The US-Cuba conflict is exactly as Caitlin J, describes it: a bullying, vicious, evil predator turning its ravenous desperation on yet another victim whom it judges to be helpless prey.
"The only sane response to such a dystopian situation is to join in the revolution... They wouldn’t be fighting so hard to suppress truth and compassion if it didn’t present an immediate existential threat to their power structure."
They possess no capacity to "change their evil ways." This is not going to end well.
"Aux armes, citoyens! Formez vos bataillons! Marchons, marchons!"
The US interests are not fighting hard, against activists nor Cuba, because they present an immediate existential threat to them.
I think destroying Cuba is more a personal crusade by Rubio and because it fits in with the overall agenda to weaken Russia, Iran and particularly China's allies.
The US doesn't fear activists at all. The only threat to their hegemony, upon which they base their identities, is from the economic rise of China.
Swatting away journalists and activists presents a useful distraction and makes the people think something is being done to resist US power. It's not.
All the while we continue to support US based oil, gas, animal ag, pharma, finance, media, AI, tech, entertainment and arms- they're just laughing at us.
Assange was a major threat. They made a big effort with him and broke him.
If it's personal for Rubio, it's in a pretty fucked up way.
His family fled from torture-master dictator Fulgencio Batista, not from the revolution that finally ousted his mafia cartel.
He's obsessed with destroying the people who destroyed the regime that made his family flee their homeland.
He's a worthless opportunist, a grifter, human excrement, scum.
He did it for the actual cunts that hate Castro and inhabit Miami and worship some mythological paradise that existed in mafia cartel Cuba. They are almost all extinct now, but the myth lives on, as do the brain-dead asshole Cuban-American voters in south Florida.
We keep talking about boycotting Israel, but on some levels, I think we need to boycott right here at home.
We need to decide to spend less money so we can stop keeping the machine going.
We even if we just start with the distraction of holidays, that would make a big difference.
If we decide to only purchase what we need and with cash, that could help as well.
Throw away our credit cards, pay them off if need be.
We are addicted to fossil capitalism. Look at all the things we use that come from petroleum, even pharmaceuticals. Even if we decided not to take any more of their drugs and use only natural remedies.
There are so many things that we can do to at least downgrade our consumerism.
The wars keep the MIC in business and that's where the bite really is because so many people work in it. They don't receive the lion share of the profits by a long shot, but that's one of the reason the war machine keeps going.
If we don't make big changes on the home front, nothing will really change.
The real revolution will not be televised but it certainly will only be a revolution if we make really big changes to our consumeristic lifestyles.
YES YES YES. Not only because that will help stop Business As Usual, but because it will help us survive what's coming in the polycrisis/Great Unraveling/Great Simplification. Most people are unaware that climate change is a threat to human survival, and is only one symptom--biodiversity loss is also an encroaching menace, as are PFAS and plastic pollution, and resources are beginning to run out while those in power, all adherents of the Neoliberal religion, insist that we must have economic growth forever and the resources must magically appear. I think this reality is a reason the fascists are doubling down and setting up surveillance and AI panopticon and hightech war arrangements--they think the way to deal with this is to kill off half the population so they can hoard the remaining resources.
Just kill off half the population, Mary?? With Gates in tow, it sounds like it might be even more than that. AI is replacing folks, robots are replacing folks, Big Pharma is killing off folks, then add all the stuff you mentioned, and the kill switch is being actively engaged.
One of the things I think about is how our consumerism harms others. When we purchase "stuff" we seldom think about who suffered so we could have that "stuff". We just want stuff and more of it. Our homes are filled with stuff, a lot if it we barely use.
They've managed to change our language where we now say "I need" instead of saying "I want". Our wants have become our needs so we just keep on consuming.
The predator ruling class know this about us, so they keep us aptly supplied with all manner of new stuff to buy. Then they add planned obsolescence into the mix, and we are thereby forced to replace it. Things are not built to last like our grandmother's "stuff" was, they are built to break down so we will remain on the hamster wheel of consumerism. And forget about repairing it, just throw it away and replace it with something new, not better mind you, just new and wrapped in all that packaging. SMDH.
I keep expecting to see them building walled enclaves for the ruling class to live within, living like they do now; I imagine they think it would be immoral to deliberately kill most of the rest of us, but if we have no access to fossil fuels, or any solar panels we haven't already got, and we're living on an ecologically ravaged planet, that will take care of half of us dying. Especially if it happens suddenly.
I don't agree that withdrawing from the consumption-and-employment hamster wheel is the only thing we can do--I think resistance is critical--but we have not had much success with trying to change policy so far, and setting ourselves up in the country, preferably with off-grid power, large gardens, ideally in a community, is a good way to improve our family's security and withdraw support for the Machine at the same time. Unfortunately, access to land--and other things we need for this--is a barrier for many, probably most people. If there is a collapse, though, and they find themselves fleeing to the countryside to take over land some distant owner is not going to be able to claim, they may find they can build housing out of cob and scrap wood and bottles, learn to garden from their neighbors, and get by without electricity. I lived without electricity the first five years here in West Virginia, and when I went over my journals from that time, it struck me that I never voiced complaint--I was constantly whining in my journals, but about my love life or lack thereof, not the primitive way I lived. People now see electricity as vital, but all our ancestors except the last three or four generations did without it and did not seem to see their lives as not worth living.
Downgrade our consumerism ! Yes, we must, the only thing we, the average people can do to fight against the corporate power. There are so many things we can live without, and free our spirit and our conscience. We must stop to contribute to the criminal wars against countries and their children ! Be on the side of justice and humanity, on the right side !
I think this is largely true except that I think they know they CAN'T take down China probably, so their fallback is to cement hegemony over the western hemisphere, with Israel as linchpin in the Middle East. This is what was said in the Hondurasgate leaked calls--the plan is to take over Cuba and Venezuela, and then go for Colombia and Bolivia, eliminate all leftwing governments.
I think they know they can’t take on China, which is why they’re lining up Japan and the Phillipines to do it and to take the brunt. They’ll take all allies out first and choke of China’s access to cheap oil. They’ve already created the ‘independence’ movement in Taiwan.
The climate crisis (that they’re largely responsible for and deliberately accelerating) will also work in their favour- mostly affecting the global majority the worst.
Cuba was just getting ready to invade the US and destroy that shining light on the hill, the last hope for humanity, and the last remaining bastion of freedom and democracy on this planet. /s
idk, as ms johnstone often mentions, they do spend quite some time and resources in the 'swatting away' and keeping the plebs in the hypnotic stupor. ms johnstone also mentions that the moment the plebs unites behind the focus of removing them, it's done.
The US Capitalists must continue to punish the US colony of Cuba as an object lesson to all of the other colonies of the American Empire in Central and South America. Cuba successfully defied US corporate control despite having a major US naval base onboard.
Many of the other colonies have US military bases within their borders and some have political leaders assigned or support by the CIA.
Venezuela is the most recent one to be punished by the kidnapping of its President and First Lady, for the benefit of US oil companies.
Lil Narco's family fled Cuba in 1956, three years before Castro overthrew the Batista regime. They fled Capitalist Cuba. Corrupt Capitalist Cuba, ruled in part by American Mafia, that oppressed the working class, of which Rubio's family were a part.
***
Rubio's brother-in-law, Orlando Cicilia, was convicted in 1989 of distributing approximately $15 million worth of cocaine and served nearly 12 years in federal prison. Cicilia is married to Rubio's older sister, Barbara. Lil Narco worked in a pet store that was a front for a million dollar cocaine ring run by his family
"Every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba. If such a policy is adopted, it should be the result of a positive decision which would call forth a line of action which, while as adroit and inconspicuous as possible, makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation, and overthrow of government."
- Lester Mallory, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, 1960
***
US presidents come and go, but FED/FBI/CIA/NSA/NED/DHS/ICE and the Imperialist Monroe Doctrine remain in the Deep Swamp..
Cuba is the to the US what Palestine is to Israel. Why is the US continually sanctioning, suppressing, and destroying life in Cuba? What has Cuba done to deserve any of it: exist?
Oh they go far beyond merely existing in their anti-US aggression! They also give medical care to impoverished places all over the world; their literacy and medical outcomes surpass those of the US despite a small fraction of the income; their location subjects them to fierce hurricanes yet they rarely lose anyone because the government send trucks to evacuate everyone with their livestock, to higher ground.
Genocide, starving entire populations, putting people into prison for being immigrants, beating up and raping people who try to help those starving people, all those things are just fine. Of course, anyone who opposes such murderous behaviour or tries to help those who are starving or dying must be stopped. This is the world where the rich and cruel have taken charge and anyone else is just in their way.
According to historians, this is how empires behave when they fall. They double down on irrationality, criminalize diplomacy and intellectualism, and indulge in symbolic forms of power. I think it's too late to save the beast. Honestly there's not anything there worth saving. People are the world. People are worth loving. People are worth saving. Countries are not.
ennui_mcgee, Yes, Nero fiddled while Rome burned. The empire we are living through now, is so corrupt, stupid and inhumane they will take the whole world down with them .
From Wikipedia: “After the Great Fire of Rome occurred in July AD 64, it was rumored that Nero had ordered the fire to clear space for a new palace, the Domus Aurea.[7] “
Trump ordered the demolition of the east wing of the White House to clear space for his yuge dance hall and new bunker. Trump fiddled with his smartphone.
Unfortunately, the greatest enemy of living things is the struggle for basic survival. All life must deal with that limitation and compassion is not on the agenda… and so we must make it so. The more we threaten each other, the more we move closer to Armageddon.
“People are the world. People are worth loving. People are worth saving. Countries are not.”
But are not countries made up of people? If a nation is destroyed, the people suffer, do they not? I agree that a nation cannot be saved, but it can be changed (nonviolent revolution) and the people saved. It is building “a new society in the shell of the old,” as Peter Maurin, co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, said.
Yes! The doomsday Clock attendants must be under pressure in keeping the present the time clock at 85 seconds to midnight… Considering the present brood of politicians who run the show, I’d be surprised if the seconds that remain have more than one number.
They can be defeated, but without our blindfolds on our face… i.e., what is the most important resource for the elite?
“Since the appearance of visible life on Earth, 380 million years had to elapse in order for a butterfly to learn how to fly; 180 million years to create a rose with no other commitment than to be beautiful; and four geological eras in order for us human beings to be able to sing better than birds, and to be able to die from love. It is not honorable for the human talent, in the golden age of science, to have conceived the way for such an ancient and colossal process to return to the nothingness from which it came through the simple act of pushing a button.” – Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “The Cataclysm of Damocles” (1986)
Yes…. Evolution….. How is it that humans have uncovered the existence of atoms?
A grain of sand contains a few quintillion atoms, in more than 100 varieties, but the grain is still more than 99% empty space. The mass of a single butterfly was all the matter used to destroy Hiroshima, and yet, a blue butterfly is a magnificent creation of chaos. The future depends on which butterfly we want to see.
“ What is consciousness”? Great question… I’m not sure what it is. The trouble with words is that they entrap thoughts into boxes with all kinds of stuffing that prevent further input into the mix.
I think we are conscious of nuclear war, but unable to figure out why the risks continue to exist. In my view, nuclear weapons are just one more addition to the stockpile of weapons we have used as a species ever since our ancestors walked out of jungles. The problem is that the jungle mentality followed us.
Maybe if we stopped making life difficult for the weaker members of our tribes the weapons would slowly fade away? Isn’t that what we do… threaten each other? For myself, the existence of homelessness is the principle reason for wars, all wars.
AI sure as hell isn't a godlike technology... its shovel ware taken to the highest extreme of inefficiency and power usage and pushed as the biggest boomer tech investment scam the world has ever seen.
The USA and Israeli governments are desperately trying to rein in all the loose threads- the ones who don't nod their heads, the ones who speak up , the reporters who won't cower, and the ones who have compassion for the chosen victims. The fabric of lies is getting so torn and ratty that it's a hopeless task.
When it is so important to hide the truth, you know rotten evil things are going on. Their actions betray them.
And when they finally come for you, at least you can say you saved your soul. And one hopes you really have one - because they'll drop you in a dark hole you'll never crawl out of.
Just like you can always tell which side bombs schools full of little girls, and like the side that tells us lies, makes up wars, commits genocide and destroys everything precious -- people, environment, cultures, historic sites.
They target truth tellers, and squeeze everyone for whatever they can get out of them.
Fighting crime (especially if it's your government doing it) is decidedly NOT a crime, it's a DUTY. Further, here's why all states are highly problematic: the elites running then get to define what's a crime and what isn't, and they also get to decide what (official) crimes to prosecute and which to intentionally overlook. Because of this, in fact, NO government ANYWHERE is legitimate. There never has been a good one and there never will be. Wake up world!
Government may be bad, but a society run by billionaire scumbags is way worse. There is such a thing as a public good. Unrestrained deregulation and no laws that are followed - leaves no room for a civilized society, and instead, you get a society ruled by criminal Epstein lovers.
That's what Americans fail to get - and the ultra-rich take advantage of that failure of Americans to understand: govt really is the only entity that's stands between them and living in a barbarian, corporate predator state - that robs them every which way from Sunday. That's why there has been for decades now: a propaganda campaign by the obscenely wealthy to bash government and any kind of public works as wrong and evil - to a ridiculous degree.
The invisible hand of the free market is the biggest F'n scam on the planet. It is used as a bogus excuse for the worst type of worker exploitation and desecration of much of the public good - all in the name of profits for a relatively hand full of absurdly rich individuals. You want to know why America now has the worst wealth inequality since its gilded age of robber barons? Because Americans have let their government be destroyed by a handful of new age robber baron billionaires, soon to be trillionaires.
That's why They are OK with the Libertarian Party. A libertarian government would leave the people even more defenseless than they are now. In the 2024 the Libertarian party caught no flack while Jill Stein and the Greens were harassed to the max.
Genocide Joe shuts down campus protests from Columbia to UCLA, the Orange rapist disappears protestors into his Brownshirt’s jails like Lequa Kordia and Mahmoud Khalil or outright assassinates the Renee Goods, because when settlers want the project with genocide to preserve the apartheid, the bipartisan government bends the law to fit the demand.
The perfect reason to never to vote for Democrats ever again. A lot of people who probably would have voted Democratic justifiably stayed home or voted for another party. And the vote blue no matter who liberals still have the damn nerve to hate and blame those who rightfully not voted for them and blame us for Trump being president. Ever since Hillary Clinton was handed the nomination in 2016*, the Democrats and liberals show us who they really are at every opportunity. (With very few exceptions) Democrats are extreme right wing Republicans who have yet to come out of the closet.
* This when I first started to notice but I wouldn't be surprised if the Democrats were always this dirty for its entire existence.
And they’re much worse today, most of them funded or covered up for a GENOCIDE in 2024 and basically people want to vote for them only because of Trump right now in 2026, let that sit with you.
Trump is their golden goose until he’s not, and the guy is crazy enough to do anything to get out of his hole, at this point imo- this is predicated on him not blowing up the world to get his polls out of the ditch, and I bet, he would rn.
Caitlin and Tim, You both, and truth tellers like you are a big part in starting a revolution.Thank you.
The US-Israel empire is relentless in their impunity, stamping on any kind of acts of rebellion. People need to stand up against the delusional oligarchy and their servile ruling class, their compliant media.They are tightening the screws against the people, new rules and regulations and flouting international laws have become the norm. It is demeaning the way Europeans and countries like Australia and Canada are so beholden to apartheid Israel and Fascist elements in the USA.
The brave people of the Sumid flotilla were subjected to acts of violence by the Zionist regime. Their crime taking food for the starving in Gaza, who are braving a genocide, to draw attention to their plight which is dangerously close to "forgetting" while the vile regime and the US are starting new wars.
Did their countries take up their cause. Instead they were disbelieved even when the video evidence of their ordeal was there for the world to see.
Indu the problem is that most other countries are doing little to stop the evil empire. At least it looks so superficially. But one thing is clear. The "west" has finally openly showed who they really are. Genociders and supremacist zionists. We are in the midst of civilizational war. Evil "west" vs rest of the humanity.
“The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.”
James Madison, 1751-1836
“The first responsibility of every citizen is to question authority.”
Benjamin Franklin, (January 17, 1706 [ O. S. ] January 6, 1705– April 17, 1790)
Authority formally resides 'in the people', but the power of initiation is in fact held by small circles of men.
That is why the standard strategy of manipulation is to make it appear that the people, or at least a large group of them, "really made the decision".
That is why even when authority is available, men with access to it may still prefer the secret, quieter ways of manipulation.
C. Wright Mills in his 1956 book, The Power Elite.
Mills noted earlier that "It is in this mixed case — as in the intermediate reality of the American today — that manipulation is a prime way of exercising power.”
I assumed Cuba was the failsafe for Trump to shift back to punching down. Trump is learning that while his bully tactics work well in the US real estate market. Those same tactics aren’t working on Iran and China. I am not sure DT has ever lost like this before. I assume it’s strange territory for him.
However from the latest updates I am hearing as of 10pm EST it looks like things are about ready to ratchet back up with Iran. Sounds like DT is hellbent on learning new social skills. Unfortunately it seems we will all foot the bill for his education.
Something else that has crossed my mind. I think DT & the elite assume (mainly because of Covid compliance) the masses will mostly behave if we enter a depression. I learned something too during Covid. While most people are pacified society has NOT been tested when a majority experience severe pain. The SPR in the US runs dry sometime in July and Europe sooner. If things remain status quo (stalemate) we will eventually feel some pain. But if the Gulf Energy Installations get destroyed we are talking major disasters all over the world.
The Elite should tread carefully. I am confident the US will get rowdy. DT and his cohorts are going to rue the day their hubris became public knowledge. This place is a pressure cooker already. It just needs the right catalyst. DT and his elite buds will not survive more than 2 weeks down in their bunkers. They will become the epitome of useless eaters. I suspect their security teams will make quick work of them. Gotta try and look on the bright side. 😉
“So in our timidity, let us each make a choice: whether to remain consciously a servant of falsehood (of course, it is not out of inclination but to feed one’s family that one raises one’s children in the spirit of lies), or to shrug off the lies and become an honest man worthy of respect from one’s children and contemporaries.
And from that day onward he:
• will not sign, write or print in any way a single phrase which in his opinion distorts the truth
• will utter such a phrase neither in private conversation nor in public, neither on his own behalf nor at the prompting of someone else, neither in the role of agitator, teacher, educator, nor as an actor
• will not depict, foster or broadcast a single idea in which he can see a distortion of the truth, whether it be in painting, sculpture, photography, technical science or music
• will not cite out of context, either orally or in writing, a single quotation to please someone, to feather his own nest, to achieve success in his work, if he does not completely share the idea which is quoted, or if it does not accurately reflect the matter at issue
• will not allow himself to be compelled to attend demonstrations and meetings if they are contrary to his desire
• will immediately walk out of a meeting, session, lecture, performance or film if he hears a speaker tell lies, or purvey ideological nonsense or shameless propaganda
• will not subscribe to or buy a newspaper or magazine in which information is distorted and primary facts are concealed.“
“If we are too frightened … stop complaining that we are being suffocated. We are doing this to ourselves.
If we bow down further and wait longer, our brothers the biologists may help bring nearer the day when our thoughts can be read and our genes restructured. [getting close methinks]
If we are too frightened to do anything, then we are hopeless and worthless people and the lines of Pushkin fit us well: “What use to the herds the gifts of freedom? The scourge, and a yoke with tinkling bells — this is their heritage, bequeathed to every generation.”
by ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN, Moscow, 12 February 1974
The US-Cuba conflict is exactly as Caitlin J, describes it: a bullying, vicious, evil predator turning its ravenous desperation on yet another victim whom it judges to be helpless prey.
"The only sane response to such a dystopian situation is to join in the revolution... They wouldn’t be fighting so hard to suppress truth and compassion if it didn’t present an immediate existential threat to their power structure."
They possess no capacity to "change their evil ways." This is not going to end well.
"Aux armes, citoyens! Formez vos bataillons! Marchons, marchons!"
The US interests are not fighting hard, against activists nor Cuba, because they present an immediate existential threat to them.
I think destroying Cuba is more a personal crusade by Rubio and because it fits in with the overall agenda to weaken Russia, Iran and particularly China's allies.
The US doesn't fear activists at all. The only threat to their hegemony, upon which they base their identities, is from the economic rise of China.
Swatting away journalists and activists presents a useful distraction and makes the people think something is being done to resist US power. It's not.
All the while we continue to support US based oil, gas, animal ag, pharma, finance, media, AI, tech, entertainment and arms- they're just laughing at us.
Assange was a major threat. They made a big effort with him and broke him.
They don't fear us.
If it's personal for Rubio, it's in a pretty fucked up way.
His family fled from torture-master dictator Fulgencio Batista, not from the revolution that finally ousted his mafia cartel.
He's obsessed with destroying the people who destroyed the regime that made his family flee their homeland.
He's a worthless opportunist, a grifter, human excrement, scum.
He did it for the actual cunts that hate Castro and inhabit Miami and worship some mythological paradise that existed in mafia cartel Cuba. They are almost all extinct now, but the myth lives on, as do the brain-dead asshole Cuban-American voters in south Florida.
I have this fantasy that Rubio goes to Cuba to oversee the new dictatorial government, and the nearest armed Cuban takes him out.
I hate Republicans with every fiber of my soul: every single last Republican.
He is doing it to keep his filthy congress position and it's military industrial, espionage, corporate, graft.
i agree but i think he's simply decided it's safer and more profitable to become the other, i doubt if he believes the myth.
We keep talking about boycotting Israel, but on some levels, I think we need to boycott right here at home.
We need to decide to spend less money so we can stop keeping the machine going.
We even if we just start with the distraction of holidays, that would make a big difference.
If we decide to only purchase what we need and with cash, that could help as well.
Throw away our credit cards, pay them off if need be.
We are addicted to fossil capitalism. Look at all the things we use that come from petroleum, even pharmaceuticals. Even if we decided not to take any more of their drugs and use only natural remedies.
There are so many things that we can do to at least downgrade our consumerism.
The wars keep the MIC in business and that's where the bite really is because so many people work in it. They don't receive the lion share of the profits by a long shot, but that's one of the reason the war machine keeps going.
If we don't make big changes on the home front, nothing will really change.
The real revolution will not be televised but it certainly will only be a revolution if we make really big changes to our consumeristic lifestyles.
Stop the Killing Train
https://topicsfromatoz.substack.com/p/stop-the-killing-train-by-michael?utm_source=publication-search
YES YES YES. Not only because that will help stop Business As Usual, but because it will help us survive what's coming in the polycrisis/Great Unraveling/Great Simplification. Most people are unaware that climate change is a threat to human survival, and is only one symptom--biodiversity loss is also an encroaching menace, as are PFAS and plastic pollution, and resources are beginning to run out while those in power, all adherents of the Neoliberal religion, insist that we must have economic growth forever and the resources must magically appear. I think this reality is a reason the fascists are doubling down and setting up surveillance and AI panopticon and hightech war arrangements--they think the way to deal with this is to kill off half the population so they can hoard the remaining resources.
Just kill off half the population, Mary?? With Gates in tow, it sounds like it might be even more than that. AI is replacing folks, robots are replacing folks, Big Pharma is killing off folks, then add all the stuff you mentioned, and the kill switch is being actively engaged.
One of the things I think about is how our consumerism harms others. When we purchase "stuff" we seldom think about who suffered so we could have that "stuff". We just want stuff and more of it. Our homes are filled with stuff, a lot if it we barely use.
They've managed to change our language where we now say "I need" instead of saying "I want". Our wants have become our needs so we just keep on consuming.
The predator ruling class know this about us, so they keep us aptly supplied with all manner of new stuff to buy. Then they add planned obsolescence into the mix, and we are thereby forced to replace it. Things are not built to last like our grandmother's "stuff" was, they are built to break down so we will remain on the hamster wheel of consumerism. And forget about repairing it, just throw it away and replace it with something new, not better mind you, just new and wrapped in all that packaging. SMDH.
I keep expecting to see them building walled enclaves for the ruling class to live within, living like they do now; I imagine they think it would be immoral to deliberately kill most of the rest of us, but if we have no access to fossil fuels, or any solar panels we haven't already got, and we're living on an ecologically ravaged planet, that will take care of half of us dying. Especially if it happens suddenly.
I don't agree that withdrawing from the consumption-and-employment hamster wheel is the only thing we can do--I think resistance is critical--but we have not had much success with trying to change policy so far, and setting ourselves up in the country, preferably with off-grid power, large gardens, ideally in a community, is a good way to improve our family's security and withdraw support for the Machine at the same time. Unfortunately, access to land--and other things we need for this--is a barrier for many, probably most people. If there is a collapse, though, and they find themselves fleeing to the countryside to take over land some distant owner is not going to be able to claim, they may find they can build housing out of cob and scrap wood and bottles, learn to garden from their neighbors, and get by without electricity. I lived without electricity the first five years here in West Virginia, and when I went over my journals from that time, it struck me that I never voiced complaint--I was constantly whining in my journals, but about my love life or lack thereof, not the primitive way I lived. People now see electricity as vital, but all our ancestors except the last three or four generations did without it and did not seem to see their lives as not worth living.
Downgrade our consumerism ! Yes, we must, the only thing we, the average people can do to fight against the corporate power. There are so many things we can live without, and free our spirit and our conscience. We must stop to contribute to the criminal wars against countries and their children ! Be on the side of justice and humanity, on the right side !
Ashe', Louisa in the Yoruba language of Nigeria West Africa, that means well said!
Yes. Yes. Yes.
I've had to read this twice, still not sure I get it entirely, but what I do get is quite disturbing. RoboCop for the bad guys.
The US won't change their evil ways while we continue to support them by buying their products.
They're very happy for us to have little fantasies about rising up against them as long as we continue to be dependent on them.
I think this is largely true except that I think they know they CAN'T take down China probably, so their fallback is to cement hegemony over the western hemisphere, with Israel as linchpin in the Middle East. This is what was said in the Hondurasgate leaked calls--the plan is to take over Cuba and Venezuela, and then go for Colombia and Bolivia, eliminate all leftwing governments.
I think they know they can’t take on China, which is why they’re lining up Japan and the Phillipines to do it and to take the brunt. They’ll take all allies out first and choke of China’s access to cheap oil. They’ve already created the ‘independence’ movement in Taiwan.
The climate crisis (that they’re largely responsible for and deliberately accelerating) will also work in their favour- mostly affecting the global majority the worst.
They don't want Cuba to be used as a base to fire missiles into the USA.
1962 is a very weak argument isn't it.
Cuba was just getting ready to invade the US and destroy that shining light on the hill, the last hope for humanity, and the last remaining bastion of freedom and democracy on this planet. /s
Thanks, Nick, we need a laugh in these dark times.
idk, as ms johnstone often mentions, they do spend quite some time and resources in the 'swatting away' and keeping the plebs in the hypnotic stupor. ms johnstone also mentions that the moment the plebs unites behind the focus of removing them, it's done.
The US Capitalists must continue to punish the US colony of Cuba as an object lesson to all of the other colonies of the American Empire in Central and South America. Cuba successfully defied US corporate control despite having a major US naval base onboard.
Many of the other colonies have US military bases within their borders and some have political leaders assigned or support by the CIA.
Venezuela is the most recent one to be punished by the kidnapping of its President and First Lady, for the benefit of US oil companies.
Fun fact: Rubio's family escaped from Cuban dictator and murican puppet Batista (NOT Castro):
substack.com/@kuroscharney/note/c-216724884
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Lil Narco's family fled Cuba in 1956, three years before Castro overthrew the Batista regime. They fled Capitalist Cuba. Corrupt Capitalist Cuba, ruled in part by American Mafia, that oppressed the working class, of which Rubio's family were a part.
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Rubio's brother-in-law, Orlando Cicilia, was convicted in 1989 of distributing approximately $15 million worth of cocaine and served nearly 12 years in federal prison. Cicilia is married to Rubio's older sister, Barbara. Lil Narco worked in a pet store that was a front for a million dollar cocaine ring run by his family
"Every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba. If such a policy is adopted, it should be the result of a positive decision which would call forth a line of action which, while as adroit and inconspicuous as possible, makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation, and overthrow of government."
- Lester Mallory, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, 1960
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US presidents come and go, but FED/FBI/CIA/NSA/NED/DHS/ICE and the Imperialist Monroe Doctrine remain in the Deep Swamp..
So much for the "turnover of power"…
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https://dwkcommentaries.com/2023/04/21/state-department-secret-memo-from-1960-set-basis-for-subsequent-u-s-policies-regarding-cuba/
Cuba is the to the US what Palestine is to Israel. Why is the US continually sanctioning, suppressing, and destroying life in Cuba? What has Cuba done to deserve any of it: exist?
Oh they go far beyond merely existing in their anti-US aggression! They also give medical care to impoverished places all over the world; their literacy and medical outcomes surpass those of the US despite a small fraction of the income; their location subjects them to fierce hurricanes yet they rarely lose anyone because the government send trucks to evacuate everyone with their livestock, to higher ground.
Correct, John, and to which I would add the descriptors 'criminal' and 'malignant'.
Right, David. Tack them on!!!
Genocide, starving entire populations, putting people into prison for being immigrants, beating up and raping people who try to help those starving people, all those things are just fine. Of course, anyone who opposes such murderous behaviour or tries to help those who are starving or dying must be stopped. This is the world where the rich and cruel have taken charge and anyone else is just in their way.
If we're "in their way" then let's do our best to keep tripping them up until they fall into an abyss!
Much better to have a positive program with explicit goals both immediate and distant.
According to historians, this is how empires behave when they fall. They double down on irrationality, criminalize diplomacy and intellectualism, and indulge in symbolic forms of power. I think it's too late to save the beast. Honestly there's not anything there worth saving. People are the world. People are worth loving. People are worth saving. Countries are not.
ennui_mcgee, Yes, Nero fiddled while Rome burned. The empire we are living through now, is so corrupt, stupid and inhumane they will take the whole world down with them .
From Wikipedia: “After the Great Fire of Rome occurred in July AD 64, it was rumored that Nero had ordered the fire to clear space for a new palace, the Domus Aurea.[7] “
Trump ordered the demolition of the east wing of the White House to clear space for his yuge dance hall and new bunker. Trump fiddled with his smartphone.
Thanks CK. Excellent comparison. Nero's new palace - Trump's ballroom! Things never change, do they...
https://wendy664.substack.com/p/trump-has-hit-the-end-stage?r=qk6nn&utm_medium=ios
It is has no lack of arrogance to try that is for sure.
Even taking that as given, the Roman Empire had another 400 or so years to run in the West.
https://wendy664.substack.com/p/trump-has-hit-the-end-stage?r=qk6nn&utm_medium=ios
Unfortunately, the greatest enemy of living things is the struggle for basic survival. All life must deal with that limitation and compassion is not on the agenda… and so we must make it so. The more we threaten each other, the more we move closer to Armageddon.
“People are the world. People are worth loving. People are worth saving. Countries are not.”
But are not countries made up of people? If a nation is destroyed, the people suffer, do they not? I agree that a nation cannot be saved, but it can be changed (nonviolent revolution) and the people saved. It is building “a new society in the shell of the old,” as Peter Maurin, co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, said.
https://wendy664.substack.com/p/trump-has-hit-the-end-stage
well put, this definitely seems like the behavior of an empire in decline, the problem is how much damage it does to others as it fades away
So Trump is harassing a Jew and a Muslim for delivering humanitarian aid to a nation of Christians.
What Isnt-real wants it seems to get.
the irony is indeed lost on him, i think
“We have stumbled into the twenty-first century with stone-age emotions, medieval institutions, and near godlike technologies.” - Edward O. Wilson
"... and thus we drift toward unparalleled catastrophe." ~Albert Einstein
Yes! The doomsday Clock attendants must be under pressure in keeping the present the time clock at 85 seconds to midnight… Considering the present brood of politicians who run the show, I’d be surprised if the seconds that remain have more than one number.
They can be defeated, but without our blindfolds on our face… i.e., what is the most important resource for the elite?
“Since the appearance of visible life on Earth, 380 million years had to elapse in order for a butterfly to learn how to fly; 180 million years to create a rose with no other commitment than to be beautiful; and four geological eras in order for us human beings to be able to sing better than birds, and to be able to die from love. It is not honorable for the human talent, in the golden age of science, to have conceived the way for such an ancient and colossal process to return to the nothingness from which it came through the simple act of pushing a button.” – Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “The Cataclysm of Damocles” (1986)
Yes…. Evolution….. How is it that humans have uncovered the existence of atoms?
A grain of sand contains a few quintillion atoms, in more than 100 varieties, but the grain is still more than 99% empty space. The mass of a single butterfly was all the matter used to destroy Hiroshima, and yet, a blue butterfly is a magnificent creation of chaos. The future depends on which butterfly we want to see.
What is consciousness? Has human consciousness evolved? Perhaps it has in some ways. But will it be enough to survive the atom bomb?
“ What is consciousness”? Great question… I’m not sure what it is. The trouble with words is that they entrap thoughts into boxes with all kinds of stuffing that prevent further input into the mix.
I think we are conscious of nuclear war, but unable to figure out why the risks continue to exist. In my view, nuclear weapons are just one more addition to the stockpile of weapons we have used as a species ever since our ancestors walked out of jungles. The problem is that the jungle mentality followed us.
Maybe if we stopped making life difficult for the weaker members of our tribes the weapons would slowly fade away? Isn’t that what we do… threaten each other? For myself, the existence of homelessness is the principle reason for wars, all wars.
Sorry for my lengthy reply…
Our complacency.
I was thinking that ‘obedience ‘ was near the top of the list but “complacency” ranks even higher.
https://wendy664.substack.com/p/trump-has-hit-the-end-stage
The biologist?
Yep. A couple of other favs:
“Karl Marx was right, socialism works, it is just that he had the wrong species”
“There is no better high than discovery.”
― E. O. Wilson
AI sure as hell isn't a godlike technology... its shovel ware taken to the highest extreme of inefficiency and power usage and pushed as the biggest boomer tech investment scam the world has ever seen.
The USA and Israeli governments are desperately trying to rein in all the loose threads- the ones who don't nod their heads, the ones who speak up , the reporters who won't cower, and the ones who have compassion for the chosen victims. The fabric of lies is getting so torn and ratty that it's a hopeless task.
When it is so important to hide the truth, you know rotten evil things are going on. Their actions betray them.
And when they finally come for you, at least you can say you saved your soul. And one hopes you really have one - because they'll drop you in a dark hole you'll never crawl out of.
They've already come and got us. All the while we buy their products and watch their tele.
And complain in places like this.
Just like you can always tell which side bombs schools full of little girls, and like the side that tells us lies, makes up wars, commits genocide and destroys everything precious -- people, environment, cultures, historic sites.
They target truth tellers, and squeeze everyone for whatever they can get out of them.
This is what we're up against.
Fighting crime (especially if it's your government doing it) is decidedly NOT a crime, it's a DUTY. Further, here's why all states are highly problematic: the elites running then get to define what's a crime and what isn't, and they also get to decide what (official) crimes to prosecute and which to intentionally overlook. Because of this, in fact, NO government ANYWHERE is legitimate. There never has been a good one and there never will be. Wake up world!
Government may be bad, but a society run by billionaire scumbags is way worse. There is such a thing as a public good. Unrestrained deregulation and no laws that are followed - leaves no room for a civilized society, and instead, you get a society ruled by criminal Epstein lovers.
But jamenta, What if "government " is run by Billionaire scumbags...
Then government isn't the problem - it's the scumbags that are the problem.
The sbags will persist. It's gvt that has to change. It is the only defense the people could have against Big Money.
That's what Americans fail to get - and the ultra-rich take advantage of that failure of Americans to understand: govt really is the only entity that's stands between them and living in a barbarian, corporate predator state - that robs them every which way from Sunday. That's why there has been for decades now: a propaganda campaign by the obscenely wealthy to bash government and any kind of public works as wrong and evil - to a ridiculous degree.
The invisible hand of the free market is the biggest F'n scam on the planet. It is used as a bogus excuse for the worst type of worker exploitation and desecration of much of the public good - all in the name of profits for a relatively hand full of absurdly rich individuals. You want to know why America now has the worst wealth inequality since its gilded age of robber barons? Because Americans have let their government be destroyed by a handful of new age robber baron billionaires, soon to be trillionaires.
That's why They are OK with the Libertarian Party. A libertarian government would leave the people even more defenseless than they are now. In the 2024 the Libertarian party caught no flack while Jill Stein and the Greens were harassed to the max.
If we removed the power that Money represents, change could be on the menu.
" 'Government' is the greatest scam ever perpetrated upon mankind" Etienne de la Boetie2
Genocide Joe shuts down campus protests from Columbia to UCLA, the Orange rapist disappears protestors into his Brownshirt’s jails like Lequa Kordia and Mahmoud Khalil or outright assassinates the Renee Goods, because when settlers want the project with genocide to preserve the apartheid, the bipartisan government bends the law to fit the demand.
The perfect reason to never to vote for Democrats ever again. A lot of people who probably would have voted Democratic justifiably stayed home or voted for another party. And the vote blue no matter who liberals still have the damn nerve to hate and blame those who rightfully not voted for them and blame us for Trump being president. Ever since Hillary Clinton was handed the nomination in 2016*, the Democrats and liberals show us who they really are at every opportunity. (With very few exceptions) Democrats are extreme right wing Republicans who have yet to come out of the closet.
* This when I first started to notice but I wouldn't be surprised if the Democrats were always this dirty for its entire existence.
And they’re much worse today, most of them funded or covered up for a GENOCIDE in 2024 and basically people want to vote for them only because of Trump right now in 2026, let that sit with you.
Trump is their golden goose until he’s not, and the guy is crazy enough to do anything to get out of his hole, at this point imo- this is predicated on him not blowing up the world to get his polls out of the ditch, and I bet, he would rn.
"Truth and morality are its enemies."
And so we must arm ourselves every day with the truth and our morality and compassion to take on the empire... Let's do it!
Caitlin and Tim, You both, and truth tellers like you are a big part in starting a revolution.Thank you.
The US-Israel empire is relentless in their impunity, stamping on any kind of acts of rebellion. People need to stand up against the delusional oligarchy and their servile ruling class, their compliant media.They are tightening the screws against the people, new rules and regulations and flouting international laws have become the norm. It is demeaning the way Europeans and countries like Australia and Canada are so beholden to apartheid Israel and Fascist elements in the USA.
The brave people of the Sumid flotilla were subjected to acts of violence by the Zionist regime. Their crime taking food for the starving in Gaza, who are braving a genocide, to draw attention to their plight which is dangerously close to "forgetting" while the vile regime and the US are starting new wars.
Did their countries take up their cause. Instead they were disbelieved even when the video evidence of their ordeal was there for the world to see.
Indu the problem is that most other countries are doing little to stop the evil empire. At least it looks so superficially. But one thing is clear. The "west" has finally openly showed who they really are. Genociders and supremacist zionists. We are in the midst of civilizational war. Evil "west" vs rest of the humanity.
“The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.”
James Madison, 1751-1836
“The first responsibility of every citizen is to question authority.”
Benjamin Franklin, (January 17, 1706 [ O. S. ] January 6, 1705– April 17, 1790)
Authority formally resides 'in the people', but the power of initiation is in fact held by small circles of men.
That is why the standard strategy of manipulation is to make it appear that the people, or at least a large group of them, "really made the decision".
That is why even when authority is available, men with access to it may still prefer the secret, quieter ways of manipulation.
C. Wright Mills in his 1956 book, The Power Elite.
Mills noted earlier that "It is in this mixed case — as in the intermediate reality of the American today — that manipulation is a prime way of exercising power.”
dennis hanna
I assumed Cuba was the failsafe for Trump to shift back to punching down. Trump is learning that while his bully tactics work well in the US real estate market. Those same tactics aren’t working on Iran and China. I am not sure DT has ever lost like this before. I assume it’s strange territory for him.
However from the latest updates I am hearing as of 10pm EST it looks like things are about ready to ratchet back up with Iran. Sounds like DT is hellbent on learning new social skills. Unfortunately it seems we will all foot the bill for his education.
Something else that has crossed my mind. I think DT & the elite assume (mainly because of Covid compliance) the masses will mostly behave if we enter a depression. I learned something too during Covid. While most people are pacified society has NOT been tested when a majority experience severe pain. The SPR in the US runs dry sometime in July and Europe sooner. If things remain status quo (stalemate) we will eventually feel some pain. But if the Gulf Energy Installations get destroyed we are talking major disasters all over the world.
The Elite should tread carefully. I am confident the US will get rowdy. DT and his cohorts are going to rue the day their hubris became public knowledge. This place is a pressure cooker already. It just needs the right catalyst. DT and his elite buds will not survive more than 2 weeks down in their bunkers. They will become the epitome of useless eaters. I suspect their security teams will make quick work of them. Gotta try and look on the bright side. 😉
Such is fascism.
“So in our timidity, let us each make a choice: whether to remain consciously a servant of falsehood (of course, it is not out of inclination but to feed one’s family that one raises one’s children in the spirit of lies), or to shrug off the lies and become an honest man worthy of respect from one’s children and contemporaries.
And from that day onward he:
• will not sign, write or print in any way a single phrase which in his opinion distorts the truth
• will utter such a phrase neither in private conversation nor in public, neither on his own behalf nor at the prompting of someone else, neither in the role of agitator, teacher, educator, nor as an actor
• will not depict, foster or broadcast a single idea in which he can see a distortion of the truth, whether it be in painting, sculpture, photography, technical science or music
• will not cite out of context, either orally or in writing, a single quotation to please someone, to feather his own nest, to achieve success in his work, if he does not completely share the idea which is quoted, or if it does not accurately reflect the matter at issue
• will not allow himself to be compelled to attend demonstrations and meetings if they are contrary to his desire
• will immediately walk out of a meeting, session, lecture, performance or film if he hears a speaker tell lies, or purvey ideological nonsense or shameless propaganda
• will not subscribe to or buy a newspaper or magazine in which information is distorted and primary facts are concealed.“
“If we are too frightened … stop complaining that we are being suffocated. We are doing this to ourselves.
If we bow down further and wait longer, our brothers the biologists may help bring nearer the day when our thoughts can be read and our genes restructured. [getting close methinks]
If we are too frightened to do anything, then we are hopeless and worthless people and the lines of Pushkin fit us well: “What use to the herds the gifts of freedom? The scourge, and a yoke with tinkling bells — this is their heritage, bequeathed to every generation.”
by ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN, Moscow, 12 February 1974
The eventual goal is eliminating free will.
I think they've already done that for most.
Most people are sheeplike.
Interesting. That would be the direct path to total control. As with so many Sci-Fi stories, take your medicine or.......