast "The Devils Chessboard" covers such controversial subjects as the JFK assassination exposing details that have remained hidden for more than 1/2 a century.
IOW, if you really want an answer to your question, it isn't going to be simple to find. But start with Good and you'll be on your way.
Do recall that FDR saved capitalism. Which turned out to not be such a good thing for Americans, since, as Richard Wolff points out, it allowed the "system" to remain in place.
There's a reason why the utterly corrupt US government is universally despised by most US citizens. This is exhibit A in a long list, ranging from chronic underinvestment in infrastructure to lack of universal health care and free college to its openly fascist foreign policy. As Mark Twain once remarked: "There's no official criminal class in America, except for Congress". These bastards need to go. All of them.
Always is, and has been. Reminds me of something I asked a dear friend in San Francisco in the mid-1960s: If there is such a thing as eternity, when the heck else is it, except now? He didn’t give me an answer.
Biden defends the "brutal suppression of university demonstrations protesting his genocide in Gaza," the same way he defends the brutal suppression of Gaza civilians. Maybe he thinks the students are human shields. Maybe he could pay for those students who feel "uncomfortable" when faced with protests against genocide to go stay in Gaza. I wonder how comfortable they would feel then.
This is going to go on forever. This is what human beings are like, generally. Most people are decent and upright at least most of the time. But every generation produces its share of predatory, sociopathic types, and a certain critical number of these who are highly functional and talented inevitably gravitate to positions of power, from where they proceed to make life hell for large numbers of those in the grip of that power. The more things change the more they will remain the same. My take on the human enterprise on this planet is that evil is always winning, but never wins, and good is always losing but never loses.
>>"My take on the human enterprise on this planet is that evil is always winning, but never wins, and good is always losing but never loses."
Is there any way to change that dynamic? Any way to change these "seemingly default repeating patterns" of human behavior? Or is the only solution (IMHO) to wait a million years and hope that human evolution takes a better path? (not sure if there'll be an earth by then or if humanity will survive for another million years based on what I observe presently).
Very good article and thank you Caitlin. This article makes me think of the song, “Love Me, I’m a Liberal” by Phil Oches from the 60’s. As George Galloway puts it, “both parties are two cheeks of the same ass”. It’s really true, they are the uniparty/war party.😢
Pretend that the cops in Russia or some other country we don't like were firing rubber bullets at students protesting their government's genocidal policy.
Every politician, thinktanker and MSM jackhole in the land would be falling all over themselves to declare "solidarity" and demand that Something Be Done.
Hell, look at the outrage when the Georgian police cleared protesters protesting a law remarkably similar to FARA in the United States.
Looking at the Hong Kong comparos is what really drives it home. Ridiculous.
Oh, not directed at you, but anyone else notice all the Zionist assholes in Taibbi's comments lately? I canceled my sub because he deleted several of my comments. Free speech, my ass. LOL
Yes. For that matter, the various CIA-sponsored protests in Ukraine. Boy, those protesters were all so obedient, never disobeyed a police order, right?
Yep. And IIRC, they've spotted snipers on the rooftops at several of the campuses in the Midwest. Hmm...where have we seen that before? Nuland "retired" but that probably gives her a lot of free time to bake and hand out cookies, no?
Except those snipers were intended to send a clear threat to the protesters. "Step out of line and we will shoot you!"
True. Gonna be hard to assign/attribute any snipings to anyone but the government. If this was Ukraine, they'd blame it on the protestors. (which of course is the opposite of what they did there)
https://thegrayzone.com/2024/05/02/columbia-crackdown-university-nypd/
Feral
No idea where this comment will end up but I feel that is it so hypocritical for all those people in the US government to compete with each other for the prize to be the most outspoken Zionist bugle blower . Until the USA finds its way home to being a decent America first, second and third country ( a country without its little favourites like Israel ), we are going to see those political extremists like DeSantos who are so outspoken in their Israeli scripted / anti-Palestinian comment as to be assured of Jewish support for at least one more election, State or Federal, thereby being assured of a nice salary and continuing benefits. That man is a dangerous extremist as are both Biden and Trump.
What a selection.
There are some politicians who must feel so secure in this Israeli controlled environment that they can say anything. Some comments are so rightwing that they really warrant condemnation by their associates. Unlikely to happen however, all hanging in there for a helping hand at election time.
America has to find some way of determining what is a genuine contribution by an individual to a party (what a pity there are only two look-a-likes) as opposed to a grand corrupted financial "gift" by a Jewish wealthy banker, Israeli controlled lobby (AIPAC) or pressure group, all which answer to a foreign country, the worst state in living history, a genocidist 21st Century Third Reich (and then some), who, on every day in every way possible, gives the feeble Genocide Joe and his bunch of corrupted wimps the big finger.
Yesterday it was 10 years since people were burned alive in Odessa. Everything is on video and documented, no one brought to justice. https://www.rt.com/russia/596871-odessa-fire-peskov-crime/
The” war witch “ is readying herself for Halloween and auditioning for the Wicked Witch role on a remake of Oz. Said to be Having trouble finding “liver of black mamba” but I’m sure the CIA in Africa can accession it.
Yes, Mango lots of Zionazis on Matt Taibbi, I've also cancelled my sub because of his silence, or even at the beginning pro-Israel, coverage of Gaza.
Yes. And like I explained to someone else, I don't blame Matt for not reading all the comments, but when it's my anti-Zionist comments and pointing out of the hypocrisy - or at the least serious journalistic lack of curiosity on the Uri Berliner Zionist angle - that gets deleted from comments, while rabid Zionist lies get to stay up, I'm done.
I watched the Greenwald Taibbi interview video that was shared elsewhere in this thread, and Glenn tried to prod him in that direction while Matt generally punted on the ethical/moral aspect and of course focused on general censorship (which is fine as a topic unto itself, but the ORIGINAL cancel culture was pro-Israel and he rarely if ever addresses that). At least Greenwald calls Bari Weiss a nasty Zionist hypocrite (not exactly those words, but close).
What I find funny is that these people claims to be dead against The Deep State, but like the dog returneth to its vomit, they buy the lies over and over again.
They don't buy the lies. They know the lies. They know the difference. Their content is tailored to a specific audience (for practical puropses).
People always assume that MSM are the only ones that are biased and have an agenda. The reality is that ALL journalists/reporters (and humans) are biased - including so-called independent journalists like Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibi, Kim Iverson, Jimmy Dore, Ben Norton, ... (the list is really long).
While MSM is ruled/controlled/influenced by Empire Managers and the Power Elite, Independent Media is compelled to rely on its audience (for funding purposes). Hence, there is an unstated bias in their perspectives that is tailored towards that audience - as they cannot afford to alienate said audience and jeopardize their survival.
The world is too complex and nuanced to be able to be understood by most people on the planet. Hence, media/journalists/reporters interpret and represent and overly simpify (IMHO) things by categorizing events into ideological pigeonholes (often not reflective of reality) that the masses can absorb.
I am always cautious of bias, regardless of MSM or independent journalism. And - I am often questioning my own bias (though this can sometimes be challenging). At the end of the day - question everything - and question everything continuously. Yes, life was never meant to be easy. People need to stop expecting news/analysis/information to be handed to them on a silver platter without the need to engage their critical thinking faculties (regardless of the source of said information).
Good advice Chang. I admit that I am biased, but I like to think that my bias is towards truth, justice and peace. Trying to be kind and caring. Feel moved by the plight of our struggling fellow humans. Find extremes of wealth and power nauseating and obscene. A strong bias for the oppressed and a contemptuous dislike of the neoliberal ruling classes. Totally biased against capitalism and its neoliberal manifestation - its inequities of wealth, class, greed and its military industrial complex and endless wars. Its web of lies and propaganda designed to disinform and mould the citizenry. Strongly biased towards the colonised, past and present, and vehemently opposed to the coloniser whatever guises they have taken over time.
Was one with and biased towards the first Holocaust victims. Completely biased against what they have become - power hungry, land grabbing, vile and with never a second thought about mass killing of innocents, genocidal.
Completely biased towards and one with the people of Gaza.
The propaganda media has nothing to enlighten us about. Except to view them with derision. I do question everything - and with a good dose of skepticism.
Hmmm... what did you say?
Did you get into a pissing match with some Zionist?
I'm sure Taibbi isn't supporting the "Jewish Lobby".
I made some comments about Zionazis and other similar language. No, it wasn't a "pissing match" and AFAIK a few of the actual "pissing matches" I *was* involved in are still up. Examples include calling someone out for pretending that history began on October 7 or providing a list of verifiable quotes made by hardline Israeli rabbis or from the Talmud in response to nasty comments about Palestinians.
Your last line makes me curious, though. Is there no gray area between "supporting the Jewish lobby" and toeing a very fine line not to piss them off? Because clearly he's doing the latter. Can you find one statement he or Kirn have made recently that openly/directly condemn the genocide being perpetrated by Israel in Gaza rather than sorta talking around it or 'both-sidesing' it?
Yes Taibbi and Kirn are talking round it or ignoring a Genocide altogether.
Taibbi has always seemed to me a bit of a chicken. Often so mealy-mouthed it's hard to figure out what he's trying to say. On one hand on the other hand type of guy.
I've followed him for a long time. Like since the beginning of his career. It's gotten worse as time and fame have accrued. Almost like that Chris Hayes character on MSNBC (which I don't watch, but read about on Twitter) who will say all sorts of provocative (and true) things in his books and on social media, but then suddenly becomes a much more milquetoast mealy mouthed center-right liberal on air (apparently).
Taibbi has become similar, especially on Russia-Ukraine but even more so on Israel-Palestine. His old books were awesome as was his writing at RS and early Substack days. But now mealy mouthed and vague to the point of obviousness is the perfect way to describe his writing on the latter since "history began" (the belief of a huge portion of his commentariat) on October 7, 2023. He talks out of both sides of his mouth on the topic, but at the same time refuses to say anything about the one-sided genocide that might alienate some of his "right-wing" (ex. the Bari Weiss crowd) pro-Israel subscribers. It only got annoying when some of my comments started getting deleted recently.
Again yes Mango. Bari Weiss and others of the 'Free Speech' crowd have come out as open Zionazis. I almost think the whole move to Free Speech has been to allow them to say racist things and to be allowed to support and encourage genocides with impunity.
that is indeed a tactic used on substacks. alternative comment section are very often hi-jacked by reactionary mobs (often looks organised troll farm-like, imo - it serves to present e.g. glenn greenwald as 'right-wing'). the blind obedience of empire's militants makes them a much better organised machine. anti-empire sentiments are of course not allowed to organise at all or will be heavily infiltrated.
I think he has a small child (or several) ... so I would think he needs any job & money (that is the reality of life)
He's fabulously wealthy now and was never going to hurt for money with his dad's estate. But that is exactly what's happening minus the money part. He knows that there is a 'third rail' in "acceptable" American journalism, and wink...wink...I think the Congress just demonstrated what that is. We can piss on or burn an American flag or the flag of any other country except.....Hmmm....I'm drawing a blue and white blank.
Still, his comments are now full of raving Zionist liars and traitors who are more loyal to Israel than their own country.
"A married man [w/ offspring] will do anything for money. "
Taibbi fashions himself a reporter, so he's best off leaving his opinions unstated.
Thanks for your response.
WRT "the gray line", it is very much open to interpretation. Since Taibbi went all pay-wall I haven't been following him too closely so I may have to concede your point.
OTOH, he has a few interviews on Jimmy Dore (search for them on Dore's channel) where he kind of explains he has to be very careful. The "dustup" with Brianna joy Grey is a case in point where she made false claims about his position in going through the "Twitter Files" being "anti-progressive".
Then this interview with Glenn Greenwald: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL7Gt7AU7BI
He's ranting against Ami Klobuchar and speech censorship.
He's reporting on Israel/Gaza censorship.
Taibbi is a journalist. He goes to extremes to just "report the news".
Yes, he's walking a "fine line" and he admits it over and over again.
Would the world be a better place if there was no Taibbi?
"Yes, he's walking a "fine line" and he admits it over and over again."
I'm not seeing this. Is there a timestamp in the video? Where has he made his opinion on Israel-Gaza known one way or another and specifically when has he said he has to toe a line? What line would that be?
"Would the world be a better place if there was no Taibbi?"
That's approaching straw man territory now. If Substack comments allowed, I could take a picture of my bookshelf which houses every single hardcover copy of every book Taibbi has ever published to paper.
"He's reporting on Israel/Gaza censorship."
Specific timestamp or article, please? What has he said about his former compatriot Bari Weiss on the matter? Especially recently? She's one of the biggest purveyors of pro-Israel cancel culture and censorship I can think of. Has he called her out? And since the tone of this conversation leads me to believe that I'll be misunderstood, I am genuinely asking a question and not implying that I know the answer is "no."
His reporting has been over 6 months or even 6 years so if you want a specific timestamp I can't give you one.
OK, you don't like Taibbi. That's on you.
Taibbi fashions himself a reporter, in which case he's best off leaving his opinions unstated.
Eh maybe fair. But his convos with Kirn every week are not done as "reporters" and my main beef with his SS is the comments overrun with zionist fascists.
I hope they keep your posts up over there. The Zionist comments frustrate me, and I appreciate seeing people, such as yourself, calling them out.
Prove Taibbi is doing this, meanwhile I don’t believe you.
For all I know he has moderators. Do you think he literally reads thousands of comments under every story?
For starters, go to some of the recent threads and scan for "comment deleted" - some of those will be mine.
There is no way to "prove" it unless someone had responded to it and I got an email notification.
I really DGAF if you believe me. Why would I make it up?
this is how it's done. they flood the comment section so you need modérateurs who are empire trained professionals (like 'journalists').
Oooh. I remembered one. I made a comment pointing out that Uri Berliner - the guy who resigned from NPR recently - seemed to have been just fine with working there all through Russiagate, COVID, the DEI stuff and only decided to resign in "protest" after NPR started turning an ever-so-critical eye on Israel's genocide in Gaza. And that it wasn't a coincidence he turned first to Bari Weiss (the free speech hypocrite queen of Zionist cancel culture) and her "Free Press" Substack to break the story.
Comment deleted.
So speaking of, has Matt come out against Bari's cancel culture hypocrisy? When it comes to criticizing Israel? Not that I can recall. Can you?
Sorry to hear that. He claims he has no rules on comments.
It is probably a moderator. It's hard to imagine he reads every comment. When you see a "comment deleted" in recent threads (last two weeks) there's a good chance it was one of my comments, and I didn't delete it/them myself.
I agree about the moderator. Matt should be notified and asked if he condones. What if he isn't aware himself?
I've been confused lately with Taibbi's take on a few subjects, too. He seems to get caught up in details missing the principle, sometimes.
Hong Kong rings a bell. What did Pelosi say about that protest because she was in favor of it?
She called it “beautiful”.
Thanks for filling in my blank.
Pelosi also frequently quoted John Lewis
In this long thread, there was some discussion about Taibbi not offering his own opinion about the Gaza situation (or Ukraine).
Taibbi fashions himself a reporter, in which case he's best off leaving his opinions unstated.
On December 8, 1967, Senator J. William Fulbright gave a speech on the floor of the Senate. The subject was the Vietnam War.
The prior month, on November 17, LBJ held a press conference in which he said, amongst other things, the following regarding the governments attitude towards dissent IRT the war in SE Asia:
"We don't stop the publication of any papers. We don't fine anyone for something they say....."
Fulbright in his Senate remarks responded with the following:
"I should like to make it clear that I am not the slightest bit grateful to the administration for my freedom of speech. That freedom is an inalienable right which the American people reserved to themselves when they established a constitutional government. It is not the people's freedom which is a gift from their Government, but the Government's authority which is a gift from the people, a retractable trust to be discharged at their pleasure. When the Government abstains from suppressing dissent, it is doing nothing more than complying with one of the explicit conditions of its constitutional trust. That is not a thing for which gratitude is owed."
It is inconceivable that ANY member of the Congress would be capable of saying anything even remotely like this today.
Congress owe their positions to the "Jewish Lobby" through ADL and AIPAC.
I guess I'm stating the obvious by now.
So of course, I have to bring up Orwell in context since I haven't seen it posted here yet:
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-does-that-quote-mean-archaeology-172300
"Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present, controls the past… The mutability of the past is the central tenet of Ingsoc. Past events, it is argued, have no objective existence, but survive only in written records and in human memories. The past is whatever the records and the memories agree upon. And since the Party is in full control of all records, and in equally full control of the minds of its members, it follows that the past is whatever the Party chooses to make it."
Remember who owns the New York Times. They are part of the "Jewish Lobby". Note they also have a lot of WASP in the family. Think about why Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, converted to Judaism. It had nothing to do with religion. That's why "Jewish Lobby" has to always be in quotes.
No -- Zionist, and Israeli will not do. The "Jewish Lobby" doesn't give a rat's toenail about Israel as a home for Jews. Unfortunately, Plutocracy and/or Oligarchy don't quite provide the right "flavor" of who these people are. I'm all in favor though of a new, more definitive label.
Something that is not discussed in many places is the subjugation of the christian religion by judaism. All the works have been corrupted with the message the Judaism is superior to Christianity because they are Gods chosen people. The religions savior - Jesus is a jew, the entire framework of christian belief is filled with the idea that Christians should defend and support Judaism. That somehow Christians owe Judaism something. They have continued this sleight of hand for centuries and truly enforced it where they can by rewriting history, changing the societies to fit their goals.
For my 2 cents I see Judaism being just as barbaric and backwards as Islam. Controlling peoples appearance, the food they eat, the timing of their lives, the words they speak at ritualized events in their lives. Its all very much about domination and control of humanity. Islam and Judaism see the other as vying for their control over humanity. is that the basis of their hatred of each other ?
The mythos of 1984 strikes a similar parallel for me, the party and Oceana have become the new religion and the new church. You are only accepted if you comply, only allowed to live in you continue to comply. Compliance above all else is what Israel wants.
Perhaps we should just call Israel the Inner Party ?
Nauseating , no words .indefensible hypocrisy
In your article you mentioned how in the past Christians "were encouraged to forget about the material comforts enjoyed by their rulers and focus instead on how great it’s going to be when they die and go to Heaven."
That is why I am so glad to be a Muslim. Yes we believe in the hereafter but we also believe in speaking out and fighting against Injustice as it is a religious duty to do so. Fighting against Injustice and tyranny is not just political rhetoric but a sign of one's true belief in the Islamic faith. The teachings of Islam are very much rooted in the here and now and what must be done to ensure the justice is carried out on the Earth.
Alhamdulilah this is true! Well said!
I think we need to see how to empower ourselves to perform our sacred duty as citizens to remove our government and hold them accountable and make sure they never get this type of imperial authority over us again. At present we are far away from this, trapped in corporate collusion by the govt that can seize your property if you don’t pay taxes, censor public discourse and rig elections as a choice between two satans.
And don't forget spy on your every mode of communication while denying you access to anything they do. Ultimate transparency for the citize... I mean CONSUMER and ultimate opacity for our "betters" - the grownups - in the government.
My and Many Others had a Better Life here with Trump as President. I agree with Your view of the Feral GrubMint. But with Hilarity Rotten Clintoon or Dementia JObama as alternate choices, I'll vote (for what it's worth) for Trump in 2024 as I did in 2016 & 2020.
Spare me any RFK,Jr or Jill Greenie "choices" commentary, jousting at windmills, imo.
Please leave us ferals out of it!
Some ferals are Better than Other Ferals from DC
Those ferals aren't feral at all.
If the measure is that your life was better under Trump ican agree that is the best yardstick. Just try to avoid being a partisan, left vs right, Democrat vs republican is all a game to keep the unthinking masses chasing their tails.
I try to sort em out by Sane or Insane. :-)
Can "Antipalestinianism" be a word now?
;-(
Antihuman.
Anti-truth, anti-intelligence, anti-sanity, anti-peace anti-wisdom, anti-life, inverted, ass-lying, reptilican, satanic Talmudic, Troglodytic, warmongering, weapons-making, ashke-NAZI khaz-ARYAN Yiddish "God's chosen" mammon-worshiping/idolatrous mafiosi gangster-bankster fucker-bastards...
Orwell is turning in his grave.
I would hope that Orwell is turning in his grave, seeing as how he merely printed another scripted playbook on the creation of the totalitarian state, rather than being sufficiently consciously liberated to provide a playbook/script which related how humanoids awaken to their higher, sublime liberated universal conscious awareness of timeless, whole-y Unicity/Oneness Reality.
Exactly. Everyone lauds 1984 as an inoculation.
It was a ruse.
We cheer any movement away from the dreaded "1984 posts," not realizing we passed those posts decades ago and we're now cheering driving deeper into the storm.
I am hesitant to float the term "Antisatanism" for fear of it being too much of a "shotgun".
;-(
Please explain/elaborate more fully what you mean by "it being too much of a shotgun"???
I find 'anti-satanic' to be a very potently descriptive and necessary point of awareness... mind you, I am not using any religious based definition, but in holding to my sense that "satan" is a metaphorical term referring to the lower, unevolved, unawakened, unconscious states of limited, separative/divisive biological/humanoid, ego-identified interpretations of existence.
In other words, those lower evolved levels of awareness that are too DENSELY STUPID to wield the rational capacity that would permit one to cognize that whatever one imposes upon one's planetary neighbors, one thereby inevitably imposes upon one's own life, self, and family.
This is the simple glaring primary principle of universal intelligent insight which relegates all egocentric, divisive, competitive ego wrangling politics to the hellish cesspool of mutually destructive ignorance and insanity.
Unfortunately, Caitlin Johnstone is similarly likewise feeding this delusional divisiveness by repeatedly/densely imparting blame against only "liberals & democrats," thereby herself helping tear down the USA by playing into Divide & Conquer dynamics.
The greater and more insidious problem often overlooked by those who are content in continuing to bash either "the Left" or "the Right" is that this endlessly prevents us from leaving our intelligence available to actually focus on the real underlying cause of our diseased societal state, i.e., NO, it is not "the liberals only"; NO, it is not "the conservatives only," but rather, it is the all-around unawakened satanically dense egocentric (selfish, megalomaniac, narcissistic) ignorance of the universal principle of walking in this world while sustaining the capacity to be concernedly and mindfully considerate of all our living neighbors on earth --- to be ourselves capable of wielding the intelligence not to pollute any part of our earth environment and lives with egoic ignorance-based delusional divisiveness, deviltry, and destructiveness... and to bless not in a selfish manner --- i.e., to not merely and miserly bless only one's own family, one's own community, one's own state/province/country --- but to bless ALL AS ONE, for this is the highest conscious awakened quantum truth of Reality: ALL IS ONE. THIS is why it is true that whatever you feed your neighbor, you feed yourself; whatever gifts you pour upon your neighbors, you pour upon your own existence; by whatever manner you nurture and bless your neighbors, you thereby simultaneously nurture and bless yourself.
This is what I call a word salad (reminescent of Jordan Peterson), and more spiritual BULLSHIT masquerading as something intellectual. I'm sure there are many suckers that will buy such crap (as evidenced by the endless supply of so-called "gurus" using the Capitalist system to enrich themselves).
Here's one suggestion for you : there is a book called "Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Public Health Threat" (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62874269-conspirituality) that goes into more details about the "spiritual industry".
How beautifully you are using your English !
Not much have I understood ,but while reading I thought : gosh, wish I would speak like this !
This guy gets it.
"to bless ALL AS ONE, for this is the highest conscious awakened quantum truth of Reality: ALL IS ONE" :-)
"Satanic" is hard to define; several different rabbit-holes, but I just mean it as it is casually used in conversation.
"Semite" is an already misapplied word, and there would be many tangents that people would take-off-on to substitute "Satan"; too many "fighting words", and vague meanings.
How can the American people let these Democrats, these Nazi-Cops, these Zionist Gangs just wander around?
They've been around since basically our inception, so I don't see them going anywhere anytime soon.
Scratch a liberal and a fascist bleeds. Obvs. applies to conservatives too.
Best line I’ve heard all morning!
Depends on what your definition of "liberal" is.
If it is in the sense of the "liberal" party in Britain, sure.
If it is in the sense of "economics", sure
If it is in the sense of "social interaction", not so much. (of course, then there's the problem of whether or not "liberal" is synonymous with "libertarian".
Check out the political compass. Some of their definitions are (IMHO) inconsistent but I feel like it is important to try to not use labels that are meaningless. "Liberal" being one of them.
It's in reference to American shitlibs, as stated by James Baldwin, Malcolm X and MLK Jr.
“In any case, it's not enough to be a liberal...That is something that people have a great deal of difficulty with. But it is not enough to be a liberal, to have the right attitudes and even to give money to the right causes. You have to know more than that. You have to be prepared to risk more than that. I am telling you this because I have watched what happened to many of my liberal friends when the civil rights movement was in Alabama, let us say, in the Deep South, and they were very indignant. And then I watched what happened imperceptibly but fatally when the same movement moved north to Brooklyn, to Pittsburgh, Detroit, and New York. And their attitudes changed. I really have to put it to you that way, but that is what happened. Their attitudes changed because they began to feel more and more threatened, and a liberal facade or even a liberal attitude was not enough to deal with the speed with which the movement was moving and the complications of American life as revealed in the fact by the interracial tensions in every major city, and being liberal was no defense against that and no interpretation of that.”
― James Baldwin, The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings
or
https://theintercept.com/2018/01/15/martin-luther-king-jr-mlk-day-2018/
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1962/11/17/letter-from-a-region-in-my-mind
And there's a great quote somewhere out there about how American liberals will be the loudest voices in the room, until a fight starts, then they're the first to leave.
"Love Me, I'm a Liberal!"
I cried when they shot Medgar Evers
Tears ran down my spine
I cried when they shot mr. kennedy
As though i'd lost a father of mine
But Malcolm X got what was coming
He got what he asked for this time
So love me, love me, love me, i'm a liberal
I go to civil rights rallies
And i put down the old d.a.r.
I love harry and sidney and sammy
I hope every colored boy becomes a star
But don't talk about revolution
That's going a little bit too far
So love me, love me, love me, i'm a liberal
I cheered when humphrey was chosen
My faith in the system restored
I'm glad the commies were thrown out
Of the a.f.l. c.i.o. board
I love puerto ricans and negros
As long as they don't move next door
So love me, love me, love me, i'm a liberal
The people of old mississippi
Should all hang their heads in shame
I can't understand how their minds work
What's the matter don't they watch les crain?
But if you ask me to bus my children
I hope the cops take down your name
So love me, love me, love me, i'm a liberal
I read new republic and nation
I've learned to take every view
You know, i've memorized lerner and golden
I feel like i'm almost a jew
But when it comes to times like korea
There's no one more red, white and blue
So love me, love me, love me, i'm a liberal
I vote for the democtratic party
They want the u.n. to be strong
I go to all the pete seeger concerts
He sure gets me singing those songs
I'll send all the money you ask for
But don't ask me to come on along
So love me, love me, love me, i'm a liberal
Once i was young and impulsive
I wore every conceivable pin
Even went to the socialist meetings
Learned all the old union hymns
But i've grown older and wiser
And that's why i'm turning you in
So love me, love me, love me, i'm a liberal
Did you make that up or is it a song?
A song by Phil Ochs.
FWIW: the entire King article:
https://archive.ph/lEESW
If you want to refer to them as "shitlibs", OK I get that label.
"Liberal" in the context of Baldwin's 50+ year old article makes sense.
"Liberal" wasn't used by King, but by the Intercepts author. I don't know what a Liberal is.
Not sure what was meant by "the entire" article - The Intercept doesn't have a paywall.
MLK didn't "use" the term "liberal" but it's widely understood who was meant.
https://archive.ph/XipwN - WaPo does have a paywall.
Liberals are the petit bourgeoise - the laptop class - the PMC. The people who will loudly cheer for these protests from behind their computer screens, but when push comes to shove always favor "order" over anything resembling disorder to them. Whatever makes them or their patrons uncomfortable. Joe Biden, US Democrats, for example. Those who perpetrated the "quiet" racism in the US north.
https://items.ssrc.org/insights/martin-luther-king-jr-s-challenge-to-northern-liberalism-and-us-social-science/
It's a straight line continuum. I'm not sure why you are so offended. Neoliberal and austerity economics are also a direct offshoot. The liberal will sell out the working class in the same way he/she sells out the marginalized among us. I think you're probably too caught up on the dictionary definition of the political term which is merely that of a more enlightened or open minded "conservative."
What part about " 'Liberal' has no meaning for me" do you not understand?
There is nothing more vulnerable than a line of uniformed cops bristling with pepper-spray, tazers, tear-gas and clubs. Nets! Hooks! Poison Ivy! Tie them in knots!
I find 'anti-satanic' to be a very potently descriptive and necessary point of awareness & discernment... mind you, I am not using any religious based definition, but in holding to my sense that "satan" is a metaphorical term referring to the lower, unevolved, unawakened, unconscious, limited states of separative/divisive, sadomasochistic, destructive, biological/humanoid, ego-identified interpretations of existence.
In other words, those lower evolved levels of awareness that are too DENSELY STUPID to wield the tool of sublime rationality that enables oneself and one's fellow folks to cognize that whatever one imposes upon one's planetary neighbors, one thereby inevitably imposes upon one's own life, self, and family! Duhh! Yet even in this, the "21st century," there are far too many beings of insufficiently evolved intelligence to grasp, let alone to convey and to always put into practice this utterly primary perennial principle of awakened, insightful, sane, civil, civilized & *divine human decency*!
This is the simple glaring primary principle of universal intelligent insight which relegates all egocentric, divisive, competitive political ego wrangling to the hellish cesspool of mutually destructive ignorance and insanity! It is now glaringly apparent --- and in greater glaring immediacy than ever before --- that if we do not change our direction, we are likely to end up where we are headed, i.e., the state of mutually stupid mutual annihilation, which is clearly precisely what the satanic zionazis are hellbent upon inducing.
Unfortunately, Caitlin Johnstone is similarly likewise feeding this delusional divisiveness by densely and repeatedly imparting blame against only "liberals & democrats," thereby herself helping tear down the USA by playing into Divide & Conquer dynamics.
The greater and more insidious problem often overlooked by those who are content in continuing to bash either "the Left" or "the Right" is that this endlessly prevents us from leaving our intelligence available to actually focus on the real underlying cause of our diseased societal state, i.e., NO, it is not "the liberals only"; NO, it is not "the conservatives only," but rather, it is the all-around unawakened satanically dense egocentric (selfish, megalomaniac, narcissistic) ignorance of the universal principle of walking in this world while sustaining the wisdom of whole-y Oneness which contains the capacity to be always also fully concerned and mindfully considerate of all our living neighbors on earth in mutual concern for ourselves --- i.e., to be ourselves capable of wielding the intelligence not to pollute any part of our earth environment and our lives with egoic ignorance-based delusional divisiveness, deviltry, and destructiveness... and to bless life not in a selfish manner --- i.e., to not merely and miserly bless only one's own family, one's own community, one's own town/state/province/country --- but to bless ALL AS ONE, for this is the highest conscious awakened quantum truth of Reality: ALL IS ONE. THIS is why it is true that whatever you feed your neighbor, you feed yourself; whatever gifts you pour upon your neighbors, you pour upon your own existence; by whatever manner you nurture and bless your neighbors, you thereby simultaneously nurture and bless yourself.
Applies to humans in general. Want to make any group of humans into roaring assholes?
Just give them power and no responsibilities.
Aaron Good explains in this 24 part youTube series called "Empire and the Deep State"
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDAi0NdlN8hNArLl765PXe8tsTKmOciGL
Good will tell you he's not happy with the label "Deep State" which (I understand) was coined by Peter Dale Scott who writes a lot of articles in collaboration with Good. Good has several outlets called "The American Exception" the title of his PhD thesis.
This is why I us the term "Jewish Lobby" (which is hardly made up of Jews, but I'm not going to explain that again) A better label would be excellent.
Basically, the WASPs who came to this country and founded it included frauds and con-men who established for themselves positions of extreme privilege. They will do anything, and I mean anything, to maintain that privilege.
Their podcast "The Devils Chessboard" covers such controversial subjects as the JFK assassination exposing details that have remained hidden for more than 1/2 a century.
IOW, if you really want an answer to your question, it isn't going to be simple to find. But start with Good and you'll be on your way.
Do recall that FDR saved capitalism. Which turned out to not be such a good thing for Americans, since, as Richard Wolff points out, it allowed the "system" to remain in place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU-AkeOyiOQ&t=2206s
Wolff covers many other events of the last 120 years that also answers your question.
There's a reason why the utterly corrupt US government is universally despised by most US citizens. This is exhibit A in a long list, ranging from chronic underinvestment in infrastructure to lack of universal health care and free college to its openly fascist foreign policy. As Mark Twain once remarked: "There's no official criminal class in America, except for Congress". These bastards need to go. All of them.
NOW is where Eternity and Time intersect ♾️
Always is, and has been. Reminds me of something I asked a dear friend in San Francisco in the mid-1960s: If there is such a thing as eternity, when the heck else is it, except now? He didn’t give me an answer.
It is NOW... or it is NOT.
old men destroying the world for a fleeting and illusory moment of power and dominance over others.
Biden defends the "brutal suppression of university demonstrations protesting his genocide in Gaza," the same way he defends the brutal suppression of Gaza civilians. Maybe he thinks the students are human shields. Maybe he could pay for those students who feel "uncomfortable" when faced with protests against genocide to go stay in Gaza. I wonder how comfortable they would feel then.
This is going to go on forever. This is what human beings are like, generally. Most people are decent and upright at least most of the time. But every generation produces its share of predatory, sociopathic types, and a certain critical number of these who are highly functional and talented inevitably gravitate to positions of power, from where they proceed to make life hell for large numbers of those in the grip of that power. The more things change the more they will remain the same. My take on the human enterprise on this planet is that evil is always winning, but never wins, and good is always losing but never loses.
>>"My take on the human enterprise on this planet is that evil is always winning, but never wins, and good is always losing but never loses."
Is there any way to change that dynamic? Any way to change these "seemingly default repeating patterns" of human behavior? Or is the only solution (IMHO) to wait a million years and hope that human evolution takes a better path? (not sure if there'll be an earth by then or if humanity will survive for another million years based on what I observe presently).
Power is to sociopaths what catnip is to cats.
Very good article and thank you Caitlin. This article makes me think of the song, “Love Me, I’m a Liberal” by Phil Oches from the 60’s. As George Galloway puts it, “both parties are two cheeks of the same ass”. It’s really true, they are the uniparty/war party.😢
This Election - this long voting Democrat will be voting for Jill Stein.
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Protesting war is a legitimate and valid act.
I expect things are just going to get uglier and uglier. Sad.