As the US's proxy war against #Russia continues, it has to be recalled that the 2016 Russiagate propaganda campaign played a significant role in turning the American public's opinion against Russia.
By framing Russia as "a threat to democracy" the US lawmakers and officials played on the public's patriotic emotions and convinced them that they can either be patriotic or support Russia. Russia was no longer called a matter of foreign policy, but something far bigger - a domestic threat to the American public.
Russia was no longer a threat to American superpower status but the general public of the US. This kind of narrative was pushed into the public discourse. And today, we find ourselves at a position where the US empire is ramping up the games of nuclear chicken with the biggest nuclear power in the world and everybody, instead of opposing, is supporting this.
Because of propaganda that continued for years, the public is manipulated into supporting anything as long as it is framed as "tackling Russia."
I also have a newsletter called THE GREAT AWAKENING - which talks about the various we are propagandized by the powerful to keep turning the gears of the status quo, which is bringing us closer to total disaster either through climate change or nuclear war. It also talks about how EGO is the root cause of everything that's root in our world today.
If sound interesting, you can check and subscribe here:
I honestly do not agree with some of your viewpoints.For one, I absolutely do not believe that climate change is anything but a hoax propaganda/scam. With geoengineering we no longer even control our weather. I admire that you are a deep thinker and it takes all kinds of people to make a world. We have become very devisive ( via propaganda) when in reality we are one. I am a conservative Christian and my faith teaches me to be tolerant and also to be aware of evil and have nothing to do with it. I liked your comment about Americans being force- fed, "RUSSIA BAD!" It's a lie and the USA is at fault for this war. Watch the documentary by Oliver Stone called UKRAINE ON FIRE and you will get a solid education about why this started. My ex husband is a Texan who moved to Crimea in 2012 so I know first hand from a trusted source what is going on and our US government are a bunch of criminal warmongers, currently engage not only in backing a war but in attacking their citizenry with bioweapons. FULL STOP. I cannot comment on your writings as I'm a free subscriber. You seem young but wise and it's commendable that you wrote about unity. Peace!
Hello! I've been reading her for a few years. I think I first discovered her on Twitter. In my view Caitlin tells the truth about geopolitical issues. Especially the US role in Ukraine. I'm attracted to the the truth, thus, I respect her point of view. I know an expat that has lived in Crimea since 2010 so am lucky have an inside source & not fall for the propaganda in MSM that our government pushes. It amazes me John how people blindly believe what the TV says and don't do their own research or think critically. These people then get ANGRY if you tell them an alternative point of view. Many pearl clutching wussies most liberals are. Clueless. I pray for them to wake up every day. What bothers me the most these days ( beyond our government corruption) is how children are being indoctrinated by the left in schools and media. I could go on & on.....😉😁
Yeah, I've been reading her for a few years, too. And like you, it's basically about truth. I actually started waking up to the fact that we were being lied to because I have, for many years, supported Christian work in the Middle East. (I grew up in the Middle East.) The Iraq war devastated the outreach work of faithful churches in Iraq, and that - along with other things about the Iraq war, started waking me up. As you say, having an inside source makes a difference.
I spent a lot of time in Eastern Europe in the 1990s, so I know a little about what things are like there. In fact, I visited Ukraine briefly, and during my visit, I was asked to preach in a couple of churches, so I can claim to have actually been there.
So I am very much aware of the dishonesty of governments here in the west (I am in Scotland), and our mainstream media. It is just such a relief to hear people telling the truth.
Thank you for letting me know about your worldview.
The world won't know peace as long as we cling to any political or economical or religious ideology. Because ideology creates the sense of separation which breeds conflict.
Confident societies aren't worried about dissent. Nervous, paranoid types are always looking for wrongthink, searching frantically for reds under beds and quaking in fear over terrifying memes.
After reading the article, I realized that I am actually a Russian propagandist, I just didn't realize it until now ! It is true that my grandfather fought with a gun against the Russians in World War I, my father also fought with a gun against the Soviet Army in World War II. and then in 1956 against the Soviet tanks in Budapest, than the Soviet sympathizers wanted to kill him, but a Russian saved him and that's how he got to the Free World in 1957. As his son, I was subjected to the nightly house searches that the communist police conducted in our home for nearly a year. For a long time, I dreamed that one day I would be able to follow my father. But in the meantime, the Iron Curtain has fallen, I am now free to travel overseas and have to endure the piercing gaze of the immigration office officer, which reminds me of the former communist border guards. I follow the changes overseas, especially since 90% of my family are US or Canadian citizens. I see how the former Land of Freedom is becoming more and more like a police state, and that what I can say freely here in my country would already put me in prison over there in the US. So I realized that in the last fifty years since I became an adult, by telling the truth unchanged, I have turned from the loyal son of a freedom fighter into an ordinary Russian propagandist, well, I haven't changed ! Seems to me now , somebody whos telling the truth is suddenly become a Russians Propagandist ! :)
It seems like some people are trying to create a tornado of BS to keep people from being able to think, to gather information, to discuss, to argue or to cooperate.
We don'e have a word for this process that is happening, or any understanding or who or what is behind it, but my guess would have to be that it has something major to do with the mountains of money that have been funnelled away from workers and citizens and up to the plutocrats and corporations and out to foreign accouts.
The very idea feels like a virtual concentration camp that is design to milk whatever is or value from the public as the life is squeezed out of them. A very dehumanizing system.
What kind of people would dedicate their lives to this? Who are they? Where are they? How do we find, as you say, authentic Americans, who can ignore the maelstrom around us and focus on what needs to be done to make human life human again?
Astute observations! Unfortunately, letting ourselves be immersed in the mundane bliss of daily routine (where meaningful 'human' life is lived) has been sabotaged by economic hardship and political corruption, rendering the 'human' life a luxury for the privileged.
Your articles are psychologically sustaining for those of us who live the crushing frustration of moving in 'leftist' circles of friends and family who, like the 'left' as a whole, have lost any ability to spot bullshit in official establishment narratives. Thank you! The frustration lies in observing otherwise intelligent people fail to detect what is screamingly obvious, confirming that effective propaganda doesn't hide the truth, it conditions the public to not notice the obvious, to ignore the elephant in the room -- like the proverbial naked emperor. So that, what used to be considered political and corporate criminality is now done in plain view, but the western 'left' has been conditioned to not only not see it, but to aggressively deny what is obvious to those who haven't surrendered their critical thinking.
I love the smell of true dissent of a Sunday morning. Smells like collective consciousness. Put on Joey Beltram Energy Flash. PysWar Ops shall we dance.
By any measurement, the US has out-propagandized Russia by light years. Our media makes TASS of the 1950's-1970's look like a public service forum. Russia is not the problem. The leftists in the DC Swamp are...and that includes both parties.
Gorgo, I agree with the sentiment of your comment. I, too, am old enough to remember how incomprehensible it seemed that the smart, educated Soviets could be so thoroughly propagandized by their government. The official newspaper of the Soviet Communist Party, Pravda [“Truth”] was a standing joke, and was often quoted by U.S. media to prove how propagandized the Soviet people(s) had become and how superior and exceptional we Americans were because of our undying love for our Constitutional rights of a free press and free speech (for which so many had died in wars to keep us free). But after the USSR collapsed, most scholars agreed that virtually every Soviet reading Pravda knew they were reading propaganda, but they had learned how to discern the the few kernels of truth from the lies.
IMO, the US is reaching that same threshold when enough Americans know the corporate media is nothing but propaganda. The NY Times (and CNN, the AP, etc.) is our Pravda, and while there may not be a majority of Americans who have realized it yet, there is enough, and that is starting to turn the tide. Unfortunately, that is when Empire doubles down. It will become worse before it becomes better.
I think we all have been brainwashed to some degree in our lives. Even the best of us have little vestiges of propaganda in our thinking. For example, consider this idea: the left/right political spectrum is utter bullshit and always has been, but it remains the fundamental lie that all western propaganda uses to keep us divided.
And many Americans are still not aware of the incredible extent they are being deceived. That's the thing with a lie - used to manipulate someone - if the lie is believed, then the person who is the target of the lie cannot act in their own best interest. They become pawns to the manipulator. And deception can easily lead to making human pawns cheap: used for war, or slavery - or today's modern wage slavery.
Americans are human pawns of deception and many naively believe they are free.
Because it’s not a trite point. Liberals are pro capitalist, pro imperialist, pro military aggression.
Leftists range from social democrats to anarchists, with stops along the way at socialists and communists.
Liberals are centrists at best but scratch a liberal and a fascist appears. Hence why “reforming” the police always manages to raise their budget, in the US at least.
People use labels left and right, pun intended. I wouldn't trust anyone's self-identification as this or that, as having a conversation spanning many topics would undoubtedly stump one to come up with a label for the person.
My point is - labeling is irrelevant. Arguing over it is unproductive and distracting. Concrete issues are what matters. Solutions that work are what matters, not whether they could be labeled "left" or "right".
do not confuse the left with democrats. lets not forget, 109 democrats virtue signaled via bogus legislation condemning socialism.
much of the left are at minimum friendly to some (or all) of the ideas of socialism. democrats are liberals, all they care about is a market economy just like the republicans, where their crony capitalist friends control the market.
liberal ≠ left, in fact, they're pretty much opposites.
Neoliberals are NOT leftists. Neoliberalism/Neoconservatism are better known as the duopoly that spells their party's name two ways--Republican and Democratic. Please don't call true leftists "liberal" or Dems. We don't like being insulted.
Learn more about the duopoly at The Revolution Continues here on Substack.
Parties exist to virtue signal. Competitive moral denigration is the name of the political game. Any claims to the contrary are almost certainly virtue signaling.
US is really into branding people Russia supporters. I noticed it being used against me as far back as 2011/2012. I got active online during Occupy Wallstreet. At that time masks were made into a big bad scary thing that only evil people wear. (just amusing)
When I was a kid, one political party (maybe one and a half) was very much against the Soviet Union until it collapsed, after which both parties were against it. Then, in the 1990s, Clinton met with Yeltsin, Bush met with Putin and claimed to look into Putin's soul, and everything was great--Americans had peace and prosperity. But in the 1990s, Russia got looted and the people starved--the average lifespan literally shortened.
Then we had 9/11, and Putin offered to help Bush. Bush declined.
For the next twenty years, we had to be at war with someone. Bush, of course, got us involved in Afghanistan and Iraq. According to Scott Horton, he had plans for seven Middle Eastern Countries.
Obama ran on a peace platform, and then was at war for literally every day of his eight years.
Trump, for all of his hues, at least signed five peace treaties with five Middle Eastern nations, and he endlessly bitched about NATO, and questioned their existence.
Now, we have Biden, a lifelong financial crook and a serial sexual assaulter, provoking the Ukrainian-Russian War. He could end this thing with a phone call.
I am a little less in touch with what the left is saying about this, but I miss those 1980s liberal politicians who might have flinched if the discussion turned to communism, but they were reflexively worried about nuclear war, and they wanted Nixon back in the sense that Nixon gave us detente with both the Soviet Union and China.
In 2023, if you want anti-war commentary, you listen to Tucker Carlson, Jack Posobiec, and many others. On the left, I guess it is Jimmy Dore and others...
But where the $%#@ did the old-fashioned, nervous-about-war liberals go? I never thought I would miss you.
Historically, the "left" supported WWII in contrast to the Republican Party and the Right, known as the "Old Right." Post WWII, leftists were vehemently against the Vietnam War which gave people the false idea that the left opposed wars in general. But at that time leftists opposed both parties and were truly 'anti-government' both LBJ and Nixon were despised. Somewhere along the way, leftists became Democrats, and supported Clinton even if they disapproved of his NATO war on Serbia. When GW Bush did the Iraq War the Clinton democrat rank n file were out full force opposing it but only because it was a Republican doing it, and that was the sole reason. When Obama got in, he bombed seven countries destroyed Libya, invaded Syria and the democrat/liberals rank n file said and did nothing. They were terrified of being called racist for opposing a black guy. Kinda like they're afraid now of being called a Putin supporter. Trump got in and turned the neocon base of supporters more toward Old Right America Firsters but only superficially. At the drop of a hat, he could rouse them against China. Tucker Carlson is opposed to the war in Ukraine but he's priming the pump for aggression against China. Carlson, If I can remind people, was the very first news person to bring us the "virus" from China story. He bragged about that fact for awhile until things with covid and vaccines turned bad
If people want to understand what is going on, it must be realized that the "Virus" where all governments worldwide agreed to run the largest psyop in human history has destroyed people's abilities to think or reason logically. No one should underestimate this. If there are a few dissenters, even if it's upon the mildest of matters, they will be crushed. They must be crushed, not because the controllers are afraid of dissent. They saw how idiotically malleable people were under covid. They do it because it's fun, and they turned the crushing into product. We the people are the product, to them we are simply human pulp.
The more people we can let in on these facts, the better off we will be. Although, there are various pundits like Carlson that I tend to like, but I am temperamentally on the right, even though anymore, I love people like Russell Brand and Tulsi Gabbard--basically, anyone who challenges the status quo. It doesn't mean that I will like these people forever, but I view all three as searching honestly for the truths of life and our situations.
Your response, Kyra, is enlightening, and I am thankful for it.
Thank you so much. In previous times the old right and the far-left agreed on many issues which made for interesting days. Like you I am fundamentally rightest but some of my most lively correspondence was with Alex Cockburn, whose visits to my home always made for some great talks. All this was twenty years ago, and I miss those days. I will say that I think that current challengers to the status quo can often supply information that is useful to me, but I keep a wary eye. There is only so far they will go and they know instinctively which lines not to cross because at bottom they want to remain part of the System.
"Final ownership" is a neo-Platonic idea that we can and should discard as disinformation. "Ownership" itself has no inherent existence. It's a meme.
It's a waste of time to fantasize house rules for capitalism. One, they will never be enforced faithfully because the core value of capitalism, alienation, is never really open for serious critique, and the same applies for any other society. Two, a thwarting value has never really changed the operation of any system for those who do not have property in it. In both tribal and modern societies, the organizing value always ends up dominating and embarrassing the uniting value. Worse, people remain blind to the facts and cling desperately to those debunked ideas as if doing more of what has failed will work this time, for sure. The whole exercise simply affirms and blesses the idea of totalitarian rule, and perpetuates the false idea that style is more important than matter.
No matter what you think of Trump he was a perfect propaganda tool for the military industrial complex, for the democrats, the neocons, the CIA, and all those who were, and are pushing this war with Russia. Trump's a xenophobe, a racist, a sexist and a homophobe, a dumb ass narcissist, so Russia loved him. So much did they love him they got him elected by weaponizing the social media with their bots. Bots that were here and there and everywhere. The democrats, the CIA, etc, used Trump as a instrument to push Russia hate. The coup in Ukraine we supported in 2014 was intended to bring us to where we are now, but it would have happened earlier if there had been the predicted Clinton win. Finished with the Middle East, Russia was our next target for regime change, and if you doubt that just think of the coup we supported in Ukraine in 2014 where we backed neo-nazis who committed many acts of violence. Worse the media, and many on the left helped push this propaganda with their own hateful rhetoric, not just by attacking and going after Trump's policies which needed to be done, but often the attacks were personal as well. Nothing like hateful rhetoric to draw a crowd, or indoctrinate them. Russia-gate's intended purpose was not only to turn people against Trump, but Russia as well. When I think of the insurrection narrative, it's like a symbol of our vulnerability and how we have to protect ourselves from the Russian puppet Trump is. He directed the old and the young to take over the reins of government on January 6, and we were so naive and innocent we let hundreds in through the front door, and so lucky he forgot to tell them to bring weapons. We needed that January 6 comm, to determine his guilt even though it's made of democrats, and 2 republicans that hate his guts. How democratic.
Trump is no more our savior than is Clinton. Two evils do not make a right. Nevertheless, I do agree, had Kilery been elected she would have provoked the Russian Ukrainian (unprovoked) intervention four years before Biden finally did so.
I was making the same prediction during the 2016 campaign, and breathed a sigh of relief when Killary lost, followed by persistent dread of Trump. Having the choice of POTUS be restricted to two evils (one ostensibly 'lesser') is a triumph of propaganda and the farce of American elections.
No one said he was our savior. What the democrats did to Trump during his time in office, was the issue. They vilified him and his base and helped create a divide in this country. The "upper crust" that is the more educated, the more affluent, the North, looked down on him and his base and I saw this not only on Facebook, and repeatedly, but also it was the everyday commentary in the mainstream media and on the left. If Max Blumenthal can call out Amy Goodman on Democracy Now, and say it now sucks, well it's because she soaked up Russia-gate and fed it to her audience pushing an anti-Russia narrative. I couldn't agree with him more. Four years of Trump hate, also came with 4 years of Russia hate. That was the bridge that got us to where we are now. Did you also believe this BS? As far as Clinton is concerned when you conjoin the two, that is Trump and Clinton I'm going to disagree with you there. Maybe you are not appalled at her lying in order to take out Gaddafi which destroyed a country and where slave markets now reside. Maybe you support the military coup she backed in Honduras which got rid of Zelaya and handed the country over to the elites, which has caused thousands of civilian deaths. Maybe her support for our dirty war in Syria, doesn't bother you either. Remember how she came out when Trump dropped a bomb on Syria and applauded his effort to kill? Here's her commentary, "Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said President Donald Trump made the right call when he ordered an attack on a Syrian military base last month, marking the first direct military action by the United States after six years of civil war in the Middle Eastern nation. But she isn't sure if the bombing campaign will make a difference, in part because of Trump's alleged ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad." She says alleged ties, talking about the lies she concocted, and of course like the others she said nothing about our complicity in that dirty war which supports extremists who are destroying that country and it's people. No doubt Trump bombed another false flag operation.To sum up she supported all of our Middle Eastern wars and their savagery. She is the one who is primarily responsible for the anti-Russia narrative, so give her a lot of recognition when you speak out against what is going on in Ukraine now, and the real possibility of a nuclear war.
I agree with everything you write about Killary and the Democrats. Yes, they used Trump to divide the country and vilify Russia. However, making him out to be the fool wasn't difficult. He provided mountains of fodder. That is not to say he is a fool, but he certainly plays the role whether he is or isn’t. It was a stretch to make him into Putin’s puppy, and we know now that it was a deliberate fabrication -- one I never bought, BTW. Trump had/has zero interest in sharing power with anyone.
The GOP also helped increase the divide, as a divided nation is exactly what the Uniparty and its ruling oligarchy want. The ruling class will take every opportunity to divide because a united people will end their rule.
Even though many of his followers to this day see Trump as a man of the people, he, like those who came before him and the one who has followed, did an excellent job of serving the oligarchy.
Just an FYI, I didn't vote for Killary and had, since well before her 2nd run for President, considered her and her husband as deplorables. Without following any commentators, I saw through the ridiculousness of Russiagate from the beginning. The claim that Russia, or any other nation for that matter, can, through bots, influence an election to the degree the Killary campaign claimed was utter nonsense. It is nice to have rock-solid evidence to confirm that Russiagate was a complete fabrication, but I never bought it.
The last democrat I voted for was Obommer the whistle-blower tormentor, and I only did that once. His first six months in office were a major revelation that served as my eye-opener.
They have confirmed that Russia-gate was a total hoax, and one used to remove Trump from office, and at the same time vilify Russia, like killing two birds with one stone. You have to remember that the Obama administration supported neo nazis in the overthrow of Yanukovych, a pro-Russian leader in Ukraine. Many who joined in on the demonstrations in 2014 were peaceful, and it was the neo-nazi's we supported who created the carnage and set the tone for the direction it took, Lots of killings in the Donbas, and the Minsk accords we promised, well you heard Merkel who said it was a lie just to buy time so Ukraine would be better prepared for war. I accept the faults you find in Trump, since I never claimed he was perfect, or even close, but I'm willing to bet had he got elected in 2020, and maybe he did, we wouldn't be where we are now. Norm Chomsky, full of Trump hate, said in an article he was the only statesman who could stop what is going on in Ukraine today. I believe him, and had Trump been elected we wouldn't be thinking about the possibility of a nuclear war which is going to escalate shortly. By the way I didn't vote for Trump, I was a registered democrat, but most unwilling to vote for Clinton. I'm an Independent now. In 2008 I too voted for Obama even after reading an article by a Black man in the Progressive who worked with him in Chicago politics and claimed he was no progressive. Didn't want to believe him, but yeah, he's no liberal.
I agree, if Trump had been elected, he would not have provoked Putin to intervene in Ukraine. He preferred doing business with Putin to making war with Russia. Interesting now Chomsky, one of our most noted philosophers, no longer receives invitations from the main stream media, largely because he tells the truth about Ukraine and the advancement of NATO as a provocation for the Russian intervention.
> What the democrats did to Trump during his time in
> office, was the issue. They vilified him and his base
> and helped create a divide in this country.
Oh, come on, really? .... Donald Trump said a lot of things to tweak a lot of people. He had a criminal history that the we and the media ignored. He would say one thing one day and the next day say the opposite. He attacked Obama for not showing the country his grades, and then had his grades and records grabbed and hidden. Instead of campaigning, all he did was insult the mainstream politicians and spew rebellious one liners at politicians he knew well and interacted with for years. He did not know what the QUDS force was. He did not know what the Nuclear Triad was. And this was very early on.
Because he "owned the libs" and pretended to be against the status quo Republicans fell for him. On and on every day he had same divisive Tweet ... and here you are years later blaming Democrats for dividing the country.
The other issues you mention like Khaddaffi, Honduras, Syria are all problems bigger than any one President, like Ukraine, are ongoing, someone for over a decades.
A prime example of Donald Trump is his fake promises of a health care system that would cover everyone, be cheaper and better. Then it never materialized, not even an idea or plan, and then he tried the same thing running for a second term.
You're defending that, and blaming Democrats? Democrats are not much better, but at least there can be a discussion when the Democrats were in charge. Republicans are about kicking America like we are an anthill in order to cause chaos and make sure people are so threatened and scared that they cannot think straight or organize.
I have to reject every single comment and point you are trying to push here Fran, and I'd even go so far as to guess that you are not a woman, Frank. But that would just be a guess.
I can't connect to the commentary you are responding to, so I'm going to make the assumption it's what I posted today, and by the way I am a woman. Why you should assume I am not based on my perceptions is rather puzzling, and no doubt prejudicial on your part. You claim I have an obvious bias and preference for Trump, well lets just say I was glad that Clinton lost in 2016. I was a registered democrat all my life, but now I am a registered independent. I am not exactly sure where you can find the interview between Assange and Pilger, but it may be worth your while to seek it out. Assange gives a very good psychological assessment of Clinton in which he claims she is a very sick woman, not only due to her love of war, but her pathological need for power. I couldn't agree more, and I do have a degree in clinical counseling and have worked in that field. However most of my working life was teaching marine ecology, and I'm woman, surprise, surprise. I did not spend my time extolling Trump's virtues and said there were many things he did which I did not approve, his sanctions, his overturning the Iran deal, his killing of Soleimani in a US drone strike are but a few. Perhaps in order for you to see the point I am making look at it from this perspective, he was an elected president, his base was vilified by Clinton in which she referenced them as deplorables and during his four years in office the democrats tried to push the lie of Russia-gate to remove him from office, an elected president. They then called a riot an insurrection, although they let hundreds in the front door, and you'll have to admit, hard to take over the reins of power with no weapons. Then they establish an unconstitutional Jan 6 comm with a whole bunch of democrats and 2 republicans who hate his guts. It's unconstitutional, or don't you care about that? I suppose you don't think that Clinton and the democrats who pushed the lie of Russia-gate should be held accountable, or the media who assisted her in pushing that lie as well as those on the left. I suspect you don't acknowledge that their lie was a bridge to what could become a nuclear war. Spare me your support for the democrats.
> Why you should assume I am not based on my perceptions is rather puzzling
OK, Not really important, but typically seemed like to me not many women left defending Trump. I probably should not have said that and meant no offense to women - more to Trump supporters and Republicans who now often in social media run away from the label pretending to say they used to be Democrats and are now independents, or that they are Independents. To me it is the mark or being confused about how our political system works and often dishonest. I see it so much now. People who try to be buddy, buddy with me online in a comment, and then push very strange arguments that go against what they purport to support.
I think there is something very peculiar about women who defend Trump. It is women who are saving our political system now that they are involved, active and voting, and speaking out. I am super pro-woman.
> he was an elected president,
Here is what I think about that. There are multiple levels of which I think our elections - especially since W. Bush are fake - and by that I mean rigged by money for the Republican side. I've followed the investigative reporting of Greg Palast in that since 2000. That is just the election, but there is also the News Media, and Social Media, and like the article says - it's not the Russsians that are interfering in our elections it is our PR/Propaganda industry.
> his base was vilified by Clinton in which she referenced them as deplorables
I guess I have no problem with that. I find the rise in hate and violence and the energizing of fringe Right-wing groups being very deplorable - in fact deplorable is putting it mildly.
> and during his four years in office the democrats tried to push the lie of Russia-gate to remove him from office, an elected president.
I'll give you RussiaGate. But did you also notice how much Hitlerian Fuerher support he had and where the Republican party went in the last 30 years? I'm old and have been following politics for a long time. There is a definite arc of totalitarianism especially since Bush.
> They then called a riot an insurrection, although they let hundreds in the front door, and you'll have to admit, hard to take over the reins of power with no weapons.
They called it an insurrection because they tried to overthrow an in-process election. I really don't see how you can be here and not understand that or push against it. Many were armed, and Trump wanted to allow armed people into the capital grounds - saying they were his people and he was in no danger.
Did you miss that? How do you account for that?
> you'll have to admit, hard to take over the reins of power with no weapons.
Only if you count money as a weapon, otherwise not.
What I see happening with America is loosely analogous to what went on in the last 8 years in Ukraine. Money has put oligarchs in charge who have bent the political and electoral system to bolster the Republican party which would probably be extinct if it had not been for Citizen's United and other laws that tilt the system for the benefit of the elites. Elites that now control both parties.
But having elites controlling both parties does not make both parties equivalent. There are still elements in the Democratic party who are trying to represent the people as much as they can while still remaining in the system and not getting tossed out.
The analogy I spoke of was how Ukraine's elections went. Ukrainians voted for Zelensky because he said he would end the fighting in the Donbas. When he got elected the powerful right-wing oligarchs, with a threatening extremist violent Right-wing terrorized the government and none of that happened - in fact quite the opposite. Very similar to how the Right wing controls the US.
> Then they establish an unconstitutional Jan 6 comm with a whole bunch of democrats and 2 republicans who hate his guts.
Republicans had their chance to be on that committee. The facts you are relating here are severely tinged with Right-wing talking points.
> I suppose you don't think that Clinton and the democrats who pushed the lie of Russia-gate should be held accountable
I am not sure - accountable for what? If I said yes that they should be accountable, then what about all the lies about Clinton and Obama - if you want accoutability - how are you doing to ensure that it is balanced? All they did was investigate Trump - because there was a lot of indication and still is that he and his advisors were connected, in a way we still do not know about to some Russians. Why would Russians want American voter registration information, and why would Manafort have given it to them?
> I suspect you don't acknowledge that their lie was a bridge to what could become a nuclear war. Spare me your support for the democrats.
I wonder what you find is the value from following or discussing Caitlin Johnstone's essays if all you want to do it drop in Right-wing talking points?
I don't really get your meaning about the "bridge to nuclear war" comment. If you explain what you mean I'd be happy to answer it.
Women who defend Trump are often defending the threat to their own *social* reproduction posed by those who would refashion gender roles to devalue conservative women's social capital.
Also, the feelings of the emotional classes should be crushed rather than taken seriously.
"I wonder what you find is the value from following or discussing Caitlin Johnstone's essays if all you want to do is drop in Right-wing talking points?" Well, hopefully she and her guests are more open to a difference of opinion then you are, and trust me I don't want to be your buddy, so rest assured my opinions are not geared toward garnering your approval. So you find me peculiar, well, judging by the content of your response I'll just take that as a compliment. I see you're also an armchair analyst, okay, so I defend Trump in some regards, so you already know I don't suffer from Trump derangement syndrome. Good for you. When you say women are saving our system, I hope you're not including Clinton, or her husband's secretary of state Madeleine Albright who thought 500 thousand dead children due to sanctions on Iraq was worth it? Oh maybe you mean the Squad, made up of almost all women, along with the members of the "progressive democratic caucus" retracted their letter of give peace a chance? Or, maybe you mean Pelosi, who said she was on the intell committee in the build up to war with Iraq, so she knew they had no weapons of mass destruction, so she didn't vote for the war, but she remained silent and didn't even tell Biden who was the chair of the foreign relations comm. in the Senate, and he sold the war to the democrats. Well he was for war with Iraq back in the 1990's, although he lied about that. Lets just summarize by saying there are good women and bad women, just like men in the political arena, and they can be as self serving, as any man. Not to mention that in both parties, women, just like men are beholden to corporate wealth and like men they will make their issues their first priority, whether they be republicans, or democrats. Read Thomas Frank's book, "Listen Liberal", a democrat, but one who knows that for decades democrats have gone astray and abandoned their working class base, so don't tell me any fairy tales."I suppose you don't think that Clinton and the democrats who pushed the lie of Russia-gate should be held accountable." Yes, pushing the lie of Russia-gate to remove an elected president from office based on lies, especially lies made up by an opposing presidential candidate and her party requires accountability.
What you continue to call an insurrection is defined by many, like Greenwald, as a riot. this was published by Reuters in Aug, of 2021: The FBI has found scant evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result of an organized plot to overturn the presidential election result, according to four current and former law enforcement officials.Though federal officials have arrested more than 570 alleged participants, the FBI at this point believes the violence was not centrally coordinated by far-right groups or prominent supporters of then-President Donald Trump, according to the sources, who have been either directly involved in or briefed regularly on the wide-ranging investigations." By all means daydream if you must about an insurrection, if it provides the support you need to continue to see Trump in solely black and white terms, and maintain your despicable contempt for his base. However don't accuse me of being highly biased. As they say in the world of psychology, you're projecting.
All our lives, 'Murikans believed & SPEWED whatever silly ass imbecilic horseshit we were told we believed, or Tinkerbell would die, HORRIBLY. Because if we'd only buy in to the intentionally blatant, obvious and whacky lies, cherry-picked obfuscatory pleonasm & made up shit, on every TV, radio, speech, newspaper, blog aggregator or social network feed it would magically BE true, because Li:l Baby Jeebiz wouldn't LIE to President Joe Biden™ and only evil commie quir traders don't do just what we're told, cause... well, just LOOKIT how swell OUR party treats us as we're bayoneted onto cattle cars to abattoirs in Walmart basements once Joe bayonets the RR workers to fetch up some power units, tracks or ties? If it's more than 2 million dead, now, they probably deserved it for being old, fat from Dollar General food & being ground into catfood for yuppies is lots better than we deserve, anyway...right?
Rochester (our insane, human identifying cat) once took psychic offense at some senile sneering yuppie PMC creature trying to sexually abuse & fondle her and, y'know... dun drawed her sum blood. Ever see that John Carpenter "The Thing" remake? Where Wilford Brimley tries a blood sample which sparks like a metal fire? I'd been kinda forced amongst these critters at a VERY early age (do to Sputnik & IGY of all things: durned POOTIN!) So. I'd not ever required "They Live" shades to spot lizards amongst us?
As the US's proxy war against #Russia continues, it has to be recalled that the 2016 Russiagate propaganda campaign played a significant role in turning the American public's opinion against Russia.
By framing Russia as "a threat to democracy" the US lawmakers and officials played on the public's patriotic emotions and convinced them that they can either be patriotic or support Russia. Russia was no longer called a matter of foreign policy, but something far bigger - a domestic threat to the American public.
Russia was no longer a threat to American superpower status but the general public of the US. This kind of narrative was pushed into the public discourse. And today, we find ourselves at a position where the US empire is ramping up the games of nuclear chicken with the biggest nuclear power in the world and everybody, instead of opposing, is supporting this.
Because of propaganda that continued for years, the public is manipulated into supporting anything as long as it is framed as "tackling Russia."
I also have a newsletter called THE GREAT AWAKENING - which talks about the various we are propagandized by the powerful to keep turning the gears of the status quo, which is bringing us closer to total disaster either through climate change or nuclear war. It also talks about how EGO is the root cause of everything that's root in our world today.
If sound interesting, you can check and subscribe here:
https://awakes.substack.com
Harry! Just subscribed to your Substack!
Thank You very much, Michelle. :)
Can you give me a feedback? What do you think of The Great Awakening?
I honestly do not agree with some of your viewpoints.For one, I absolutely do not believe that climate change is anything but a hoax propaganda/scam. With geoengineering we no longer even control our weather. I admire that you are a deep thinker and it takes all kinds of people to make a world. We have become very devisive ( via propaganda) when in reality we are one. I am a conservative Christian and my faith teaches me to be tolerant and also to be aware of evil and have nothing to do with it. I liked your comment about Americans being force- fed, "RUSSIA BAD!" It's a lie and the USA is at fault for this war. Watch the documentary by Oliver Stone called UKRAINE ON FIRE and you will get a solid education about why this started. My ex husband is a Texan who moved to Crimea in 2012 so I know first hand from a trusted source what is going on and our US government are a bunch of criminal warmongers, currently engage not only in backing a war but in attacking their citizenry with bioweapons. FULL STOP. I cannot comment on your writings as I'm a free subscriber. You seem young but wise and it's commendable that you wrote about unity. Peace!
Nice to know that I am not the only conservative Christian who reads Caitlin Johnstone.
John Mann
Hello! I've been reading her for a few years. I think I first discovered her on Twitter. In my view Caitlin tells the truth about geopolitical issues. Especially the US role in Ukraine. I'm attracted to the the truth, thus, I respect her point of view. I know an expat that has lived in Crimea since 2010 so am lucky have an inside source & not fall for the propaganda in MSM that our government pushes. It amazes me John how people blindly believe what the TV says and don't do their own research or think critically. These people then get ANGRY if you tell them an alternative point of view. Many pearl clutching wussies most liberals are. Clueless. I pray for them to wake up every day. What bothers me the most these days ( beyond our government corruption) is how children are being indoctrinated by the left in schools and media. I could go on & on.....😉😁
Nice to meet you and Greetings from Detroit!
Yeah, I've been reading her for a few years, too. And like you, it's basically about truth. I actually started waking up to the fact that we were being lied to because I have, for many years, supported Christian work in the Middle East. (I grew up in the Middle East.) The Iraq war devastated the outreach work of faithful churches in Iraq, and that - along with other things about the Iraq war, started waking me up. As you say, having an inside source makes a difference.
I spent a lot of time in Eastern Europe in the 1990s, so I know a little about what things are like there. In fact, I visited Ukraine briefly, and during my visit, I was asked to preach in a couple of churches, so I can claim to have actually been there.
So I am very much aware of the dishonesty of governments here in the west (I am in Scotland), and our mainstream media. It is just such a relief to hear people telling the truth.
Thank you for letting me know about your worldview.
The world won't know peace as long as we cling to any political or economical or religious ideology. Because ideology creates the sense of separation which breeds conflict.
"Russian propagandist " is same libel as "antisemite ".
"We always say that ".
Once again, you are right on the money. Bravo.
Confident societies aren't worried about dissent. Nervous, paranoid types are always looking for wrongthink, searching frantically for reds under beds and quaking in fear over terrifying memes.
After reading the article, I realized that I am actually a Russian propagandist, I just didn't realize it until now ! It is true that my grandfather fought with a gun against the Russians in World War I, my father also fought with a gun against the Soviet Army in World War II. and then in 1956 against the Soviet tanks in Budapest, than the Soviet sympathizers wanted to kill him, but a Russian saved him and that's how he got to the Free World in 1957. As his son, I was subjected to the nightly house searches that the communist police conducted in our home for nearly a year. For a long time, I dreamed that one day I would be able to follow my father. But in the meantime, the Iron Curtain has fallen, I am now free to travel overseas and have to endure the piercing gaze of the immigration office officer, which reminds me of the former communist border guards. I follow the changes overseas, especially since 90% of my family are US or Canadian citizens. I see how the former Land of Freedom is becoming more and more like a police state, and that what I can say freely here in my country would already put me in prison over there in the US. So I realized that in the last fifty years since I became an adult, by telling the truth unchanged, I have turned from the loyal son of a freedom fighter into an ordinary Russian propagandist, well, I haven't changed ! Seems to me now , somebody whos telling the truth is suddenly become a Russians Propagandist ! :)
This is really brilliant ... thanks.
It seems like some people are trying to create a tornado of BS to keep people from being able to think, to gather information, to discuss, to argue or to cooperate.
We don'e have a word for this process that is happening, or any understanding or who or what is behind it, but my guess would have to be that it has something major to do with the mountains of money that have been funnelled away from workers and citizens and up to the plutocrats and corporations and out to foreign accouts.
The very idea feels like a virtual concentration camp that is design to milk whatever is or value from the public as the life is squeezed out of them. A very dehumanizing system.
What kind of people would dedicate their lives to this? Who are they? Where are they? How do we find, as you say, authentic Americans, who can ignore the maelstrom around us and focus on what needs to be done to make human life human again?
Astute observations! Unfortunately, letting ourselves be immersed in the mundane bliss of daily routine (where meaningful 'human' life is lived) has been sabotaged by economic hardship and political corruption, rendering the 'human' life a luxury for the privileged.
Excellent questions!
Your articles are psychologically sustaining for those of us who live the crushing frustration of moving in 'leftist' circles of friends and family who, like the 'left' as a whole, have lost any ability to spot bullshit in official establishment narratives. Thank you! The frustration lies in observing otherwise intelligent people fail to detect what is screamingly obvious, confirming that effective propaganda doesn't hide the truth, it conditions the public to not notice the obvious, to ignore the elephant in the room -- like the proverbial naked emperor. So that, what used to be considered political and corporate criminality is now done in plain view, but the western 'left' has been conditioned to not only not see it, but to aggressively deny what is obvious to those who haven't surrendered their critical thinking.
Beautiful point well written about how terrified they are of our dissent.
Makes one proud to realize they are losing their mind over what we think.
The fear fantasizing has hammered their minds into a oblivion they cant escape from.
Goodbye to those idiots coming soon to an alternate news article near you.
I love the smell of true dissent of a Sunday morning. Smells like collective consciousness. Put on Joey Beltram Energy Flash. PysWar Ops shall we dance.
By any measurement, the US has out-propagandized Russia by light years. Our media makes TASS of the 1950's-1970's look like a public service forum. Russia is not the problem. The leftists in the DC Swamp are...and that includes both parties.
Gorgo, I agree with the sentiment of your comment. I, too, am old enough to remember how incomprehensible it seemed that the smart, educated Soviets could be so thoroughly propagandized by their government. The official newspaper of the Soviet Communist Party, Pravda [“Truth”] was a standing joke, and was often quoted by U.S. media to prove how propagandized the Soviet people(s) had become and how superior and exceptional we Americans were because of our undying love for our Constitutional rights of a free press and free speech (for which so many had died in wars to keep us free). But after the USSR collapsed, most scholars agreed that virtually every Soviet reading Pravda knew they were reading propaganda, but they had learned how to discern the the few kernels of truth from the lies.
IMO, the US is reaching that same threshold when enough Americans know the corporate media is nothing but propaganda. The NY Times (and CNN, the AP, etc.) is our Pravda, and while there may not be a majority of Americans who have realized it yet, there is enough, and that is starting to turn the tide. Unfortunately, that is when Empire doubles down. It will become worse before it becomes better.
I think we all have been brainwashed to some degree in our lives. Even the best of us have little vestiges of propaganda in our thinking. For example, consider this idea: the left/right political spectrum is utter bullshit and always has been, but it remains the fundamental lie that all western propaganda uses to keep us divided.
Well said! Especially that last paragraph.
And many Americans are still not aware of the incredible extent they are being deceived. That's the thing with a lie - used to manipulate someone - if the lie is believed, then the person who is the target of the lie cannot act in their own best interest. They become pawns to the manipulator. And deception can easily lead to making human pawns cheap: used for war, or slavery - or today's modern wage slavery.
Americans are human pawns of deception and many naively believe they are free.
Jamenta
Yes! This!!!
Gorgo
BINGO!!!!
leftists?! LOL. caitlin is a leftist.
please stop confusing liberals for leftists. and republicans are certainly not leftists, theyre barely even liberal anymore.
Who cares about these labels? Why is there always at least one who'd insist on this trite point?
Because it’s not a trite point. Liberals are pro capitalist, pro imperialist, pro military aggression.
Leftists range from social democrats to anarchists, with stops along the way at socialists and communists.
Liberals are centrists at best but scratch a liberal and a fascist appears. Hence why “reforming” the police always manages to raise their budget, in the US at least.
People use labels left and right, pun intended. I wouldn't trust anyone's self-identification as this or that, as having a conversation spanning many topics would undoubtedly stump one to come up with a label for the person.
My point is - labeling is irrelevant. Arguing over it is unproductive and distracting. Concrete issues are what matters. Solutions that work are what matters, not whether they could be labeled "left" or "right".
There is no "left" or "right" in the US. There is only top vs. bottom, us vs. them, haves vs. have-nots.
Typical playbook of the Dems/Left/Swamp -- whatever you want to call them. Accuse the "other side" of what they are doing.
do not confuse the left with democrats. lets not forget, 109 democrats virtue signaled via bogus legislation condemning socialism.
much of the left are at minimum friendly to some (or all) of the ideas of socialism. democrats are liberals, all they care about is a market economy just like the republicans, where their crony capitalist friends control the market.
liberal ≠ left, in fact, they're pretty much opposites.
Neoliberals are NOT leftists. Neoliberalism/Neoconservatism are better known as the duopoly that spells their party's name two ways--Republican and Democratic. Please don't call true leftists "liberal" or Dems. We don't like being insulted.
Learn more about the duopoly at The Revolution Continues here on Substack.
Parties exist to virtue signal. Competitive moral denigration is the name of the political game. Any claims to the contrary are almost certainly virtue signaling.
US is really into branding people Russia supporters. I noticed it being used against me as far back as 2011/2012. I got active online during Occupy Wallstreet. At that time masks were made into a big bad scary thing that only evil people wear. (just amusing)
Yes yes yes. Thank you 🙏
When I was a kid, one political party (maybe one and a half) was very much against the Soviet Union until it collapsed, after which both parties were against it. Then, in the 1990s, Clinton met with Yeltsin, Bush met with Putin and claimed to look into Putin's soul, and everything was great--Americans had peace and prosperity. But in the 1990s, Russia got looted and the people starved--the average lifespan literally shortened.
Then we had 9/11, and Putin offered to help Bush. Bush declined.
For the next twenty years, we had to be at war with someone. Bush, of course, got us involved in Afghanistan and Iraq. According to Scott Horton, he had plans for seven Middle Eastern Countries.
Obama ran on a peace platform, and then was at war for literally every day of his eight years.
Trump, for all of his hues, at least signed five peace treaties with five Middle Eastern nations, and he endlessly bitched about NATO, and questioned their existence.
Now, we have Biden, a lifelong financial crook and a serial sexual assaulter, provoking the Ukrainian-Russian War. He could end this thing with a phone call.
I am a little less in touch with what the left is saying about this, but I miss those 1980s liberal politicians who might have flinched if the discussion turned to communism, but they were reflexively worried about nuclear war, and they wanted Nixon back in the sense that Nixon gave us detente with both the Soviet Union and China.
In 2023, if you want anti-war commentary, you listen to Tucker Carlson, Jack Posobiec, and many others. On the left, I guess it is Jimmy Dore and others...
But where the $%#@ did the old-fashioned, nervous-about-war liberals go? I never thought I would miss you.
I miss you.
Historically, the "left" supported WWII in contrast to the Republican Party and the Right, known as the "Old Right." Post WWII, leftists were vehemently against the Vietnam War which gave people the false idea that the left opposed wars in general. But at that time leftists opposed both parties and were truly 'anti-government' both LBJ and Nixon were despised. Somewhere along the way, leftists became Democrats, and supported Clinton even if they disapproved of his NATO war on Serbia. When GW Bush did the Iraq War the Clinton democrat rank n file were out full force opposing it but only because it was a Republican doing it, and that was the sole reason. When Obama got in, he bombed seven countries destroyed Libya, invaded Syria and the democrat/liberals rank n file said and did nothing. They were terrified of being called racist for opposing a black guy. Kinda like they're afraid now of being called a Putin supporter. Trump got in and turned the neocon base of supporters more toward Old Right America Firsters but only superficially. At the drop of a hat, he could rouse them against China. Tucker Carlson is opposed to the war in Ukraine but he's priming the pump for aggression against China. Carlson, If I can remind people, was the very first news person to bring us the "virus" from China story. He bragged about that fact for awhile until things with covid and vaccines turned bad
If people want to understand what is going on, it must be realized that the "Virus" where all governments worldwide agreed to run the largest psyop in human history has destroyed people's abilities to think or reason logically. No one should underestimate this. If there are a few dissenters, even if it's upon the mildest of matters, they will be crushed. They must be crushed, not because the controllers are afraid of dissent. They saw how idiotically malleable people were under covid. They do it because it's fun, and they turned the crushing into product. We the people are the product, to them we are simply human pulp.
The more people we can let in on these facts, the better off we will be. Although, there are various pundits like Carlson that I tend to like, but I am temperamentally on the right, even though anymore, I love people like Russell Brand and Tulsi Gabbard--basically, anyone who challenges the status quo. It doesn't mean that I will like these people forever, but I view all three as searching honestly for the truths of life and our situations.
Your response, Kyra, is enlightening, and I am thankful for it.
Thank you so much. In previous times the old right and the far-left agreed on many issues which made for interesting days. Like you I am fundamentally rightest but some of my most lively correspondence was with Alex Cockburn, whose visits to my home always made for some great talks. All this was twenty years ago, and I miss those days. I will say that I think that current challengers to the status quo can often supply information that is useful to me, but I keep a wary eye. There is only so far they will go and they know instinctively which lines not to cross because at bottom they want to remain part of the System.
The true owners of the US are laughing in their nuclear proof bunkers:
The Federal Reserve Cartel – Eight Families own the USA, BIS, IMF, World Bank
https://healthimpactnews.com/2023/the-federal-reserve-cartel-eight-families-own-the-usa-bis-imf-world-bank/
Goldman Sachs,
Rockefellers,
Lehmans and
Kuhn Loebs of New York;
the Rothschilds of Paris and London;
the Warburgs of Hamburg;
the Lazards of Paris;
and the Israel Moses Seifs of Rome.
Lol nuclear proof shelters. Ok the world is a blown up. We have about a million years to wait before it is safe to go out.
You're in a rational world!
The Masters of the universe don't have an IQ greater than the room temperature and have zero knowledge of physics.
I have heard them speak without the crib notes. Inbred retards. Trudeau, Biden and most of the rest.
"Final ownership" is a neo-Platonic idea that we can and should discard as disinformation. "Ownership" itself has no inherent existence. It's a meme.
It's a waste of time to fantasize house rules for capitalism. One, they will never be enforced faithfully because the core value of capitalism, alienation, is never really open for serious critique, and the same applies for any other society. Two, a thwarting value has never really changed the operation of any system for those who do not have property in it. In both tribal and modern societies, the organizing value always ends up dominating and embarrassing the uniting value. Worse, people remain blind to the facts and cling desperately to those debunked ideas as if doing more of what has failed will work this time, for sure. The whole exercise simply affirms and blesses the idea of totalitarian rule, and perpetuates the false idea that style is more important than matter.
No matter what you think of Trump he was a perfect propaganda tool for the military industrial complex, for the democrats, the neocons, the CIA, and all those who were, and are pushing this war with Russia. Trump's a xenophobe, a racist, a sexist and a homophobe, a dumb ass narcissist, so Russia loved him. So much did they love him they got him elected by weaponizing the social media with their bots. Bots that were here and there and everywhere. The democrats, the CIA, etc, used Trump as a instrument to push Russia hate. The coup in Ukraine we supported in 2014 was intended to bring us to where we are now, but it would have happened earlier if there had been the predicted Clinton win. Finished with the Middle East, Russia was our next target for regime change, and if you doubt that just think of the coup we supported in Ukraine in 2014 where we backed neo-nazis who committed many acts of violence. Worse the media, and many on the left helped push this propaganda with their own hateful rhetoric, not just by attacking and going after Trump's policies which needed to be done, but often the attacks were personal as well. Nothing like hateful rhetoric to draw a crowd, or indoctrinate them. Russia-gate's intended purpose was not only to turn people against Trump, but Russia as well. When I think of the insurrection narrative, it's like a symbol of our vulnerability and how we have to protect ourselves from the Russian puppet Trump is. He directed the old and the young to take over the reins of government on January 6, and we were so naive and innocent we let hundreds in through the front door, and so lucky he forgot to tell them to bring weapons. We needed that January 6 comm, to determine his guilt even though it's made of democrats, and 2 republicans that hate his guts. How democratic.
Trump is no more our savior than is Clinton. Two evils do not make a right. Nevertheless, I do agree, had Kilery been elected she would have provoked the Russian Ukrainian (unprovoked) intervention four years before Biden finally did so.
I was making the same prediction during the 2016 campaign, and breathed a sigh of relief when Killary lost, followed by persistent dread of Trump. Having the choice of POTUS be restricted to two evils (one ostensibly 'lesser') is a triumph of propaganda and the farce of American elections.
No one said he was our savior. What the democrats did to Trump during his time in office, was the issue. They vilified him and his base and helped create a divide in this country. The "upper crust" that is the more educated, the more affluent, the North, looked down on him and his base and I saw this not only on Facebook, and repeatedly, but also it was the everyday commentary in the mainstream media and on the left. If Max Blumenthal can call out Amy Goodman on Democracy Now, and say it now sucks, well it's because she soaked up Russia-gate and fed it to her audience pushing an anti-Russia narrative. I couldn't agree with him more. Four years of Trump hate, also came with 4 years of Russia hate. That was the bridge that got us to where we are now. Did you also believe this BS? As far as Clinton is concerned when you conjoin the two, that is Trump and Clinton I'm going to disagree with you there. Maybe you are not appalled at her lying in order to take out Gaddafi which destroyed a country and where slave markets now reside. Maybe you support the military coup she backed in Honduras which got rid of Zelaya and handed the country over to the elites, which has caused thousands of civilian deaths. Maybe her support for our dirty war in Syria, doesn't bother you either. Remember how she came out when Trump dropped a bomb on Syria and applauded his effort to kill? Here's her commentary, "Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said President Donald Trump made the right call when he ordered an attack on a Syrian military base last month, marking the first direct military action by the United States after six years of civil war in the Middle Eastern nation. But she isn't sure if the bombing campaign will make a difference, in part because of Trump's alleged ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad." She says alleged ties, talking about the lies she concocted, and of course like the others she said nothing about our complicity in that dirty war which supports extremists who are destroying that country and it's people. No doubt Trump bombed another false flag operation.To sum up she supported all of our Middle Eastern wars and their savagery. She is the one who is primarily responsible for the anti-Russia narrative, so give her a lot of recognition when you speak out against what is going on in Ukraine now, and the real possibility of a nuclear war.
I agree with everything you write about Killary and the Democrats. Yes, they used Trump to divide the country and vilify Russia. However, making him out to be the fool wasn't difficult. He provided mountains of fodder. That is not to say he is a fool, but he certainly plays the role whether he is or isn’t. It was a stretch to make him into Putin’s puppy, and we know now that it was a deliberate fabrication -- one I never bought, BTW. Trump had/has zero interest in sharing power with anyone.
The GOP also helped increase the divide, as a divided nation is exactly what the Uniparty and its ruling oligarchy want. The ruling class will take every opportunity to divide because a united people will end their rule.
Even though many of his followers to this day see Trump as a man of the people, he, like those who came before him and the one who has followed, did an excellent job of serving the oligarchy.
Just an FYI, I didn't vote for Killary and had, since well before her 2nd run for President, considered her and her husband as deplorables. Without following any commentators, I saw through the ridiculousness of Russiagate from the beginning. The claim that Russia, or any other nation for that matter, can, through bots, influence an election to the degree the Killary campaign claimed was utter nonsense. It is nice to have rock-solid evidence to confirm that Russiagate was a complete fabrication, but I never bought it.
The last democrat I voted for was Obommer the whistle-blower tormentor, and I only did that once. His first six months in office were a major revelation that served as my eye-opener.
They have confirmed that Russia-gate was a total hoax, and one used to remove Trump from office, and at the same time vilify Russia, like killing two birds with one stone. You have to remember that the Obama administration supported neo nazis in the overthrow of Yanukovych, a pro-Russian leader in Ukraine. Many who joined in on the demonstrations in 2014 were peaceful, and it was the neo-nazi's we supported who created the carnage and set the tone for the direction it took, Lots of killings in the Donbas, and the Minsk accords we promised, well you heard Merkel who said it was a lie just to buy time so Ukraine would be better prepared for war. I accept the faults you find in Trump, since I never claimed he was perfect, or even close, but I'm willing to bet had he got elected in 2020, and maybe he did, we wouldn't be where we are now. Norm Chomsky, full of Trump hate, said in an article he was the only statesman who could stop what is going on in Ukraine today. I believe him, and had Trump been elected we wouldn't be thinking about the possibility of a nuclear war which is going to escalate shortly. By the way I didn't vote for Trump, I was a registered democrat, but most unwilling to vote for Clinton. I'm an Independent now. In 2008 I too voted for Obama even after reading an article by a Black man in the Progressive who worked with him in Chicago politics and claimed he was no progressive. Didn't want to believe him, but yeah, he's no liberal.
I agree, if Trump had been elected, he would not have provoked Putin to intervene in Ukraine. He preferred doing business with Putin to making war with Russia. Interesting now Chomsky, one of our most noted philosophers, no longer receives invitations from the main stream media, largely because he tells the truth about Ukraine and the advancement of NATO as a provocation for the Russian intervention.
> What the democrats did to Trump during his time in
> office, was the issue. They vilified him and his base
> and helped create a divide in this country.
Oh, come on, really? .... Donald Trump said a lot of things to tweak a lot of people. He had a criminal history that the we and the media ignored. He would say one thing one day and the next day say the opposite. He attacked Obama for not showing the country his grades, and then had his grades and records grabbed and hidden. Instead of campaigning, all he did was insult the mainstream politicians and spew rebellious one liners at politicians he knew well and interacted with for years. He did not know what the QUDS force was. He did not know what the Nuclear Triad was. And this was very early on.
Because he "owned the libs" and pretended to be against the status quo Republicans fell for him. On and on every day he had same divisive Tweet ... and here you are years later blaming Democrats for dividing the country.
The other issues you mention like Khaddaffi, Honduras, Syria are all problems bigger than any one President, like Ukraine, are ongoing, someone for over a decades.
A prime example of Donald Trump is his fake promises of a health care system that would cover everyone, be cheaper and better. Then it never materialized, not even an idea or plan, and then he tried the same thing running for a second term.
You're defending that, and blaming Democrats? Democrats are not much better, but at least there can be a discussion when the Democrats were in charge. Republicans are about kicking America like we are an anthill in order to cause chaos and make sure people are so threatened and scared that they cannot think straight or organize.
I have to reject every single comment and point you are trying to push here Fran, and I'd even go so far as to guess that you are not a woman, Frank. But that would just be a guess.
I can't connect to the commentary you are responding to, so I'm going to make the assumption it's what I posted today, and by the way I am a woman. Why you should assume I am not based on my perceptions is rather puzzling, and no doubt prejudicial on your part. You claim I have an obvious bias and preference for Trump, well lets just say I was glad that Clinton lost in 2016. I was a registered democrat all my life, but now I am a registered independent. I am not exactly sure where you can find the interview between Assange and Pilger, but it may be worth your while to seek it out. Assange gives a very good psychological assessment of Clinton in which he claims she is a very sick woman, not only due to her love of war, but her pathological need for power. I couldn't agree more, and I do have a degree in clinical counseling and have worked in that field. However most of my working life was teaching marine ecology, and I'm woman, surprise, surprise. I did not spend my time extolling Trump's virtues and said there were many things he did which I did not approve, his sanctions, his overturning the Iran deal, his killing of Soleimani in a US drone strike are but a few. Perhaps in order for you to see the point I am making look at it from this perspective, he was an elected president, his base was vilified by Clinton in which she referenced them as deplorables and during his four years in office the democrats tried to push the lie of Russia-gate to remove him from office, an elected president. They then called a riot an insurrection, although they let hundreds in the front door, and you'll have to admit, hard to take over the reins of power with no weapons. Then they establish an unconstitutional Jan 6 comm with a whole bunch of democrats and 2 republicans who hate his guts. It's unconstitutional, or don't you care about that? I suppose you don't think that Clinton and the democrats who pushed the lie of Russia-gate should be held accountable, or the media who assisted her in pushing that lie as well as those on the left. I suspect you don't acknowledge that their lie was a bridge to what could become a nuclear war. Spare me your support for the democrats.
> Why you should assume I am not based on my perceptions is rather puzzling
OK, Not really important, but typically seemed like to me not many women left defending Trump. I probably should not have said that and meant no offense to women - more to Trump supporters and Republicans who now often in social media run away from the label pretending to say they used to be Democrats and are now independents, or that they are Independents. To me it is the mark or being confused about how our political system works and often dishonest. I see it so much now. People who try to be buddy, buddy with me online in a comment, and then push very strange arguments that go against what they purport to support.
I think there is something very peculiar about women who defend Trump. It is women who are saving our political system now that they are involved, active and voting, and speaking out. I am super pro-woman.
> he was an elected president,
Here is what I think about that. There are multiple levels of which I think our elections - especially since W. Bush are fake - and by that I mean rigged by money for the Republican side. I've followed the investigative reporting of Greg Palast in that since 2000. That is just the election, but there is also the News Media, and Social Media, and like the article says - it's not the Russsians that are interfering in our elections it is our PR/Propaganda industry.
> his base was vilified by Clinton in which she referenced them as deplorables
I guess I have no problem with that. I find the rise in hate and violence and the energizing of fringe Right-wing groups being very deplorable - in fact deplorable is putting it mildly.
> and during his four years in office the democrats tried to push the lie of Russia-gate to remove him from office, an elected president.
I'll give you RussiaGate. But did you also notice how much Hitlerian Fuerher support he had and where the Republican party went in the last 30 years? I'm old and have been following politics for a long time. There is a definite arc of totalitarianism especially since Bush.
> They then called a riot an insurrection, although they let hundreds in the front door, and you'll have to admit, hard to take over the reins of power with no weapons.
They called it an insurrection because they tried to overthrow an in-process election. I really don't see how you can be here and not understand that or push against it. Many were armed, and Trump wanted to allow armed people into the capital grounds - saying they were his people and he was in no danger.
Did you miss that? How do you account for that?
> you'll have to admit, hard to take over the reins of power with no weapons.
Only if you count money as a weapon, otherwise not.
What I see happening with America is loosely analogous to what went on in the last 8 years in Ukraine. Money has put oligarchs in charge who have bent the political and electoral system to bolster the Republican party which would probably be extinct if it had not been for Citizen's United and other laws that tilt the system for the benefit of the elites. Elites that now control both parties.
But having elites controlling both parties does not make both parties equivalent. There are still elements in the Democratic party who are trying to represent the people as much as they can while still remaining in the system and not getting tossed out.
The analogy I spoke of was how Ukraine's elections went. Ukrainians voted for Zelensky because he said he would end the fighting in the Donbas. When he got elected the powerful right-wing oligarchs, with a threatening extremist violent Right-wing terrorized the government and none of that happened - in fact quite the opposite. Very similar to how the Right wing controls the US.
> Then they establish an unconstitutional Jan 6 comm with a whole bunch of democrats and 2 republicans who hate his guts.
Republicans had their chance to be on that committee. The facts you are relating here are severely tinged with Right-wing talking points.
> I suppose you don't think that Clinton and the democrats who pushed the lie of Russia-gate should be held accountable
I am not sure - accountable for what? If I said yes that they should be accountable, then what about all the lies about Clinton and Obama - if you want accoutability - how are you doing to ensure that it is balanced? All they did was investigate Trump - because there was a lot of indication and still is that he and his advisors were connected, in a way we still do not know about to some Russians. Why would Russians want American voter registration information, and why would Manafort have given it to them?
> I suspect you don't acknowledge that their lie was a bridge to what could become a nuclear war. Spare me your support for the democrats.
I wonder what you find is the value from following or discussing Caitlin Johnstone's essays if all you want to do it drop in Right-wing talking points?
I don't really get your meaning about the "bridge to nuclear war" comment. If you explain what you mean I'd be happy to answer it.
Women who defend Trump are often defending the threat to their own *social* reproduction posed by those who would refashion gender roles to devalue conservative women's social capital.
Also, the feelings of the emotional classes should be crushed rather than taken seriously.
"I wonder what you find is the value from following or discussing Caitlin Johnstone's essays if all you want to do is drop in Right-wing talking points?" Well, hopefully she and her guests are more open to a difference of opinion then you are, and trust me I don't want to be your buddy, so rest assured my opinions are not geared toward garnering your approval. So you find me peculiar, well, judging by the content of your response I'll just take that as a compliment. I see you're also an armchair analyst, okay, so I defend Trump in some regards, so you already know I don't suffer from Trump derangement syndrome. Good for you. When you say women are saving our system, I hope you're not including Clinton, or her husband's secretary of state Madeleine Albright who thought 500 thousand dead children due to sanctions on Iraq was worth it? Oh maybe you mean the Squad, made up of almost all women, along with the members of the "progressive democratic caucus" retracted their letter of give peace a chance? Or, maybe you mean Pelosi, who said she was on the intell committee in the build up to war with Iraq, so she knew they had no weapons of mass destruction, so she didn't vote for the war, but she remained silent and didn't even tell Biden who was the chair of the foreign relations comm. in the Senate, and he sold the war to the democrats. Well he was for war with Iraq back in the 1990's, although he lied about that. Lets just summarize by saying there are good women and bad women, just like men in the political arena, and they can be as self serving, as any man. Not to mention that in both parties, women, just like men are beholden to corporate wealth and like men they will make their issues their first priority, whether they be republicans, or democrats. Read Thomas Frank's book, "Listen Liberal", a democrat, but one who knows that for decades democrats have gone astray and abandoned their working class base, so don't tell me any fairy tales."I suppose you don't think that Clinton and the democrats who pushed the lie of Russia-gate should be held accountable." Yes, pushing the lie of Russia-gate to remove an elected president from office based on lies, especially lies made up by an opposing presidential candidate and her party requires accountability.
What you continue to call an insurrection is defined by many, like Greenwald, as a riot. this was published by Reuters in Aug, of 2021: The FBI has found scant evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result of an organized plot to overturn the presidential election result, according to four current and former law enforcement officials.Though federal officials have arrested more than 570 alleged participants, the FBI at this point believes the violence was not centrally coordinated by far-right groups or prominent supporters of then-President Donald Trump, according to the sources, who have been either directly involved in or briefed regularly on the wide-ranging investigations." By all means daydream if you must about an insurrection, if it provides the support you need to continue to see Trump in solely black and white terms, and maintain your despicable contempt for his base. However don't accuse me of being highly biased. As they say in the world of psychology, you're projecting.
All our lives, 'Murikans believed & SPEWED whatever silly ass imbecilic horseshit we were told we believed, or Tinkerbell would die, HORRIBLY. Because if we'd only buy in to the intentionally blatant, obvious and whacky lies, cherry-picked obfuscatory pleonasm & made up shit, on every TV, radio, speech, newspaper, blog aggregator or social network feed it would magically BE true, because Li:l Baby Jeebiz wouldn't LIE to President Joe Biden™ and only evil commie quir traders don't do just what we're told, cause... well, just LOOKIT how swell OUR party treats us as we're bayoneted onto cattle cars to abattoirs in Walmart basements once Joe bayonets the RR workers to fetch up some power units, tracks or ties? If it's more than 2 million dead, now, they probably deserved it for being old, fat from Dollar General food & being ground into catfood for yuppies is lots better than we deserve, anyway...right?
Excuse me?
Cat food for yuppies is a good use for a corpse.
As a cat, I prefer less noxious meals.
Rochester (our insane, human identifying cat) once took psychic offense at some senile sneering yuppie PMC creature trying to sexually abuse & fondle her and, y'know... dun drawed her sum blood. Ever see that John Carpenter "The Thing" remake? Where Wilford Brimley tries a blood sample which sparks like a metal fire? I'd been kinda forced amongst these critters at a VERY early age (do to Sputnik & IGY of all things: durned POOTIN!) So. I'd not ever required "They Live" shades to spot lizards amongst us?
I've clawed folks for less.