Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley): This entire sick dystopia is held together by psychological compartmentalization. By the fact that it’s more comfortable to avoid looking directly at the horrors of the status quo we live under, even though on some level we all know those horrors are there.
I think one of the reasons people in America are not looking at Biden with more of a critical eye is that they have been indoctrinated to fear a Trump presidency in November which is true for my brother and sister-in-law. The democrats through Trump's four years in office have used him as a scapegoat that embodies all that is wrong with America. It's true no matter what you think of him. Netanyahu, or bloody bi bi as some call him certainly deserves much of the blame and he also detracts from the truth that America is abetting a genocide which could not be carried out if it wasn't for the US. I have no idea why evangelicals would support Israel since Jesus would be appalled. I always thought the support and silence our American presidents got for their Middle Eastern wars was due to the fact Muslim's just don't count in America, and some have even made statements that reflect that position. I've even heard a small handful of Jewish people and a former nun say that all Muslims including their children should be removed from the face of the earth. They don't even recognize how sick, and ugly that statement is. Our hope I think lies with the younger people who rely more heavily on the net for info then do older people and it's a place where one can find the truth. I watched this last night, maybe better to watch earlier in the day. https://www.aljazeera.com/program/featured-documentaries/2023/10/25/gazas-al-shifa-a-hospital-on-the-brink
My sister and BIL are two odd people, who are usually easy to be around--provided you can tolerate their quirks. The only exception is when the topic turns to Trump, and they just fly off the handle. Needless to say, I tread carefully around politics when I'm with them.
I didn't vote for Trump in 2016, nobody, since I wouldn't vote for Clinton. You can't believe the verbal abuse I got from people, since people like me gave Trump the win. They could push the lie of Russia-gate, and it takes Mueller 3 years to determine there is no proof, but yet no one is held accountable. They even get to call a riot an insurrection and have an unconstitutional comm, and now make every effort to prevent him from running again. Through their efforts they have further undermined our democracy. Now they can even support a genocide which is against international law, but sell themselves as the good guys on the block and Trump is the devil. .
It's my sister, and it's really just Trump specifically where things get crazy. We go back way before 2016, to a time when neither of us paid much attention to the guy.
I fear that the younger generations are more under the spell of the propaganda machine than older generations.. I don't really meet young people who care about whats happening in the world at all.
Ive been teaching high school for 16years and I have two young adult children of my own. To be sure there many <30 years old who are politically indifferent, or others who are politically inclined but sadly misinformed. Yet, my own personal experiences combined with ample polling data cause me to believe that, broadly speaking Gen Z and Millennials are more savvy, more progressive and more politically literate than my peers in Gen X. And certainly more than boomers! As Lenin said, he who has the youth, has the future, and Biden and Trump do not have the youth vote.
Most people don't get into politics, and maybe some pick a paper of choice like the NY Times and think they're getting a non biased account of what's going on. I do feel that more young people then older ones turn to the net to get news, well, that are interested, and I think they have a better chance of finding the truth on line. Yep most people work raise families, have health issues, money issues, and maybe not enough attention is paid to what's going on, but even if they did most would have head filled with disinformation if they didn't know where to look.
“Forced inattention” is an excellent term. It describes much of the purpose beneath the official narrative. Free will, if it ever existed, now seems nearly extinct. Call it mass formation, mass hypnosis, TDS, zombification, etc., we should recognize that many (possibly most) of us have software-like processes in our minds that can be hacked, spoofed, or exploited. Or, similar to a computer virus, many of us are infected with a kind of mind virus, sometimes called a “mind parasite”. There is actually a term in many Native American languages/cultures for this phenomenon, Wendigo or Wetiko being the two most common. Paul Levy’s book, “Dispelling Wetiko”, describes his professional experience working with the mentally ill and how modern medicine and pyschology fail to treat this “infection”.
Absolutely phuckin' NOWHERE, Fran and do not take this as a Fran attack. Every generation has said the above you say and NOTHING EVER CHANGES. The war criminals scum at the top laugh at the "citizens" because they know the "citizens" do not count for squat. Marking an X on a scrap of paper is NOT democracy, NEITHER is it whining on a website somewhere [no slight intended to Caitlan EITHER]
When the choices are the EXACT SAME war criminal/gamgsters who have held usa government positions since truman, [YES they ALL have been Class A war criminals!!] REALLY, what has ever changed, WHAT WILL EVER CHANGE?
Watching old cow boy and Indian movies as a kid I never knew why the Indians were bad for protecting their land from the cowboys, and when I asked adults, no answers. I got up from watching one of those movies on TV and realized at 7 or 8 that my government lies to me. I decided not to trust anything it said, ever. When we saluted the flag at school I never said the last part of the pledge. "...with liberty and justice for all." Never! I wasn't involved with politics until the late 1990's and then really got involved and understood why as a kid my government was not to be taken at it's word, and with more knowledge came the awareness I was right on at 7.
You are a rare and very intelligent human being, Fran. Is there anyway we can maybe make a Fran Vaccine to pass this humanity, intelligence, awareness, ... on to others?
Fran: I've even heard a small handful of Jewish people and a former nun say that all Muslims including their children should be removed from the face of the earth.
====
Rather hypocritical and other assorted and sundry words to describe human failings considering it is the zionists and the "christians" who are running the worlds' major Holocausts right now.
Hi dear Gypsy. Trump is the catalyst nothing more.
One of the things I loathe and detest about Biden (apart from his record which can be looked up easily) is that he has diligently given the US people all sorts of reform and then taken them away with his other hand.
Drilling in Alaska but supposedly stopping the pipeline in ?Viginia?
Palestine (usa) where trains were running chemicals without sufficient guards or people checking. I don;t think he ever updated this?
>>"...younger people who rely more heavily on the net for info then do older people and it's a place where one can find the truth"
Fran, the "net" as a source of information is not the issue (and neither is it a reliable place to find the truth). The issue is - "inadequate critical thinking skills". If one doesn't have have the skills necessary (logic, ciritical thinking, basic statistics & probability, recognizing propanga, etc.), then the source is irrelevant (as is the age of the person interpreting the source of information).
"I have no idea why evangelicals would support Israel since Jesus would be appalled."
I think it varies from person to person, but my guess is that when they watch Middle Eastern politics and war, they see it through an Old Testament perspective. In the Old Testament, there are all these wars, and there is this nation called Israel, and it is often fighting against neighboring nations. Looks very much like Middle Eastern politics today. So the New Testament gets forgotten.
Another factor is dispensationalist theology, which just about reads the Old Testament as if the New Testament had never been written!
So if you think from a New Testament perspective, you see the teaching of Jesus - and you also have the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem persecuting Jesus and the apostles, and the early Christians facing more opposition from Jews than from the Roman authorities. But people forget about that when they see what looks like a replay of the Old Testament going on in the Middle East today.
Let me get your take on things, if you want. Netanyahu, and his gang had the detailed plans of Hamas's planned attack a year before they were implemented on Oct 7, 2023. They were dismissed as being too complicated for Hamas to carry out. Also, people monitoring the Gaza Border reported suspicious behavior, but they were also dismissed. Egypt warned Israel of an impending Hamas attack 3 days before the attack by Hamas, but that was also dismissed. Considering that Netanyahu always wanted the Palestinians gone, as did others, and is up on corruption charges. I thought from the beginning they knew it was going to happen, and let it happen, which provided them the opportunity to carry out this genocide.
This is from an article by Jeremy Scahill at The Intercept. The introductory paragraph is interesting in regard to this issue.
I do not know anything more than you know. I think that it is certainly plausible, and of course the way that he not only saw Hamas as an asset in his "divide and rule" strategy to hamper moves toward setting up a Palestinian state, but actively supported enabling Hamas, does suggest that he is a pretty ruthless operator.
My best guess is that he did not expect it to happen, but that when it happened, he immediately saw the opportunity for ethnically cleansing Gaza, something that I am sure he had long desired. But who knows?
I just looked this up and I see I am not alone in my suspicions, since many thought so from the beginning. "Conspiracy theorists have gone viral with a claim the Israeli government knew in advance that Hamas was going to launch a coordinated terrorist attack on October 7. And some are even claiming, without evidence, that Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a so-called “stand-down” order for the Israeli military. But there’s nothing to show the Israeli government knew of the surprise attack, which killed over 1,300 people." Well, if Netanyahu can claim there were some 15 workers at UNRWA that were affiliated with Hamas, and provided no evidence for that claim, well, why should he be the only one entitled to do so. I don't believe for one minute the US is telling Israel to pull back, since all they have to do to make their voices heard is to cut off the ammo they're providing to carry out this genocide. Now Israel is backing out of the Hostage talks, and over a million Gazans in Rafah with no place to go.
I think that it is pretty obvious that the US is not telling Israel to pull back.
As for your suspicions about Netanyahu allowing the attack, you are certainly not alone. You could be correct; I do not know.
Personally, I think that what the Israeli government is doing is not just evil - but also incredibly stupid, and likely to imperil Israel's future. See, for example, the conversation between Andrew Napolitano and Alastair Crooke entitled "Will Israel Self-Destruct?"
I could not find such a quote from Hitler anywhere - unable to locate its provenance or able to verify such a quote.
Could you provide a reference for this? (There are way too many fake quotes floating around the internet - not just with Hitler, but also with Einstein, etc.)
It was actually Goering in an interview after the Hindenburg trials just before he was hung. I remember downloading it and reading it but can no longer find it on the internet oddly.
Correct! OBL also did an interview in the 90's with NPR where he stated that he had nothing against the people in the US but only the corrupt government. Can't find it anymore on NPR website! It's the game and it's just begun. Orwell's Ministry of Truth on steroids. We can take comfort that we have a confirmed senile president who is running for reelection and a confirmed crook who took an oath to uphold the constitution and tried to overthrow the election. See how it works?
Who said what matters greatly. Too many false beliefs are encourage by fake quotes. Too much fake history out there. It is easy to invent quotes to support one's position and use such "invented quotes by famous people" to influence "the sheep".
Even if I made up the quote out of whole cloth and fraudulently attributed it to Hitler (I did neither), it still accurately describes observable reality.
But what you may have done/been doing, FF, is maligning Germans/Hitler like the usa has ALWAYS DONE to avoid the reality that the usa is far far far worse than the Nazis ever were. In every way possible.
It’s interesting and disturbing watching the apparatchik try and build their control systems at a speed they hope will contain the younger generations. Godspeed kids! Banning TikTok in the US will be an interesting moment if it is to come about and possibly signal the Neoliberals are losing the fight. The continuation of the Gaza genocide to this point of absurdity is starting to look and feel like a beta-test for further genocides and denialisms by empire. We are truly an atrocious species.
We are no different than any other species on the planet, an atrocious species ? I have issues with people who want to see humanity eliminated. What is the end goal of that ideology ? The earth will not be better off with or without us, it will simply be like it always has been.
Humans are like fleas arguing over who is in control of the dog, none of us are in control but our ego and our arrogance won't let us accept the idea that we are not a threat to the planet. Lets say we do commit the 6th extinction event, so what, mother nature will start over and replace us and the rest of the biosphere. Even if we went so far as all out nuclear war causing a nuclear winter that lasts 10,000 years. The earth will recover and we will be just one more unsuccessfully biological cycle.
Saving the non-human species is a ridiculous reason to wipe out humanity. yes I love animals but humans are nothing but another species of animal. If you step back and look at the threat humanity represents to the planet humans are nothing more than a surface irritant.
In the immortal words of George Carlin:
"We're so self-important. Everybody's going to save something now. “Save the trees, save the bees, save the whales, save those snails.” And the greatest arrogance of all: save the planet. Save the planet, we don't even know how to take care of ourselves yet".
"To think that some somehow we're a threat that somehow we're going to put in Jeopardy this beautiful little blue green ball that's just a floating around the Sun planet has been through a lot worse than us for a long time".
"Compared with the people, the planet is doing great. It's been here over four billion years. The planet isn't going anywhere folks. We are!" .
Gypsy are you hoping for a genocide to remove all mankind? Not all of us deserve to go,. just a handful who control this world with their positions of power, and their money and pathologies. And if you go whose going to look after your animal friends?
We with the luxury of compassionate conscientiousness are not alone in our resistance to the #LeviathanOfAuthoritarianism (ref. #GrantPeeples). Ty for your efforts for #SocialJustice & #Peace, and to this righteous end, please identify as a #CREATORS (Conspiracy Realist Educator Activist Truther Organizer Reader Socializer) in #WeThePeople’s nonpartisan & nonviolent #RevolutionOfAwareness (ref. Bollyn.com).
It's easier to imagine the end of the world (and our species) than it is to imagine the end of capitalism. *Humans* are not the problem, it is the *system* we're all trapped in that is the problem. Capitalism incentivizes the worst human behaviors and turns them into profit. In this sick system, a dead tree is worth more for it's lumber than a healthy thriving tree. A person with cancer is better for boosting GDP than someone who's healthy. WE are the only species capable of defending this planet and its non-human inhabitants from the sociopathic capitalists intent on burning it all down.
Capitalism might be better thought of as resource and wealth capture and accumulation than “burning it all down”. It’s the short term pathology of wealth accumulation that destroys the planet. Why does any one person need 55 billion dollars? The entire concept is absurd and a sickness. That being said, another absurdity is the US war, prison, pharma, oil and “finance” economies within the capitalist system and as leaders of capitalism and its evolution, the world suffers as a result of these industries looking to expand their revenue/profit streams under the guise of fiduciary responsibility all the while doing their utmost to pay no taxes back into the societies they exploit. All under the watchful eye of the governments they work tirelessly to own. Explained that way, it’s not even really a form of capitalism anymore but a type of feudal corporatism, so until that structure both legally and fiducially is dismantled we the people will be slowly dismantled. Cheers!
Blaming the economic system you live under is foolhardy, every other economic system that has been devised by man has resulted in the same ecological degradation. Regardless of society or economic models humans are a species that devastates its environment like any other. An ant colony will strip all available food within foraging distance of the colony and have to move the colony to a new food source.
When predators are eliminated from an ecosystem the remaining prey animals will eat and reproduce until systemic collapse. Rabbits don't need capitalism to bring about their own destruction, they just need a food source and enough safety to procreate.
The point is that humans as a species fall prey to the same problems as any other regardless of what ideological adjective you want to apply. Capitalist humans, socialist humans, tribal humans all fall to the same inherent biological weaknesses of over-consumption, excess reproduction and the ultimate waste polluting the environment.
It is the mentality of Rome - Empire, Domination, Patriarchy.
The Roman Empire still makes the USA look cuddly in comparison - and Rome was certainly not "Capitalist".
Such an argument is too pat. Yes, it IS social values that are the problem, and some of Capitalism's values are certainly problematic, but it would not be hard at all to imagine a NON-Capitalist society behaving in much the same way.
Russian President Vladimir Putin did say the United States of America is 'The Empire of Lies.'
So in that sense, yes, it does depend on it citizenry's unwillingness to examine its Vile Crimes:
The Instrument of Choice used to be 'American Exceptionalism'... nowadays though it has simply devolved into various forms of Consumerism & related 'Navel-Gazing' ideals & customs.
“Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of leaders…and millions have been killed because of this obedience…Our problem is that people are obedient allover the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves… (and) the grand thieves are running the country. That’s our problem.”
Matt Damon from Howard Zinn's speech: The Problem is Civil Obedience
1) Mario Savio -“Speech in Sproul Plaza” (Berkeley, December 2, 1964)
“And that, that brings me to the second mode of civil disobedience. There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part; you can’t even passively take part. And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all.”
2) The man Savio echoed - Henry David Thoreau (“Civil Disobedience” (1849))
"All machines have their friction; and possibly this does enough good to counterbalance the evil. At any rate, it is a great evil to make a stir about it. But when the friction comes to have its machine, and oppression and robbery are organized, I say, let us not have such a machine any longer. In other words, when a sixth of the population of a nation which has undertaken to be the refuge of liberty are slaves, and a whole country is unjustly overrun and conquered by a foreign army, and subjected to military law, I think that it is not too soon for honest men to rebel and revolutionize. …
Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison. The proper place to-day, the only place which Massachusetts has provided for her freer and less desponding spirits, is in her prisons, to be put out and locked out of the State by her own act, as they have already put themselves out by their principles. It is there that the fugitive slave, and the Mexican prisoner on parole, and the Indian come to plead the wrongs of his race, should find them; on that separate, but more free and honorable ground, where the State places those who are not with her, but against her — the only house in a slave State in which a free man can abide with honor. If any think that their influence would be lost there, and their voices no longer afflict the ear of the State, that they would not be as an enemy within its walls, they do not know by how much truth is stronger than error, nor how much more eloquently and effectively he can combat injustice who has experienced a little in his own person."
3) Martin Luther King, Jr. ( “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (1963)
"But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their “thus saith the Lord” far beyond the boundaries of their home towns: and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of of the Greco-Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom far beyond my own hometown. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.
Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
5) Frederick Douglas (“No Struggle, No Progress” (1857)
"The whole history of progress of human liberty
shows that all concessions
Yet made to her august claims
Have been born of earnest struggle
If there is no struggle
There is no progress."
6) As Chris Hedges recently wrote about Tim in “This Hero Didn’t Stand A Chance”:
"His prosecution is evidence that our moral order has been turned upside down. The bankers and swindlers who trashed the global economy and wiped out some $40 trillion in wealth amass obscene amounts of money, much of it provided by taxpayers. They do not go to jail. Regulatory agencies, compliant to the demands of corporations, refuse to impede the destruction unleashed by the coal, oil and natural gas companies as they turn the planet into a hothouse of pollutants, poisoned water, fouled air and contaminated soil in the frenzied quest for greater and greater profits. Those who manage and make fortunes from pre-emptive wars, embrace torture, carry out extrajudicial assassinations, deny habeas corpus and run up the largest deficits in human history are feted as patriots. But when a courageous citizen such as DeChristopher peacefully derails the corporate and governmental destruction of the ecosystem, he is sent to jail.
The rules are written by those who profit from the status quo, DeChristopher said when I reached him by phone this weekend in Minneapolis. “If we want to change that status quo we have to step outside of those rules. We have to put pressure on those within the political system to choose one side or another.”
Powerful, ageless, commentary, and threaded together by identifying the means to cause change to oppressive systems of governance. Bring them down from within. Never so relevant as of nowadays when corporate global capitalism remains as the only ideology, armed as it is to the teeth, in town.
A call to arms for Gen Z. They have shunned the mainstream media, choosing to instead create their own outlets. Sharing information in a way that was not available just a couple of generations ago. Many thanks for sharing this information, my friend.
I detest the daily prevaricators and sanitizers far more than even the scumbag politicians like Genocide Joe or Bloody Bibi -- the Jake Tappers, Erin Burnetts, Lawrence O'Donnells, and Rachel Maddows, and the PBS "historians" who create the echo chambers in which lazy un-inquiring minds become ensnared. These whores are at least as complicit in crimes against humanity. For example, Black folks, watch PBS's mockumentary about Frederick Douglass, which conveniently omits the man's radical relationship with and financial support for John Brown's abolitionist war in Kansas, sanitizing that aspect of Douglass's life (too bloody). Believe nothing you see or hear, until you research it yourself.
Americans are fed propaganda from the time they wake up. Military worship runs thru our streets with banners of enlisted men and women staring at us daily in our commutes. We are conditioned to never criticize our government and to believe that somehow the rigged election process is democratic. Thank you Caitlin for giving us a down to earth dose of reality.
And we're conditioned to worship the obscenely wealthy (the 'job creators') - who own our government. The government is suppose to represent We The People, not We The Corporations - and the suckers who mindlessly worship the rich.
I would say that for a lot (some?) of the people, the flag represents "the american people - the common man - the man on the street", and NOT the power elite, oligarchs, plutocrats, corporations, or governments, etc. Maybe I'm mistaken.
Yes, I may be wrong. But do the people waving the flag, hanging up the flag, etc. believe that it is a symbol of US imperialism? And if they do, is that what they are knowingly cheering for (US Imperialism)? Or do they believe differently? And if so, maybe they have been brainwashed over generations - and don't associate the same meanings to "the flag" as do citizens that are more aware of history and the global reality?
Israel won’t charge its apartheid /fascist policies. The Israeli population is too far gone . I fear for the future of Palestinians with Israel as its neighbour . Who will provide protection for them ?
Good point. The Turkish Cypriots had Turkey to liberate them from the Greek Cypriot suppression, although that liberation turned into another form of subjugation.
The Palestinians have no such protector, and even if ZioNAZI Rothschildistan were to agree to a Palestinian state, the ZioNazis will sabotage it till it collapses and will be able to claim innocence.
I can relate to your reference to ByeDone supporters. I am distancing myself from a very long friendship because, while she claims to hate the war, she remains an ardent ByeDone supporter.
She refuses to discuss it with me, saying that it will end our friendship, but I can predict it already ending.
How does one deal with such intransigence? I have offered her links to alternative news sources but she continues to garner false information from the MSM; she believes that Putin is “evil” and intends to take over all of Europe.
I have also completely cut ties with in-laws who fully support the massacre of Gazans.
Sadly, I’ve no idea as to how to bring my friend over to the side of light.
Do not come to the banana Republic of Ireland. I live here. Health system is banjaxed. The political system is corrupt and inept. The educational system is rigged so third level education is beyond the reach of the working class. Housing is a joke. I could go on. We bailed out the banks after 08 to the tune of about 750 billion euro, selling future generations down the swanny in a secret meeting between the finance minister, and our PM and the heads of the major banks without a single minute being recorded of the meeting. There are only about 5 million us on the island, although immigration is seeing that number rise steadily. The automatic housing and social welfare payments to the 100,000 Ukrainians that have arrived in the last couple of years is causing massive division among the disadvantaged and homeless Irish, about 15, 000, many of them children, as well as those waiting on social housing lists that number in the tens of thousands in every city. Wages are terrible. The cost of living has soared in the last few years, and we have a coalition government in power that NOBODY voted for. I won’t be gets job in the tourism industry anytime soon having said all of that but it’s all true. Norway, or some other Scandinavian country, if they allow you in, would be a better destination. And you will be allowed in to Ireland without irish heritage. We have about a million people, fleeing from the many conflicts around the globe, currently living here, awaiting the outcome of their applications for asylum and citizenship thereafter.
I say the same thing to the many immigrants I have made acquaintance with dating back during the last few decades, as I would say to anyone thinking of retiring to live in Ireland. Think again. The description I give of the housing, education, and political landscape was true before the influx of immigrants, and refugees. The Eastern European community was welcomed by the government of the day to fill the minimum wage jobs that the Irish were unwilling to do at that particular point in the ‘Celtic Tiger’ time.
The unease and concerns people have here is with the government’s actions and policies around the immigration debacle that is currently taking place, not with immigrants and refugees themselves. There are ‘right wing’ agitators taking advantage of the leadership vacuum, but they are a tiny minority, with a following made up of semi literate, nationalist leaning buffoons.
We have always been a people that reared our young to emigrate and escape the harsh conditions prevalent here both before and after British rule. I was one who left as soon as I could, and even after returning, left again and again. It’s no place for the elderly or the young. And that is a damning indictment on any society. In fact it’s a true measure of a society, here or anywhere else. There may well be forty shades of green here but they are in no way ‘greener than the other side’.
Some people always shift furniture to keep the perception new.
For the curious minds once they visited two or three other countries/societies/cultures, they should realize they visited them all. Too many, though, keep looking, putting pins on the map where they've been, showing off on instagram, without getting slightest idea why they're not satisfied.
The Celtic Tiger died with a barely audible whimper circa 08. The people are still the same here. Open minded, welcoming, but like myself, willing to pack a bag and grab a passport and skedaddle anywhere on the globe if an opportunity arises to earn a decent wage, and maybe get a little more sunshine into the bargain as well. There were 50, 000 a year leaving for about 10 years after the last recession. Many have still not returned, and I wouldn’t be holding my breath that they will. Ever. If not for family commitments here, I would not be living here. From a totally financial standpoint, I’d be back in the Netherlands. Although that place is not the same as when I left there about 20 years ago. There are very few ‘grass is greener over there ‘ destinations left to travel to, I’m afraid.
The town we’re considering in Mexico is deep into the country itself. My daughter and her fiancé frequently visit his brother there. She’s absolutely allergic to hot temps, but I’ve never heard her complain about the heat there. And there’s a considerable number of US expats there.
Not really. The tourists are in enclaves, maybe 1% of the place. The expats near me are often Russian which began before the wars, lot of the more recent ones kicked out for breaking the rules and now in Phuket. Kyoto now, that's truly mass tourism.
I know what you’re talking about. With me it’s my brother’s wife(youngest brother). She is pro-Israel and thinks the USA can do no wrong, imho. It’s difficult to be around her after the screaming match we got into(her screaming at me and me telling her that it is a genocide in Gaza and that there should be a ceasefire NOW). With my sister, it’s Butcher Biden all the way, because we got to stop Trump and Putin is evil and wants to take all the NATO countries. 🤣 I tried to explain to her about the Maidan Coup and all, but she still has a fixation about Russia like most of my family. She tends to like movies I notice that make the Russians look like they’re all bad, imho. I have talked to some family members about Gaza and the Ukraine war, but they don’t seem to want to change they’re worldview on these issues. Now, my sister does believe the Palestinians are having war crimes perpetrated against them, but she still supports Genocide Joe for President in 2025. It doesn’t make sense to me. It’s all fear based and that fear is egged on by the propaganda media machine. It’s not enough to know something is deeply wrong, one has to do something about it.
"With my sister, it’s Butcher Biden all the way, because we got to stop Trump and Putin is evil and wants to take all the NATO countries. 🤣 I tried to explain to her about the Maidan Coup and all, but she still has a fixation about Russia like most of my family."
Well, you are the smartest in your family...so there's that.
I think I've lucked out--none of my siblings or cousins will say or hint at their beliefs about Genocide Joe, Trumpster Fire or what's really happening to the Palestinians. They know where I stand and know I can debate them rationally until they're blue in the face. so they're silent. The silent majority who are probably apathetic about whichever fascist/zionist D or R will win the US election in November.
I've had people just give up on me since they figured they couldn't change my mind. So... even if you want to keep certain friends who disagree with you, they end up not wanting you to hang around them any longer.
Gypsy: I empathize with you. I face the same issues you do. Some people are too far gone for them to see the light. I've already given up with quite a few people. I don't really see a solution to the problem, but if you do happen to come across some way to resolve these intransigent issues, please to let me know.
i guess we are going to find out ...come Election time in Nov whether the majority of the people are OK with what Biden is doing......if in fact there is going to be an Election
Nahh, we won't find out because U.S. elections are rigged, consistently. The Dems are in the driving seat and will by 22 million votes from ilegal immigrants who will be naturalized.
Journalists James and Kenneth Collier pose the question, “Why can’t we vote the bastards out?” Their answer: “Because we didn’t even vote the bastards in.”
It tracks down, confronts, and calls the names of Establishment thieves who silently steal votes for their own profit. It comes face-to-face with the Supreme Court justice who buried key vote fraud evidence; the most powerful female publisher in America, who refused to permit her newspapers and television stations to expose vote rigging; the Attorney General who jailed Jim Collier to avoid an investigation into vote fraud; and a cast of weak-kneed, corrupt politicians, lawyers, and members of the media entangled in a massive crime, but who have yet to be held accountable.
It's simple when you know how! However, civil war appears to me to be looming in the U$ofA for a number of reasons so the comfort zone of rigged elections is coming to its most deserved end, hopefully in the UK too.
Che, I’m surprised at the number of youngsters I’ve encountered (stoners even😉) who are voting for Trump “because he isn’t ByeDone”. The complete opposite of the last go-round.
They are fed up with ByeDone’s wars, his inflation, his high interest rates, his complete inability to do one positive thing for this country, and of course, his senility.
No Trump fan myself, but at least, what you see is what you get.
In the lesser evil voting paradigm, winning an election does not imply approval. It implies the winner sucked less.
There is a subculture of Suck Less merchandise. A line of cosmetics, a software company, and a book share that name. The origin of this could be a story told by Matt Damon of the film Hall Pass:
“My favorite direction I’ve ever received was from Peter Farrelly. Greg and I were wearing the suit, stuck together. We do a take and it just doesn’t work. I’d flubbed a line, Greg missed one of his cues and there was this long pause after we hear “Cut” over the walkie-talkies. They were sitting way over in Video Village, where the monitors were. Must have been a quarter of a mile away.
“And Greg goes, ‘Well that stunk. Let’s just go right away’ We were hoping they’d keep the cameras rolling and we’d take another shot at the scene.
“But we see Peter walking all the way over to the set. Long walk. Greg says, ‘Oh nooo. He’s coming ALL the way over just to give us a note. Not good.’
“Peter’s chewing gum. And he finally gets over to us, looks at me, looks down at his feet, takes a long pause, ‘Um, yeah, hmmmm.’ Looks back up at me and finally just says — ‘Suck less!’”
Lots of I am afraid, no hope (for me) besides the usual 'lesser evil' (too many people do not care about 'outside the US', their job, food, TV-sports frenzy, family etc they are totally brainwashed - see it every single day - so what should lead to a 3rd party victory, even if they could get on the ballot?)
"i guess we are going to find out ...come Election time in Nov whether the majority of the people are OK with what Biden is doing......if in fact there is going to be an Election"
Nothing will be found out at 'election' time. It does not matter whether Biden is 'elected' or not. Whoever is chosen will abide by the Deep State's wishes. Democrats and Republicans are two sides of the same coin.
"What a blessing it is for rulers that humans are sheep!" - A. Hitler
I think one of the reasons people in America are not looking at Biden with more of a critical eye is that they have been indoctrinated to fear a Trump presidency in November which is true for my brother and sister-in-law. The democrats through Trump's four years in office have used him as a scapegoat that embodies all that is wrong with America. It's true no matter what you think of him. Netanyahu, or bloody bi bi as some call him certainly deserves much of the blame and he also detracts from the truth that America is abetting a genocide which could not be carried out if it wasn't for the US. I have no idea why evangelicals would support Israel since Jesus would be appalled. I always thought the support and silence our American presidents got for their Middle Eastern wars was due to the fact Muslim's just don't count in America, and some have even made statements that reflect that position. I've even heard a small handful of Jewish people and a former nun say that all Muslims including their children should be removed from the face of the earth. They don't even recognize how sick, and ugly that statement is. Our hope I think lies with the younger people who rely more heavily on the net for info then do older people and it's a place where one can find the truth. I watched this last night, maybe better to watch earlier in the day. https://www.aljazeera.com/program/featured-documentaries/2023/10/25/gazas-al-shifa-a-hospital-on-the-brink
For me, it's a sister and brother-in-law.
Odd, isn't it? I've always disliked him and he will take any position he thinks will further his political career.
Your BIL sounds hard to be around.
My sister and BIL are two odd people, who are usually easy to be around--provided you can tolerate their quirks. The only exception is when the topic turns to Trump, and they just fly off the handle. Needless to say, I tread carefully around politics when I'm with them.
I didn't vote for Trump in 2016, nobody, since I wouldn't vote for Clinton. You can't believe the verbal abuse I got from people, since people like me gave Trump the win. They could push the lie of Russia-gate, and it takes Mueller 3 years to determine there is no proof, but yet no one is held accountable. They even get to call a riot an insurrection and have an unconstitutional comm, and now make every effort to prevent him from running again. Through their efforts they have further undermined our democracy. Now they can even support a genocide which is against international law, but sell themselves as the good guys on the block and Trump is the devil. .
Why are you treading carefully?
Do you want these people in your life?
It's my sister, and it's really just Trump specifically where things get crazy. We go back way before 2016, to a time when neither of us paid much attention to the guy.
I fear that the younger generations are more under the spell of the propaganda machine than older generations.. I don't really meet young people who care about whats happening in the world at all.
Ive been teaching high school for 16years and I have two young adult children of my own. To be sure there many <30 years old who are politically indifferent, or others who are politically inclined but sadly misinformed. Yet, my own personal experiences combined with ample polling data cause me to believe that, broadly speaking Gen Z and Millennials are more savvy, more progressive and more politically literate than my peers in Gen X. And certainly more than boomers! As Lenin said, he who has the youth, has the future, and Biden and Trump do not have the youth vote.
Gen Z are the future!💪🙏
Most people don't get into politics, and maybe some pick a paper of choice like the NY Times and think they're getting a non biased account of what's going on. I do feel that more young people then older ones turn to the net to get news, well, that are interested, and I think they have a better chance of finding the truth on line. Yep most people work raise families, have health issues, money issues, and maybe not enough attention is paid to what's going on, but even if they did most would have head filled with disinformation if they didn't know where to look.
“Forced inattention” is an excellent term. It describes much of the purpose beneath the official narrative. Free will, if it ever existed, now seems nearly extinct. Call it mass formation, mass hypnosis, TDS, zombification, etc., we should recognize that many (possibly most) of us have software-like processes in our minds that can be hacked, spoofed, or exploited. Or, similar to a computer virus, many of us are infected with a kind of mind virus, sometimes called a “mind parasite”. There is actually a term in many Native American languages/cultures for this phenomenon, Wendigo or Wetiko being the two most common. Paul Levy’s book, “Dispelling Wetiko”, describes his professional experience working with the mentally ill and how modern medicine and pyschology fail to treat this “infection”.
Fran: Our hope I think lies ...
============
Absolutely phuckin' NOWHERE, Fran and do not take this as a Fran attack. Every generation has said the above you say and NOTHING EVER CHANGES. The war criminals scum at the top laugh at the "citizens" because they know the "citizens" do not count for squat. Marking an X on a scrap of paper is NOT democracy, NEITHER is it whining on a website somewhere [no slight intended to Caitlan EITHER]
When the choices are the EXACT SAME war criminal/gamgsters who have held usa government positions since truman, [YES they ALL have been Class A war criminals!!] REALLY, what has ever changed, WHAT WILL EVER CHANGE?
Sweet phuck all!!!
Need a brand new plan folks.
Watching old cow boy and Indian movies as a kid I never knew why the Indians were bad for protecting their land from the cowboys, and when I asked adults, no answers. I got up from watching one of those movies on TV and realized at 7 or 8 that my government lies to me. I decided not to trust anything it said, ever. When we saluted the flag at school I never said the last part of the pledge. "...with liberty and justice for all." Never! I wasn't involved with politics until the late 1990's and then really got involved and understood why as a kid my government was not to be taken at it's word, and with more knowledge came the awareness I was right on at 7.
You are a rare and very intelligent human being, Fran. Is there anyway we can maybe make a Fran Vaccine to pass this humanity, intelligence, awareness, ... on to others?
Thanks Terry, although even at seven some life experiences made that decision easier.
Fran: I've even heard a small handful of Jewish people and a former nun say that all Muslims including their children should be removed from the face of the earth.
====
Rather hypocritical and other assorted and sundry words to describe human failings considering it is the zionists and the "christians" who are running the worlds' major Holocausts right now.
Hi dear Gypsy. Trump is the catalyst nothing more.
One of the things I loathe and detest about Biden (apart from his record which can be looked up easily) is that he has diligently given the US people all sorts of reform and then taken them away with his other hand.
Drilling in Alaska but supposedly stopping the pipeline in ?Viginia?
Palestine (usa) where trains were running chemicals without sufficient guards or people checking. I don;t think he ever updated this?
>>"...younger people who rely more heavily on the net for info then do older people and it's a place where one can find the truth"
Fran, the "net" as a source of information is not the issue (and neither is it a reliable place to find the truth). The issue is - "inadequate critical thinking skills". If one doesn't have have the skills necessary (logic, ciritical thinking, basic statistics & probability, recognizing propanga, etc.), then the source is irrelevant (as is the age of the person interpreting the source of information).
"I have no idea why evangelicals would support Israel since Jesus would be appalled."
I think it varies from person to person, but my guess is that when they watch Middle Eastern politics and war, they see it through an Old Testament perspective. In the Old Testament, there are all these wars, and there is this nation called Israel, and it is often fighting against neighboring nations. Looks very much like Middle Eastern politics today. So the New Testament gets forgotten.
Another factor is dispensationalist theology, which just about reads the Old Testament as if the New Testament had never been written!
So if you think from a New Testament perspective, you see the teaching of Jesus - and you also have the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem persecuting Jesus and the apostles, and the early Christians facing more opposition from Jews than from the Roman authorities. But people forget about that when they see what looks like a replay of the Old Testament going on in the Middle East today.
Let me get your take on things, if you want. Netanyahu, and his gang had the detailed plans of Hamas's planned attack a year before they were implemented on Oct 7, 2023. They were dismissed as being too complicated for Hamas to carry out. Also, people monitoring the Gaza Border reported suspicious behavior, but they were also dismissed. Egypt warned Israel of an impending Hamas attack 3 days before the attack by Hamas, but that was also dismissed. Considering that Netanyahu always wanted the Palestinians gone, as did others, and is up on corruption charges. I thought from the beginning they knew it was going to happen, and let it happen, which provided them the opportunity to carry out this genocide.
This is from an article by Jeremy Scahill at The Intercept. The introductory paragraph is interesting in regard to this issue.
https://theintercept.com/2024/02/07/gaza-israel-netanyahu-propaganda-lies-palestinians/
I do not know anything more than you know. I think that it is certainly plausible, and of course the way that he not only saw Hamas as an asset in his "divide and rule" strategy to hamper moves toward setting up a Palestinian state, but actively supported enabling Hamas, does suggest that he is a pretty ruthless operator.
My best guess is that he did not expect it to happen, but that when it happened, he immediately saw the opportunity for ethnically cleansing Gaza, something that I am sure he had long desired. But who knows?
I just looked this up and I see I am not alone in my suspicions, since many thought so from the beginning. "Conspiracy theorists have gone viral with a claim the Israeli government knew in advance that Hamas was going to launch a coordinated terrorist attack on October 7. And some are even claiming, without evidence, that Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a so-called “stand-down” order for the Israeli military. But there’s nothing to show the Israeli government knew of the surprise attack, which killed over 1,300 people." Well, if Netanyahu can claim there were some 15 workers at UNRWA that were affiliated with Hamas, and provided no evidence for that claim, well, why should he be the only one entitled to do so. I don't believe for one minute the US is telling Israel to pull back, since all they have to do to make their voices heard is to cut off the ammo they're providing to carry out this genocide. Now Israel is backing out of the Hostage talks, and over a million Gazans in Rafah with no place to go.
I think that it is pretty obvious that the US is not telling Israel to pull back.
As for your suspicions about Netanyahu allowing the attack, you are certainly not alone. You could be correct; I do not know.
Personally, I think that what the Israeli government is doing is not just evil - but also incredibly stupid, and likely to imperil Israel's future. See, for example, the conversation between Andrew Napolitano and Alastair Crooke entitled "Will Israel Self-Destruct?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvKJ6oFS7sE
and Chris Hedge's address "The Death of Israel: How a Settler Colonial State Destroyed Itself"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlcqsKvTSPw
Thank you, I get it.
So who will you vote for?
Never Biden, probably won't vote or vote for someone who comes out against Israel's genocide.
"A neurosis is truly removed only when it has removed the false attitude of the ego. We do not cure it — it cures us."
~Carl Jung
Google advised me to search for "five uses of sheep."
I could not find such a quote from Hitler anywhere - unable to locate its provenance or able to verify such a quote.
Could you provide a reference for this? (There are way too many fake quotes floating around the internet - not just with Hitler, but also with Einstein, etc.)
It was actually Goering in an interview after the Hindenburg trials just before he was hung. I remember downloading it and reading it but can no longer find it on the internet oddly.
It's often more revealing what ISN'T up on the western web.
fx, try finding that actual video OBL made directly after 9/11 where he point blank denied having anything to do with the attack.
We KNOW he made this vid, because it was referenced at the time. Now, black hole.
Correct! OBL also did an interview in the 90's with NPR where he stated that he had nothing against the people in the US but only the corrupt government. Can't find it anymore on NPR website! It's the game and it's just begun. Orwell's Ministry of Truth on steroids. We can take comfort that we have a confirmed senile president who is running for reelection and a confirmed crook who took an oath to uphold the constitution and tried to overthrow the election. See how it works?
"and a confirmed crook who took an oath to uphold the constitution and tried to overthrow the election."
OMG! Is Killary actually running then this year?
I'd have to look. Regardless of provenance, the quote appears to accurately describe observable reality.
Who said what matters greatly. Too many false beliefs are encourage by fake quotes. Too much fake history out there. It is easy to invent quotes to support one's position and use such "invented quotes by famous people" to influence "the sheep".
Even if I made up the quote out of whole cloth and fraudulently attributed it to Hitler (I did neither), it still accurately describes observable reality.
I guess you didn't get what I was trying to convey. That's ok. I don't think its worth further discussion.
FF: it still accurately describes observable reality.
===================
It does INDEED, about the usa, first and foremost, then the usa's sycophant, psychotic right wing follower "nations".
But what you may have done/been doing, FF, is maligning Germans/Hitler like the usa has ALWAYS DONE to avoid the reality that the usa is far far far worse than the Nazis ever were. In every way possible.
Nonsense. He ain't avoiding nuttin.
FF: "What a blessing it is for rulers that humans are sheep!" - A. Hitler
====
Adolph was describing the usa and usians. And brits, kiwis, aussies, ... .
He was mostly talking about Germans, (if he actually said it.)
See my reply above to Feral Finster.
It’s interesting and disturbing watching the apparatchik try and build their control systems at a speed they hope will contain the younger generations. Godspeed kids! Banning TikTok in the US will be an interesting moment if it is to come about and possibly signal the Neoliberals are losing the fight. The continuation of the Gaza genocide to this point of absurdity is starting to look and feel like a beta-test for further genocides and denialisms by empire. We are truly an atrocious species.
We are no different than any other species on the planet, an atrocious species ? I have issues with people who want to see humanity eliminated. What is the end goal of that ideology ? The earth will not be better off with or without us, it will simply be like it always has been.
Humans are like fleas arguing over who is in control of the dog, none of us are in control but our ego and our arrogance won't let us accept the idea that we are not a threat to the planet. Lets say we do commit the 6th extinction event, so what, mother nature will start over and replace us and the rest of the biosphere. Even if we went so far as all out nuclear war causing a nuclear winter that lasts 10,000 years. The earth will recover and we will be just one more unsuccessfully biological cycle.
Saving the non-human species is a ridiculous reason to wipe out humanity. yes I love animals but humans are nothing but another species of animal. If you step back and look at the threat humanity represents to the planet humans are nothing more than a surface irritant.
In the immortal words of George Carlin:
"We're so self-important. Everybody's going to save something now. “Save the trees, save the bees, save the whales, save those snails.” And the greatest arrogance of all: save the planet. Save the planet, we don't even know how to take care of ourselves yet".
"To think that some somehow we're a threat that somehow we're going to put in Jeopardy this beautiful little blue green ball that's just a floating around the Sun planet has been through a lot worse than us for a long time".
"Compared with the people, the planet is doing great. It's been here over four billion years. The planet isn't going anywhere folks. We are!" .
We are indeed, MB. The entire universe is inexplicably tilted at this time, and the only way to save Planet Earth is the elimination of our species.
And since I don’t wish to see our non-human species wiped out as well, perhaps some wise extraterrestrials can help out with this..
Gypsy are you hoping for a genocide to remove all mankind? Not all of us deserve to go,. just a handful who control this world with their positions of power, and their money and pathologies. And if you go whose going to look after your animal friends?
Fran. All of us who have animals........we will kill them first before they get tortured or eaten!
We with the luxury of compassionate conscientiousness are not alone in our resistance to the #LeviathanOfAuthoritarianism (ref. #GrantPeeples). Ty for your efforts for #SocialJustice & #Peace, and to this righteous end, please identify as a #CREATORS (Conspiracy Realist Educator Activist Truther Organizer Reader Socializer) in #WeThePeople’s nonpartisan & nonviolent #RevolutionOfAwareness (ref. Bollyn.com).
It's easier to imagine the end of the world (and our species) than it is to imagine the end of capitalism. *Humans* are not the problem, it is the *system* we're all trapped in that is the problem. Capitalism incentivizes the worst human behaviors and turns them into profit. In this sick system, a dead tree is worth more for it's lumber than a healthy thriving tree. A person with cancer is better for boosting GDP than someone who's healthy. WE are the only species capable of defending this planet and its non-human inhabitants from the sociopathic capitalists intent on burning it all down.
Capitalism might be better thought of as resource and wealth capture and accumulation than “burning it all down”. It’s the short term pathology of wealth accumulation that destroys the planet. Why does any one person need 55 billion dollars? The entire concept is absurd and a sickness. That being said, another absurdity is the US war, prison, pharma, oil and “finance” economies within the capitalist system and as leaders of capitalism and its evolution, the world suffers as a result of these industries looking to expand their revenue/profit streams under the guise of fiduciary responsibility all the while doing their utmost to pay no taxes back into the societies they exploit. All under the watchful eye of the governments they work tirelessly to own. Explained that way, it’s not even really a form of capitalism anymore but a type of feudal corporatism, so until that structure both legally and fiducially is dismantled we the people will be slowly dismantled. Cheers!
Blaming the economic system you live under is foolhardy, every other economic system that has been devised by man has resulted in the same ecological degradation. Regardless of society or economic models humans are a species that devastates its environment like any other. An ant colony will strip all available food within foraging distance of the colony and have to move the colony to a new food source.
When predators are eliminated from an ecosystem the remaining prey animals will eat and reproduce until systemic collapse. Rabbits don't need capitalism to bring about their own destruction, they just need a food source and enough safety to procreate.
The point is that humans as a species fall prey to the same problems as any other regardless of what ideological adjective you want to apply. Capitalist humans, socialist humans, tribal humans all fall to the same inherent biological weaknesses of over-consumption, excess reproduction and the ultimate waste polluting the environment.
It is not "capitalism", actually.
It is the mentality of Rome - Empire, Domination, Patriarchy.
The Roman Empire still makes the USA look cuddly in comparison - and Rome was certainly not "Capitalist".
Such an argument is too pat. Yes, it IS social values that are the problem, and some of Capitalism's values are certainly problematic, but it would not be hard at all to imagine a NON-Capitalist society behaving in much the same way.
It is far more interesting to see it crumble as they build...
Humans keep saying UFOs are crashing, their tech is sht and why don't ets contact humans. I think we all know why by now.
As always, spot on. Thank you for being in world and looking at it in its eyes.
The number of people around the world protesting in support of Palestine and/or a ceasefire in Gaza is very heartening.
But so far to no avail, alas ……
Russian President Vladimir Putin did say the United States of America is 'The Empire of Lies.'
So in that sense, yes, it does depend on it citizenry's unwillingness to examine its Vile Crimes:
The Instrument of Choice used to be 'American Exceptionalism'... nowadays though it has simply devolved into various forms of Consumerism & related 'Navel-Gazing' ideals & customs.
(For those interested)
If you wish to read (& listen!) to more of My commentary, here is my Main Stack:
https://thefallofthewest.substack.com
Thank You Kindly to everyone!
Howard Zinn on civil disobedience :
“Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of leaders…and millions have been killed because of this obedience…Our problem is that people are obedient allover the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves… (and) the grand thieves are running the country. That’s our problem.”
Matt Damon from Howard Zinn's speech: The Problem is Civil Obedience
https://youtu.be/S2li9E_94MA
I'll see you on Zinn and raise with these classics: (from "Hope Is Now A Federal Crime", written about the jailing of activist Tim DeChristopher):
http://www.wolfenotes.com/2011/07/hope-is-now-a-federal-crime-bidder-70-gets-2-years-in-prison/
1) Mario Savio -“Speech in Sproul Plaza” (Berkeley, December 2, 1964)
“And that, that brings me to the second mode of civil disobedience. There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part; you can’t even passively take part. And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all.”
2) The man Savio echoed - Henry David Thoreau (“Civil Disobedience” (1849))
"All machines have their friction; and possibly this does enough good to counterbalance the evil. At any rate, it is a great evil to make a stir about it. But when the friction comes to have its machine, and oppression and robbery are organized, I say, let us not have such a machine any longer. In other words, when a sixth of the population of a nation which has undertaken to be the refuge of liberty are slaves, and a whole country is unjustly overrun and conquered by a foreign army, and subjected to military law, I think that it is not too soon for honest men to rebel and revolutionize. …
Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison. The proper place to-day, the only place which Massachusetts has provided for her freer and less desponding spirits, is in her prisons, to be put out and locked out of the State by her own act, as they have already put themselves out by their principles. It is there that the fugitive slave, and the Mexican prisoner on parole, and the Indian come to plead the wrongs of his race, should find them; on that separate, but more free and honorable ground, where the State places those who are not with her, but against her — the only house in a slave State in which a free man can abide with honor. If any think that their influence would be lost there, and their voices no longer afflict the ear of the State, that they would not be as an enemy within its walls, they do not know by how much truth is stronger than error, nor how much more eloquently and effectively he can combat injustice who has experienced a little in his own person."
3) Martin Luther King, Jr. ( “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (1963)
"But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their “thus saith the Lord” far beyond the boundaries of their home towns: and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of of the Greco-Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom far beyond my own hometown. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.
Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
5) Frederick Douglas (“No Struggle, No Progress” (1857)
"The whole history of progress of human liberty
shows that all concessions
Yet made to her august claims
Have been born of earnest struggle
If there is no struggle
There is no progress."
6) As Chris Hedges recently wrote about Tim in “This Hero Didn’t Stand A Chance”:
"His prosecution is evidence that our moral order has been turned upside down. The bankers and swindlers who trashed the global economy and wiped out some $40 trillion in wealth amass obscene amounts of money, much of it provided by taxpayers. They do not go to jail. Regulatory agencies, compliant to the demands of corporations, refuse to impede the destruction unleashed by the coal, oil and natural gas companies as they turn the planet into a hothouse of pollutants, poisoned water, fouled air and contaminated soil in the frenzied quest for greater and greater profits. Those who manage and make fortunes from pre-emptive wars, embrace torture, carry out extrajudicial assassinations, deny habeas corpus and run up the largest deficits in human history are feted as patriots. But when a courageous citizen such as DeChristopher peacefully derails the corporate and governmental destruction of the ecosystem, he is sent to jail.
The rules are written by those who profit from the status quo, DeChristopher said when I reached him by phone this weekend in Minneapolis. “If we want to change that status quo we have to step outside of those rules. We have to put pressure on those within the political system to choose one side or another.”
Powerful, ageless, commentary, and threaded together by identifying the means to cause change to oppressive systems of governance. Bring them down from within. Never so relevant as of nowadays when corporate global capitalism remains as the only ideology, armed as it is to the teeth, in town.
A call to arms for Gen Z. They have shunned the mainstream media, choosing to instead create their own outlets. Sharing information in a way that was not available just a couple of generations ago. Many thanks for sharing this information, my friend.
Exactly right.
Thank you for the 'cracks' you inflict; the whole reality-facade is crumbling.
We are not alone while we have you Caitlin and I thank you.
It is a dispiriting time for all of us who just want to live our lives.
I keep thinking this can't go on but now I see the Houthis being bombed it won't stop until we have a huge war.
At present it seems Iran is holding still as is China.
… and as is Russia.
Yes. SOME people have brains.
I detest the daily prevaricators and sanitizers far more than even the scumbag politicians like Genocide Joe or Bloody Bibi -- the Jake Tappers, Erin Burnetts, Lawrence O'Donnells, and Rachel Maddows, and the PBS "historians" who create the echo chambers in which lazy un-inquiring minds become ensnared. These whores are at least as complicit in crimes against humanity. For example, Black folks, watch PBS's mockumentary about Frederick Douglass, which conveniently omits the man's radical relationship with and financial support for John Brown's abolitionist war in Kansas, sanitizing that aspect of Douglass's life (too bloody). Believe nothing you see or hear, until you research it yourself.
Americans are fed propaganda from the time they wake up. Military worship runs thru our streets with banners of enlisted men and women staring at us daily in our commutes. We are conditioned to never criticize our government and to believe that somehow the rigged election process is democratic. Thank you Caitlin for giving us a down to earth dose of reality.
And we're conditioned to worship the obscenely wealthy (the 'job creators') - who own our government. The government is suppose to represent We The People, not We The Corporations - and the suckers who mindlessly worship the rich.
.....and the flag being flown outside so many American houses!
I would say that for a lot (some?) of the people, the flag represents "the american people - the common man - the man on the street", and NOT the power elite, oligarchs, plutocrats, corporations, or governments, etc. Maybe I'm mistaken.
I think you are wrong with regard to the American flag. It is just a symbol of imperialism.
British did the same with the Union Jack.
Yes, I may be wrong. But do the people waving the flag, hanging up the flag, etc. believe that it is a symbol of US imperialism? And if they do, is that what they are knowingly cheering for (US Imperialism)? Or do they believe differently? And if so, maybe they have been brainwashed over generations - and don't associate the same meanings to "the flag" as do citizens that are more aware of history and the global reality?
Israel won’t charge its apartheid /fascist policies. The Israeli population is too far gone . I fear for the future of Palestinians with Israel as its neighbour . Who will provide protection for them ?
Good point. The Turkish Cypriots had Turkey to liberate them from the Greek Cypriot suppression, although that liberation turned into another form of subjugation.
The Palestinians have no such protector, and even if ZioNAZI Rothschildistan were to agree to a Palestinian state, the ZioNazis will sabotage it till it collapses and will be able to claim innocence.
charge ➙ change 😉
Chris Hedges. https://youtu.be/qlcqsKvTSPw?si=dqUSWdYXKH0s2oed
Thank you Caitlin for yet another mind-opening post.
Hi Caitlin
I can relate to your reference to ByeDone supporters. I am distancing myself from a very long friendship because, while she claims to hate the war, she remains an ardent ByeDone supporter.
She refuses to discuss it with me, saying that it will end our friendship, but I can predict it already ending.
How does one deal with such intransigence? I have offered her links to alternative news sources but she continues to garner false information from the MSM; she believes that Putin is “evil” and intends to take over all of Europe.
I have also completely cut ties with in-laws who fully support the massacre of Gazans.
Sadly, I’ve no idea as to how to bring my friend over to the side of light.
Pretty damn weird.
I moved out of the USA 20 years ago. A friend did it thirty years ago.
suggested good places to go? (retire)
Do not come to the banana Republic of Ireland. I live here. Health system is banjaxed. The political system is corrupt and inept. The educational system is rigged so third level education is beyond the reach of the working class. Housing is a joke. I could go on. We bailed out the banks after 08 to the tune of about 750 billion euro, selling future generations down the swanny in a secret meeting between the finance minister, and our PM and the heads of the major banks without a single minute being recorded of the meeting. There are only about 5 million us on the island, although immigration is seeing that number rise steadily. The automatic housing and social welfare payments to the 100,000 Ukrainians that have arrived in the last couple of years is causing massive division among the disadvantaged and homeless Irish, about 15, 000, many of them children, as well as those waiting on social housing lists that number in the tens of thousands in every city. Wages are terrible. The cost of living has soared in the last few years, and we have a coalition government in power that NOBODY voted for. I won’t be gets job in the tourism industry anytime soon having said all of that but it’s all true. Norway, or some other Scandinavian country, if they allow you in, would be a better destination. And you will be allowed in to Ireland without irish heritage. We have about a million people, fleeing from the many conflicts around the globe, currently living here, awaiting the outcome of their applications for asylum and citizenship thereafter.
Kevin M, salute. Good you inject some reality for those in "the grass is always greener..." camp.
I say the same thing to the many immigrants I have made acquaintance with dating back during the last few decades, as I would say to anyone thinking of retiring to live in Ireland. Think again. The description I give of the housing, education, and political landscape was true before the influx of immigrants, and refugees. The Eastern European community was welcomed by the government of the day to fill the minimum wage jobs that the Irish were unwilling to do at that particular point in the ‘Celtic Tiger’ time.
The unease and concerns people have here is with the government’s actions and policies around the immigration debacle that is currently taking place, not with immigrants and refugees themselves. There are ‘right wing’ agitators taking advantage of the leadership vacuum, but they are a tiny minority, with a following made up of semi literate, nationalist leaning buffoons.
We have always been a people that reared our young to emigrate and escape the harsh conditions prevalent here both before and after British rule. I was one who left as soon as I could, and even after returning, left again and again. It’s no place for the elderly or the young. And that is a damning indictment on any society. In fact it’s a true measure of a society, here or anywhere else. There may well be forty shades of green here but they are in no way ‘greener than the other side’.
RB, you never seen greener grass…literally 😉
I think it’s because of all the sheep!
Some people always shift furniture to keep the perception new.
For the curious minds once they visited two or three other countries/societies/cultures, they should realize they visited them all. Too many, though, keep looking, putting pins on the map where they've been, showing off on instagram, without getting slightest idea why they're not satisfied.
Dang, Kevin, sounds like Ireland has gone through some changes since I was last there! 😕 The Celtic Tiger was roaring.
Still, I could never deny the charm, the magic, the beauty, and how lovely the people are.
I miss it.
The Celtic Tiger died with a barely audible whimper circa 08. The people are still the same here. Open minded, welcoming, but like myself, willing to pack a bag and grab a passport and skedaddle anywhere on the globe if an opportunity arises to earn a decent wage, and maybe get a little more sunshine into the bargain as well. There were 50, 000 a year leaving for about 10 years after the last recession. Many have still not returned, and I wouldn’t be holding my breath that they will. Ever. If not for family commitments here, I would not be living here. From a totally financial standpoint, I’d be back in the Netherlands. Although that place is not the same as when I left there about 20 years ago. There are very few ‘grass is greener over there ‘ destinations left to travel to, I’m afraid.
Ireland, Bill, if you’re fortunate enough to have Irish heritage.
Which sadly I do not.
Hubs and I are thinking Mexico.
I've got two Irish great grand dads, is that good enough? Too damn cold though. And I don't drink.
Yes. If you go back to your grandparents, especially both of them, that’s excellent.
no Irish in me, other than my attitude! Does relocation there require heritage?
Too hot In Mexico, no? I spent the last 7 winters on the border in Southern Arizona, near Organ Pipe NM.
Bill, it helps.
The town we’re considering in Mexico is deep into the country itself. My daughter and her fiancé frequently visit his brother there. She’s absolutely allergic to hot temps, but I’ve never heard her complain about the heat there. And there’s a considerable number of US expats there.
When I say don’t come to Ireland , I meant to retire. Otherwise please come and spend spend spend!😂
Where do you live now, Patrick, if you don’t mind me asking?
live in Bali. My friend got a job in Switzerland. Some like Portugal and Sicily.
Bali, a wonderful island turned into an Australian mass tourism resort 😢
Not really. The tourists are in enclaves, maybe 1% of the place. The expats near me are often Russian which began before the wars, lot of the more recent ones kicked out for breaking the rules and now in Phuket. Kyoto now, that's truly mass tourism.
So, why don't you want to stay there?
Bali…exotic! ❤️
I know what you’re talking about. With me it’s my brother’s wife(youngest brother). She is pro-Israel and thinks the USA can do no wrong, imho. It’s difficult to be around her after the screaming match we got into(her screaming at me and me telling her that it is a genocide in Gaza and that there should be a ceasefire NOW). With my sister, it’s Butcher Biden all the way, because we got to stop Trump and Putin is evil and wants to take all the NATO countries. 🤣 I tried to explain to her about the Maidan Coup and all, but she still has a fixation about Russia like most of my family. She tends to like movies I notice that make the Russians look like they’re all bad, imho. I have talked to some family members about Gaza and the Ukraine war, but they don’t seem to want to change they’re worldview on these issues. Now, my sister does believe the Palestinians are having war crimes perpetrated against them, but she still supports Genocide Joe for President in 2025. It doesn’t make sense to me. It’s all fear based and that fear is egged on by the propaganda media machine. It’s not enough to know something is deeply wrong, one has to do something about it.
"With my sister, it’s Butcher Biden all the way, because we got to stop Trump and Putin is evil and wants to take all the NATO countries. 🤣 I tried to explain to her about the Maidan Coup and all, but she still has a fixation about Russia like most of my family."
Well, you are the smartest in your family...so there's that.
I think I've lucked out--none of my siblings or cousins will say or hint at their beliefs about Genocide Joe, Trumpster Fire or what's really happening to the Palestinians. They know where I stand and know I can debate them rationally until they're blue in the face. so they're silent. The silent majority who are probably apathetic about whichever fascist/zionist D or R will win the US election in November.
"How does one deal with such intransigence?"
Get more intelligent friends.
Well , that’s one way, I guess. But we’ve been through a lot together and I’m reluctant to give up on her.😐
I've had people just give up on me since they figured they couldn't change my mind. So... even if you want to keep certain friends who disagree with you, they end up not wanting you to hang around them any longer.
Gypsy: I empathize with you. I face the same issues you do. Some people are too far gone for them to see the light. I've already given up with quite a few people. I don't really see a solution to the problem, but if you do happen to come across some way to resolve these intransigent issues, please to let me know.
Even the crime of murdering its own citizens.
i guess we are going to find out ...come Election time in Nov whether the majority of the people are OK with what Biden is doing......if in fact there is going to be an Election
Nahh, we won't find out because U.S. elections are rigged, consistently. The Dems are in the driving seat and will by 22 million votes from ilegal immigrants who will be naturalized.
Yes, elections have been rigged for decades--here's a book from the 90s
Votescam: The Stealing of America
https://archive.org/details/15-votescam-the-stealing-of-ameri-james-m.-collier
Journalists James and Kenneth Collier pose the question, “Why can’t we vote the bastards out?” Their answer: “Because we didn’t even vote the bastards in.”
It tracks down, confronts, and calls the names of Establishment thieves who silently steal votes for their own profit. It comes face-to-face with the Supreme Court justice who buried key vote fraud evidence; the most powerful female publisher in America, who refused to permit her newspapers and television stations to expose vote rigging; the Attorney General who jailed Jim Collier to avoid an investigation into vote fraud; and a cast of weak-kneed, corrupt politicians, lawyers, and members of the media entangled in a massive crime, but who have yet to be held accountable.
I guess this book is taboo too?
It's simple when you know how! However, civil war appears to me to be looming in the U$ofA for a number of reasons so the comfort zone of rigged elections is coming to its most deserved end, hopefully in the UK too.
I hope so, DL.
Che, I’m surprised at the number of youngsters I’ve encountered (stoners even😉) who are voting for Trump “because he isn’t ByeDone”. The complete opposite of the last go-round.
They are fed up with ByeDone’s wars, his inflation, his high interest rates, his complete inability to do one positive thing for this country, and of course, his senility.
No Trump fan myself, but at least, what you see is what you get.
> No Trump fan myself, but at least, what you see is what you get.
I respectfully disagree: the pussygrabber-in-chief is no better than any of his predecessors nor his successor.
He said he would drain the swamp: the swamp has got bigger.
He said he would pull out of Syria: he stayed and proceeded to steal Syria's oil and its wheat.
He said he did not want a new war: he seriously provoked Iran with the assassination of Major General Qassem Soleimani.
He ignored Russia's pleads for a security system in Europe.
He said he wanted a fair commercial deal between China and the U.S.: he almost generated a commercial war.
The list is endless.
In the lesser evil voting paradigm, winning an election does not imply approval. It implies the winner sucked less.
There is a subculture of Suck Less merchandise. A line of cosmetics, a software company, and a book share that name. The origin of this could be a story told by Matt Damon of the film Hall Pass:
“My favorite direction I’ve ever received was from Peter Farrelly. Greg and I were wearing the suit, stuck together. We do a take and it just doesn’t work. I’d flubbed a line, Greg missed one of his cues and there was this long pause after we hear “Cut” over the walkie-talkies. They were sitting way over in Video Village, where the monitors were. Must have been a quarter of a mile away.
“And Greg goes, ‘Well that stunk. Let’s just go right away’ We were hoping they’d keep the cameras rolling and we’d take another shot at the scene.
“But we see Peter walking all the way over to the set. Long walk. Greg says, ‘Oh nooo. He’s coming ALL the way over just to give us a note. Not good.’
“Peter’s chewing gum. And he finally gets over to us, looks at me, looks down at his feet, takes a long pause, ‘Um, yeah, hmmmm.’ Looks back up at me and finally just says — ‘Suck less!’”
I think the genocide has put an end to the "lesser evil" bullshit once and for all. Unless you're a total fucking moron that is.
The upcoming election will show how many of those are around.
Lots of I am afraid, no hope (for me) besides the usual 'lesser evil' (too many people do not care about 'outside the US', their job, food, TV-sports frenzy, family etc they are totally brainwashed - see it every single day - so what should lead to a 3rd party victory, even if they could get on the ballot?)
"In the lesser evil voting paradigm, winning an election does not imply approval. It implies the winner sucked less."
Not true. Whoever is chosen will do the Deep State's bidding on issues of import.
US elections have been rigged for decades.
Yes, I'm not sure there's going to be an election- Bill Holter thinks it's about 50/50 chance of an election.
The Biden elitists are at full strength now calling people names.
I look at many comments all over the news sites it seems you cannot unblinken them.
Good old senile Joe!
"i guess we are going to find out ...come Election time in Nov whether the majority of the people are OK with what Biden is doing......if in fact there is going to be an Election"
Nothing will be found out at 'election' time. It does not matter whether Biden is 'elected' or not. Whoever is chosen will abide by the Deep State's wishes. Democrats and Republicans are two sides of the same coin.