All great points. They do drive me crazy as if they are only just now discovering that their precious capitalists are only motivated by greed and exploitation? Sometimes I compare notes on this dumbness with Kubler Ross's stages of grief -- what better way to explain much of this? Some people are locked or moving in the first three of four stages, heavy on the bargaining and anger. McCarthyism is still so much alive. Some were perfectly OK if there billionaires were GOP, but anything else is Communist. LMAO.
Also, one can do all of the above. As for Rogan, he did not bother me, but the people making claims he was cured by Ivermectin alone did. Also, back in April he reported he was getting the vaccine and no one has verified this. These details matter. I have spent 50 years solid a peace activist and did Women In Black vigils for 12 years. Most people never heard of RAWA or PNAC, but I did. All humans have done is reproduce a new form of royalty and aristocracy. After all, Trump lives like a King, dripping in gold tacky furniture wherever he lives.
I think Hedges said something very interesting about outlawing abortions when he was stationed in Brazil? Or was it some place in east Europe. Well, he said what happened was the lower classes were forced to have babies or get back ally abortions, while the elitists could pay any doctor to privately get their abortions. Two worlds.
Yes. The US is deeply corrupt. Though not a Trump supporter, the last four years convinced me that it is far more deeply corrupt than I had imagined, but the last year proved that even that was naive. Dr. Pierre Kory recently stated that, to paraphrase, no matter how many layers of corruption he uncovered, he ultimately was proven naive.
Virtually all of our corporations are vulnerable to the penalties and ultimately confiscation under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
Watch the documentary The Con on YouTube if you want to see how really corrupt the system is. Or even if you don't. Anyone who thinks they own their own home NEEDS to see it.
Clever and I like the avatar thing. That said Biden showed some real backbone getting out of Afghanistan I suspect he had to use some muscle to make that happen lots of vested interest in remaining, lots of money to be made.
Where you see backbone, I see the same old self-interested actors whose needs will not go wanting (unlike those of the American people).
Two things: While he may have pulled ground troops out (and even that is uncertain; I'm betting the CIA and contractors remain), Biden left the door open to continued air assaults and operations (and the civilian deaths which result from both), and more importantly, Biden's actions in no way signal any real acknowledgement of 20 years of needless lies and bloodshed but instead signal a pivoting of resources to the great perceived threat posed by China (as illustrated by Caitlin's recent article on the subject).
In sum, these actions are not dictated by someone like Biden, even though he signs the orders and makes the speeches (barely, in his case). I too once thought that the president was the most powerful man in the country, but then again, I was in sixth grade.
I'm not convinced Biden was not chosen precisely for his dementia, a goat on which to pin the anticipated catastrophes. Similarly, I'm not convinced the Deep State foreign policy establishment did not see defeat in Afghanistan was inevitable and wanted out.
They sabotaged the withdrawal just enough to make it look like a bad idea and blame Biden for it. Top officers know logistics and knew how to get civilians out while they still had some protection. Hell, if they had held to Trump's negotiated schedule, weather would have protected the withdrawal.
On top of all their other crimes, they're committing elder abuse.
LOL, 6th grade. I’m looking forward to the time when Biden in front of the cameras has a complete cerebral meltdown. Poor guy they propped up a dementia patient.
The "presidency" is irrelevant. Neither Trump nor Biden, nor even Obama nor Bush before them were/is in control. The globalist corporate collective controls the federal government. They are all totalitarians, many committed to population reduction by any means necessary. The only hopes for the American people are the judicial branch and the states. They too are corrupt, though not yet totalitarian, except perhaps for NY and CA. We may yet see nullification or secession. If that happens, the decisive factor will be whether the rank and file military is willing to attack those states. If not, there will be a peaceful resolution and people can get on with reforming the states. Otherwise, we will have a bloody civil war.
As far as individuals are concerned, Trump's business dealings before he was elected were corrupt, but after a four year investigation his opponents could never prove that his personal business corruption infected the federal government. On the other hand, Biden bragged of his own corruption publicly before the CFR, but the corporate collective in control refuses to hold him accountable because they were all complicit.
Trump's campaign statements in 2016 were evil, that he would go to war if he could "take their oil," that he would torture and that it was permissible to punish the innocent family members of alleged terrorists. He consummated all three by 1) stealing Syrian oil, 2) appointing Gina Haspel and 3) authorizing the raid that killed 8 year old Nora al-Awlaki.
Evil is evil. It is an absolute. There is no "greater" or "lesser" evil, and the condition we find ourselves in today is the result of over 70 years of converging lesser evilism, as observed by Hal Draper in 1967: https://www.marxists.org/archive/draper/1967/01/lesser.htm
More recently, Arthur Silber explained in 2012 why evil is indeed an absolute, and why each and every voter must define red lines beyond which he will not be complicit. It's why I could not vote for Trump in 2016 nor in 2020, even though Democrats have taken corruption to levels far beyond anything Republicans have even contemplated: http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/search?q=park
You do not think those southern states are corrupt? You know the saying, wherever CA goes the nation follows. 13 states right now give rapists full paternal rights to their children of their victims while the states pursue to make illegal abortion for women. We have a regular Taliban in USA. It is rotten through and through. I think states should go their separate ways! Would the oligarchs allow decentralization ? LMAO. No. It is different configurations of corruption. The Neolibs gave them the corporate backing they needed to compete with GOP. Do not forget, GW GOP seems to know own them. IMO, these are the globalists.
I absolutely adored Trump, he gamed the system and won; he’s cynicism was vindicated by his victory; it was a magic trick altogether impossible until he did it. His was the most consequential presidency of our lifetime, it is the backdrop for this illiberal moment. His victory fuelled the totalitarian fusiliers of the Democratic Party. His bloviating ignorance was simply too delicious to believe, he was the logical end of American democracy, your apotheosis. (I’m Canadian and have dedicated myself to disabusing the false notion we are nice.)
Also thank you for the Hal Draper thing, I thoroughly enjoyed it, time travel. I would suggest that an example of his argument is that Clinton enacted most of Reagan’s agenda - The lesser evil overtaking the greater evil.
You absolutely adored Trump -- OK if you mean unmasking our ruling "elites".
DNC and Deep State are playing us like a violin. They like and NEED the incompetent clown Trump to stay on political stage -- the only possible way they can remain in power.
We will see more of such a slickly engineered brand creation as this Facebook "whistleblower." While ACTUAL whistleblowers linger in prison (Assange, Daniel Hale), exile (Edward Snowden) and bankruptcy – suddenly corporate media “loves” DNC/CIA’s fake “whistleblowers”.
But you're right about the reactions to telling the truth to the propagandized. Even my friends who understand that as a molecular biologist, I'm allowed to judge these pharma a-holes and their con game, I get frustrated looks. Because it threatens their little fantasy about their lives being safe. WTFU, America, World. You're being played.
I showed my doctor the video of Jimmy Dore having Dr Robert Malone on his show, talking about the problems (dangers?) of the vaccine, when she started the lecture about how I was remiss for not getting it.
Brava. Don't be bullied. Remember that most physicians were never taught much immunology, so they might just want to stay within the realm of their expertise, which is, in most cases, NOT the immune response vs. viruses. Tell them that when they offer you a well-made reliable vaccine like polio, you might reconsider.
Also remember that many of the younger doctors are overworked, spent literally the largest part of their schooling studying pharmacology, and are up to their eyes in debt for student loans. They aren't likely to lift their heads above the parapet to go against the capitalist funded pharma narrative concerning alternatives.
I'm an elderly American and I won't get the vaccine. I think that there might be an "intervening variable," as sociologists say, in your claim. It may be that the elderly have had more time to get brainwashed by the propaganda. Any side effects they might feel after the injection they would attribute to "the aches and pains of old age."
And thanks, but I don't drink.
P.S. Using an ad hominem attack, aka insults, doesn't advance your ideas very well.
Funny, most people I know from China do not like what they see being thrust down their throats from Beijing.
~
I have a big problem with the United States, but I have an equally big problem with CCP China.
~
Listening to what you say, it would seem like you are a strong advocate for the authoritarian state, as has been laid out by Xi JinPing, though I am fairly certain that isn't what you really hold dear to your heart. We don't want capitalism but we don't want authoritarianism either, we want federal democratic republics like that which originally was envisioned for the United States, which by the way was derived from the Enlightenment that emerged in Europe after a thousand years of authoritarian rule. Federal, as in many communities with a mediator of disputes between communities, democratic, leaders are voted in and voted out by the people, republic meaning that the entire structure is designed for the benefit of the people. Isn't that what we want. Do you really want the central control of a CCP China that currently operates on the Social Credit system based on AI algorithms that suck up all the information about everything said by every person in China and then determines whether or not their social credit will be turned on or turned off? Oh yes the United States is headed in the same direction, Joe Biden is the first example of a truely totalitarian leader in the United States, but is that really what we want? Or do we want to once again embrace the vision of the Enlightenment and throw off authoritarian rule once and for all.
If states truly had well defined, invioable sovereignty, then that would allow for differentiation among the states. If local communities had well defined inviolable sovereignty, then the idea of community would once again have meaning. If you have a global system managed from a central location, then no one could ever try something new and novel, because it would be prohibited by the global state which only wishes for conformity.
Thanks, I really think that federal, democratic republics are the most resistant to corruption because there would be so many levels of the federation to corrupt, local community, city, county, state, nation, each with their own precisely defined jurisdiction. Add to that democracy, or popular vote within each of the elements of the federation and then the icing on the cake make the people the sovereign, I think corruption would be pretty difficult under such a system. I got this idea from reading Polybius, 160 B.C.E.
Actually, in April there was a good piece about how DELTA was a game changer, and we all know the vaccine only had about 6-8 months durability -- and if everyone was covid-free for that time it might make a considerable impact. Of course, that was not easily possible given the resistance. Mostly, people are trying to be brave and navigate the daily uncertainty, unlike the QAnons who are certain about the beliefs in a worldwide conspiracy headed by the WEF, that the vaccine is mind control, and brought here to take away our freedoms. The biggest horror stories are coming from our frontline health workers who are tired of being spit on and demonized.
QAnon is not the problem or a scapegoat, we all know these manifestations are symptoms of how sick our country is and how McCarthyism just keeps reinventing itself via media mouth pieces and their flying monkeys.
Right now, to me, those who pose the biggest threat are the ones calling for censorship, which are the DNC-loving corporate media employees of places like MSNBC, CNN, and the NYT. (This in no way infers that republicans offer any real alternative). Members of the press yelling the loudest for censorship is an alarm bell in the night. As far as I know, QAnon has little power; those clamoring for authoritarian control already have lots, and want more.
Recently I have been having much dialog with front line workers, especially healthcare workers. They seem to be ignored in all this. NO one much speaking for them and they do not have the time since they are working over time and under a lot of stress and taking a lot of abuse. It still all ends in an argument that we need national healthcare in some form. There has really always been censorship or filters. Every journalist uses bias and discrimination. As long as corporations are "people" (Citizens United) and "private" I suppose they have the same rights. Unpacking this gets complicated. The focus might be better spent on the root cause of our afflictions. It is true a great number of Americans only think corruption just started yesterday and they are hallucinating the rest. We live in the Dark Ages.
You end your article with love, and I think most of us have a deep down problem with love; expressing it, holding it, feeling worthy of it, flinching when it stares us in the face, so we settle for easier, less frightening things -- a new car, a paycheck, a political hero, a pat on the back.
Those who rise to power have no problems with this transaction; in fact, they encourage it and thrive, erecting institutions to manage and maintain this great turning away.
They suspect that love makes the gears of the machine obvious, and once that happens, you can never unsee them. After that, they fear that everything they do to convince you otherwise will be magically rendered hopelessly clumsy.
Caitlin, your words deserve a much wider audience.
I could not care less about symbolic gestures or "bold statements". I care about results. Concrete, material results. Not "moral victories", not excuses, not symbols or "we really tried, really".
Results.
People rely on symbol; and spectacle when they cannot deliver results.
What makes it so sad in what you say, is we were saying all this back in the 60s and 70s, so it is a grim reminder of how things never change, or actually get much worse with time.
"Whistleblower" Frances Haugen is a vital media and political asset because she advances their quest for greater control over online political discourse.
She is now “guided” by long-time Obama operative Bill Burton !!
Unlike Julian Assange, Daniel Hale or Ed Snowden, corporate media is suddenly in love with “whistleblowers”….
Democrats and Media Do Not Want to Weaken Facebook, Just Commandeer its Power to Censor - by Glenn Greenwald - Glenn Greenwald (substack.com)
A shady Facebook 'whistleblower' wants more censorship -- Grayzone
DNC and Deep State are playing us like a violin. They like and NEED the incompetent clown Trump to stay on political stage -- the only possible way they can remain in power.
We will see more of such a slickly engineered brand creation as this Facebook "whistleblower." While ACTUAL whistleblowers linger in prison (Assange, Daniel Hale), exile (Edward Snowden) and bankruptcy – suddenly corporate media “loves” DNC/CIA’s fake “whistleblowers”.
I can't understand those who believe that we can tame capitalism and make it into a kinder, gentler capitalism by allowing a "certain amount" of socialism.
Of course, unremitting propaganda ensures that.
Capitalism eats everything it comes in contact with. That's its design.
I am sorry, but this one is way too much fun not to share as .Ok, Jesse Ventura has been so loud and outspoken about covid, masking, safety, and vaccines, calling people traitors, that covid is the equivalent to war. He is one of the loudest voices out there, no tolerance at all. So, I did see something pop-up about he predicted covid years ago? I did not click. So this must be related.
All great points. They do drive me crazy as if they are only just now discovering that their precious capitalists are only motivated by greed and exploitation? Sometimes I compare notes on this dumbness with Kubler Ross's stages of grief -- what better way to explain much of this? Some people are locked or moving in the first three of four stages, heavy on the bargaining and anger. McCarthyism is still so much alive. Some were perfectly OK if there billionaires were GOP, but anything else is Communist. LMAO.
Also, one can do all of the above. As for Rogan, he did not bother me, but the people making claims he was cured by Ivermectin alone did. Also, back in April he reported he was getting the vaccine and no one has verified this. These details matter. I have spent 50 years solid a peace activist and did Women In Black vigils for 12 years. Most people never heard of RAWA or PNAC, but I did. All humans have done is reproduce a new form of royalty and aristocracy. After all, Trump lives like a King, dripping in gold tacky furniture wherever he lives.
I think Hedges said something very interesting about outlawing abortions when he was stationed in Brazil? Or was it some place in east Europe. Well, he said what happened was the lower classes were forced to have babies or get back ally abortions, while the elitists could pay any doctor to privately get their abortions. Two worlds.
Two-tier abortions were the norm in the US before Roe v Wade.
Yes. The US is deeply corrupt. Though not a Trump supporter, the last four years convinced me that it is far more deeply corrupt than I had imagined, but the last year proved that even that was naive. Dr. Pierre Kory recently stated that, to paraphrase, no matter how many layers of corruption he uncovered, he ultimately was proven naive.
Virtually all of our corporations are vulnerable to the penalties and ultimately confiscation under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
Watch the documentary The Con on YouTube if you want to see how really corrupt the system is. Or even if you don't. Anyone who thinks they own their own home NEEDS to see it.
So you fine the Biden presidency more corrupt?
If anything, the Biden presidency should reveal how little power a president actually wields. Every four years we're allowed to fight over avatars.
Clever and I like the avatar thing. That said Biden showed some real backbone getting out of Afghanistan I suspect he had to use some muscle to make that happen lots of vested interest in remaining, lots of money to be made.
Where you see backbone, I see the same old self-interested actors whose needs will not go wanting (unlike those of the American people).
Two things: While he may have pulled ground troops out (and even that is uncertain; I'm betting the CIA and contractors remain), Biden left the door open to continued air assaults and operations (and the civilian deaths which result from both), and more importantly, Biden's actions in no way signal any real acknowledgement of 20 years of needless lies and bloodshed but instead signal a pivoting of resources to the great perceived threat posed by China (as illustrated by Caitlin's recent article on the subject).
In sum, these actions are not dictated by someone like Biden, even though he signs the orders and makes the speeches (barely, in his case). I too once thought that the president was the most powerful man in the country, but then again, I was in sixth grade.
I'm not convinced Biden was not chosen precisely for his dementia, a goat on which to pin the anticipated catastrophes. Similarly, I'm not convinced the Deep State foreign policy establishment did not see defeat in Afghanistan was inevitable and wanted out.
They sabotaged the withdrawal just enough to make it look like a bad idea and blame Biden for it. Top officers know logistics and knew how to get civilians out while they still had some protection. Hell, if they had held to Trump's negotiated schedule, weather would have protected the withdrawal.
On top of all their other crimes, they're committing elder abuse.
Fantastic
LOL, 6th grade. I’m looking forward to the time when Biden in front of the cameras has a complete cerebral meltdown. Poor guy they propped up a dementia patient.
Riff you’re a thoughtful guy, check out Wesley Yang he’s the shit!!!
The "presidency" is irrelevant. Neither Trump nor Biden, nor even Obama nor Bush before them were/is in control. The globalist corporate collective controls the federal government. They are all totalitarians, many committed to population reduction by any means necessary. The only hopes for the American people are the judicial branch and the states. They too are corrupt, though not yet totalitarian, except perhaps for NY and CA. We may yet see nullification or secession. If that happens, the decisive factor will be whether the rank and file military is willing to attack those states. If not, there will be a peaceful resolution and people can get on with reforming the states. Otherwise, we will have a bloody civil war.
As far as individuals are concerned, Trump's business dealings before he was elected were corrupt, but after a four year investigation his opponents could never prove that his personal business corruption infected the federal government. On the other hand, Biden bragged of his own corruption publicly before the CFR, but the corporate collective in control refuses to hold him accountable because they were all complicit.
Trump's campaign statements in 2016 were evil, that he would go to war if he could "take their oil," that he would torture and that it was permissible to punish the innocent family members of alleged terrorists. He consummated all three by 1) stealing Syrian oil, 2) appointing Gina Haspel and 3) authorizing the raid that killed 8 year old Nora al-Awlaki.
Evil is evil. It is an absolute. There is no "greater" or "lesser" evil, and the condition we find ourselves in today is the result of over 70 years of converging lesser evilism, as observed by Hal Draper in 1967: https://www.marxists.org/archive/draper/1967/01/lesser.htm
More recently, Arthur Silber explained in 2012 why evil is indeed an absolute, and why each and every voter must define red lines beyond which he will not be complicit. It's why I could not vote for Trump in 2016 nor in 2020, even though Democrats have taken corruption to levels far beyond anything Republicans have even contemplated: http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/search?q=park
You do not think those southern states are corrupt? You know the saying, wherever CA goes the nation follows. 13 states right now give rapists full paternal rights to their children of their victims while the states pursue to make illegal abortion for women. We have a regular Taliban in USA. It is rotten through and through. I think states should go their separate ways! Would the oligarchs allow decentralization ? LMAO. No. It is different configurations of corruption. The Neolibs gave them the corporate backing they needed to compete with GOP. Do not forget, GW GOP seems to know own them. IMO, these are the globalists.
Cool, I like.
I absolutely adored Trump, he gamed the system and won; he’s cynicism was vindicated by his victory; it was a magic trick altogether impossible until he did it. His was the most consequential presidency of our lifetime, it is the backdrop for this illiberal moment. His victory fuelled the totalitarian fusiliers of the Democratic Party. His bloviating ignorance was simply too delicious to believe, he was the logical end of American democracy, your apotheosis. (I’m Canadian and have dedicated myself to disabusing the false notion we are nice.)
Also thank you for the Hal Draper thing, I thoroughly enjoyed it, time travel. I would suggest that an example of his argument is that Clinton enacted most of Reagan’s agenda - The lesser evil overtaking the greater evil.
You absolutely adored Trump -- OK if you mean unmasking our ruling "elites".
DNC and Deep State are playing us like a violin. They like and NEED the incompetent clown Trump to stay on political stage -- the only possible way they can remain in power.
We will see more of such a slickly engineered brand creation as this Facebook "whistleblower." While ACTUAL whistleblowers linger in prison (Assange, Daniel Hale), exile (Edward Snowden) and bankruptcy – suddenly corporate media “loves” DNC/CIA’s fake “whistleblowers”.
Trump is definitely a useful idiot
For what it is worth
https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2020/04/washington-oregon-and-california-unveil-new-alliance-western-states-pact.html
Watch How to Start a Revolution DVD documentary and read From Dictatorship to Democracy the book to get lessons in how to change the system.
How and where did he say this?
Yes that’s is why I asked, I might have misunderstood
"It's weird how nobody's even saying the vaccine isn't working as well as they'd hoped it would. You're not even allowed to say that."
I've been saying it for months. Big Pharma Racketeering. Rushed new biotech, no raw data release. Mediocre vaccines --at best. https://vinlopresti.medium.com/corporate-pharmacy-racketeering-loves-your-shots-f4aada78d44a
But you're right about the reactions to telling the truth to the propagandized. Even my friends who understand that as a molecular biologist, I'm allowed to judge these pharma a-holes and their con game, I get frustrated looks. Because it threatens their little fantasy about their lives being safe. WTFU, America, World. You're being played.
I showed my doctor the video of Jimmy Dore having Dr Robert Malone on his show, talking about the problems (dangers?) of the vaccine, when she started the lecture about how I was remiss for not getting it.
Brava. Don't be bullied. Remember that most physicians were never taught much immunology, so they might just want to stay within the realm of their expertise, which is, in most cases, NOT the immune response vs. viruses. Tell them that when they offer you a well-made reliable vaccine like polio, you might reconsider.
Also remember that many of the younger doctors are overworked, spent literally the largest part of their schooling studying pharmacology, and are up to their eyes in debt for student loans. They aren't likely to lift their heads above the parapet to go against the capitalist funded pharma narrative concerning alternatives.
hmmm - for ALL elderly Americans, let's say 65+), vaccine worked VERY well. Have you started drinking again?
Yeah for 7-9 months with no mucosal immunity or T Cell participation to initiate immunological memory. Suggest you stay in your lane.
Respiratory viruses provide time-limited immunity, unlike many other types that provide 5-6+ years. Even so, reinfections tend to be MUCH less severe.
But, in all of this there is a HUGE elephant in the room:
China has nearly four (4) time larger population than our beloved country, the US.
China reportedly had less than 5,000 virus deaths. We have so far about 700,000 deaths.
If these numbers are even remotely correct we have almost 600 times higher mortality.
Are we a failed country with incompetence and massive corruption at every level of society?
What is happening to us? Who we really are?
Yes. We are a failed country with incompetence and massive corruption at...the highest levels of society.
I believe that this is what Caitlin's going on about in every one of her articles.
Glad that you finally caught up.
I'm an elderly American and I won't get the vaccine. I think that there might be an "intervening variable," as sociologists say, in your claim. It may be that the elderly have had more time to get brainwashed by the propaganda. Any side effects they might feel after the injection they would attribute to "the aches and pains of old age."
And thanks, but I don't drink.
P.S. Using an ad hominem attack, aka insults, doesn't advance your ideas very well.
Respiratory viruses provide time-limited immunity, unlike many other types that provide 5-6+ years. Even so, reinfections tend to be MUCH less severe.
But, in all of this there is a HUGE elephant in the room:
China has nearly four (4) time larger population than our beloved country, the US.
China reportedly had less than 5,000 virus deaths. We have so far about 700,000 deaths.
If these numbers are even remotely correct we have almost 600 times higher mortality.
Are we a failed country with incompetence and massive corruption at every level of society?
With the softest criticism I still can manage: "Just look at the goddamn STATISTICS !!!!"
Sure. Here's some goddamn STATISTICS for you:
https://youtu.be/9bamaEMftg4
And you still didn't need to insult Vin LoPresti.
On LoPresti - you are indeed correct and publicly apologize !
Funny, most people I know from China do not like what they see being thrust down their throats from Beijing.
~
I have a big problem with the United States, but I have an equally big problem with CCP China.
~
Listening to what you say, it would seem like you are a strong advocate for the authoritarian state, as has been laid out by Xi JinPing, though I am fairly certain that isn't what you really hold dear to your heart. We don't want capitalism but we don't want authoritarianism either, we want federal democratic republics like that which originally was envisioned for the United States, which by the way was derived from the Enlightenment that emerged in Europe after a thousand years of authoritarian rule. Federal, as in many communities with a mediator of disputes between communities, democratic, leaders are voted in and voted out by the people, republic meaning that the entire structure is designed for the benefit of the people. Isn't that what we want. Do you really want the central control of a CCP China that currently operates on the Social Credit system based on AI algorithms that suck up all the information about everything said by every person in China and then determines whether or not their social credit will be turned on or turned off? Oh yes the United States is headed in the same direction, Joe Biden is the first example of a truely totalitarian leader in the United States, but is that really what we want? Or do we want to once again embrace the vision of the Enlightenment and throw off authoritarian rule once and for all.
You can have both capitalism and an authoritarian state. They aren't mutually exclusive.
I think the states should go their separate ways. Only reason to stitch us together is to extract the wealth for military imperial purposes..
If states truly had well defined, invioable sovereignty, then that would allow for differentiation among the states. If local communities had well defined inviolable sovereignty, then the idea of community would once again have meaning. If you have a global system managed from a central location, then no one could ever try something new and novel, because it would be prohibited by the global state which only wishes for conformity.
Timothy that reads very well
Thanks, I really think that federal, democratic republics are the most resistant to corruption because there would be so many levels of the federation to corrupt, local community, city, county, state, nation, each with their own precisely defined jurisdiction. Add to that democracy, or popular vote within each of the elements of the federation and then the icing on the cake make the people the sovereign, I think corruption would be pretty difficult under such a system. I got this idea from reading Polybius, 160 B.C.E.
That's what we already have. And that's why education is fairly good in some states, like New York and California, and abysmal in Mississippi.
Yeah, too bad that isn't required reading at the high school level.
Yeah that was like a University tutorial for me, governance 101
Actually, in April there was a good piece about how DELTA was a game changer, and we all know the vaccine only had about 6-8 months durability -- and if everyone was covid-free for that time it might make a considerable impact. Of course, that was not easily possible given the resistance. Mostly, people are trying to be brave and navigate the daily uncertainty, unlike the QAnons who are certain about the beliefs in a worldwide conspiracy headed by the WEF, that the vaccine is mind control, and brought here to take away our freedoms. The biggest horror stories are coming from our frontline health workers who are tired of being spit on and demonized.
Anyone pointing to QAnon as the problem is themselves well-mired in the problem, pretty much illustrating Caitlin's point.
QAnon is not the problem or a scapegoat, we all know these manifestations are symptoms of how sick our country is and how McCarthyism just keeps reinventing itself via media mouth pieces and their flying monkeys.
Right now, to me, those who pose the biggest threat are the ones calling for censorship, which are the DNC-loving corporate media employees of places like MSNBC, CNN, and the NYT. (This in no way infers that republicans offer any real alternative). Members of the press yelling the loudest for censorship is an alarm bell in the night. As far as I know, QAnon has little power; those clamoring for authoritarian control already have lots, and want more.
Recently I have been having much dialog with front line workers, especially healthcare workers. They seem to be ignored in all this. NO one much speaking for them and they do not have the time since they are working over time and under a lot of stress and taking a lot of abuse. It still all ends in an argument that we need national healthcare in some form. There has really always been censorship or filters. Every journalist uses bias and discrimination. As long as corporations are "people" (Citizens United) and "private" I suppose they have the same rights. Unpacking this gets complicated. The focus might be better spent on the root cause of our afflictions. It is true a great number of Americans only think corruption just started yesterday and they are hallucinating the rest. We live in the Dark Ages.
This is the painful truth and the liberating truth.
You end your article with love, and I think most of us have a deep down problem with love; expressing it, holding it, feeling worthy of it, flinching when it stares us in the face, so we settle for easier, less frightening things -- a new car, a paycheck, a political hero, a pat on the back.
Those who rise to power have no problems with this transaction; in fact, they encourage it and thrive, erecting institutions to manage and maintain this great turning away.
They suspect that love makes the gears of the machine obvious, and once that happens, you can never unsee them. After that, they fear that everything they do to convince you otherwise will be magically rendered hopelessly clumsy.
Caitlin, your words deserve a much wider audience.
Re: AOC and her clothes.
I could not care less about symbolic gestures or "bold statements". I care about results. Concrete, material results. Not "moral victories", not excuses, not symbols or "we really tried, really".
Results.
People rely on symbol; and spectacle when they cannot deliver results.
Yes, the satisfaction of winning the narrative seems to be all anyone cares about anymore regardless if something gets done or not.
What makes it so sad in what you say, is we were saying all this back in the 60s and 70s, so it is a grim reminder of how things never change, or actually get much worse with time.
"Whistleblower" Frances Haugen is a vital media and political asset because she advances their quest for greater control over online political discourse.
She is now “guided” by long-time Obama operative Bill Burton !!
Unlike Julian Assange, Daniel Hale or Ed Snowden, corporate media is suddenly in love with “whistleblowers”….
Democrats and Media Do Not Want to Weaken Facebook, Just Commandeer its Power to Censor - by Glenn Greenwald - Glenn Greenwald (substack.com)
A shady Facebook 'whistleblower' wants more censorship -- Grayzone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x9jvABotrg
DNC and Deep State are playing us like a violin. They like and NEED the incompetent clown Trump to stay on political stage -- the only possible way they can remain in power.
We will see more of such a slickly engineered brand creation as this Facebook "whistleblower." While ACTUAL whistleblowers linger in prison (Assange, Daniel Hale), exile (Edward Snowden) and bankruptcy – suddenly corporate media “loves” DNC/CIA’s fake “whistleblowers”.
I can't understand those who believe that we can tame capitalism and make it into a kinder, gentler capitalism by allowing a "certain amount" of socialism.
Of course, unremitting propaganda ensures that.
Capitalism eats everything it comes in contact with. That's its design.
I am sorry, but this one is way too much fun not to share as .Ok, Jesse Ventura has been so loud and outspoken about covid, masking, safety, and vaccines, calling people traitors, that covid is the equivalent to war. He is one of the loudest voices out there, no tolerance at all. So, I did see something pop-up about he predicted covid years ago? I did not click. So this must be related.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/sep/16/facebook-posts/no-covid-wasnt-planned-fema-kill-thousands-and-ope/