Forgive me everyone, but I’m knackered. I’m going to take the morning off, slide my aching body into a bath with the book my sister loaned me ages ago and get lost in one of Liane Moriarty’s finest. However, my worse half Tim Foley has requested he take this opportunity to say some things that have been rattling around in that world-class brain of his.
~ Caitlin
Hey.
This is Tim Foley, Caitlin’s husband, soulmate, collaborator, and the voice with the American accent in her podcast. As Caitlin has said many times, I help her with her work a lot and am involved in most of the things she publishes to some extent. In my more arrogant moments I secretly think of myself as the Kathleen Brennan to her Tom Waits. We do everything together.
So, while I am admittedly extremely biased, I also happen to be the world’s foremost authority on Caitlin Johnstone among individuals not named Caitlin Johnstone. Since some profoundly depraved characters have been viciously hounding my beloved in a way she hasn’t quite figured out how to deal with just yet, I would therefore like to lend my voice to making it clear what Caitlin is, and what she is not, from the perspective of someone who knows her infinitely better than her detractors.
Here are some things I would like to say:
1. Caitlin is not a Nazi.
Come the fuck on. Troll harder.
2. Caitlin is not a Nazi apologist, a racist, a fascist, a white supremacist, or a “Strasserist”.
Nobody who reads Caitlin’s work actually believes that she is any of these things. The only people who claim that she is any of the above are the people who desperately want potential readers to think horrible things about her for reasons which have nothing to do with those allegations. Caitlin’s deep compassion toward all disadvantaged groups is evident in her writing.
The only reason her haters dust off obscure labels like “Strasserist” to pin on her is because they know they look ridiculous straight up calling her a Nazi. The label hasn’t been Godwin’s Lawed to death so most folks are unaware that it’s just a fancier, more erudite-looking way of calling someone a Nazi. It is absurd.
I met Caitlin on Facebook, long before she got involved in this writing gig and long before I took a permanent trip to the land of strange marsupials and bad Mexican food to be with her forever. During that time she was frequently posting about Aboriginal rights, the mistreatment of refugees on Manus Island, white privilege, and police brutality in America.
It hurts her when people call her racist because it goes against every fiber of who she is as a person. It works as a bullying tactic specifically because it is not true.
3. Caitlin is the most deeply, pervasively good human being that I have ever met.
I spent a significant portion of my early adult life seeking out extraordinary people to teach me how to be a good and holy man, and living in the San Francisco Bay Area there was never any shortage of teachers and gurus being funneled through the satsang circuit to meet. This overlapping interest in spiritual development was how I met Caitlin in a Facebook group years ago, and in spite all of the frenetic guru-hopping I did in America, I have never met anyone like her.
Everything in her is pointed at health and good will. Acting in what she calls “the highest interest” is her singular guiding principle in life. She’s never hesitant to loudly put someone in their place when they are acting in a malignant way (including me), but if you spend time in her physical presence you get the distinct sense that there isn’t actually anything hard or angry in her at all. She radiates health and is always working toward the greater good. Being around her feels like being with someone who made of pure heaven. I don’t know how else to describe it.
Her life reflects her pervasive goodness. Watching the grace with which she raises her two wonderful children is awe inspiring, and the complete absence of fixed patterns in her mental behavior allows for the most amazing surprises to come toward us every day. I won’t get into all the miracles I’ve seen this woman work because they’re so extraordinary it would take on a life of its own, but I don’t believe anything like her exists in this world and I am unspeakably grateful to be able to spend my life with her.
4. Caitlin is not paid by the alt-right, the Kremlin, WikiLeaks, Assad, Iranian Mullahs, Soros, or any of the other bizarre conspiracy theories I’ve seen around.
The only thing dumber than the “Caitlin is a secret Nazi” conspiracy theories are the “Caitlin is a paid agent of X shadowy group” conspiracy theories. Ordinary people send her money via Patreon, Paypal and book sales because they like what she writes, and her audience grew as rapidly as it did for the same reason.
There are a lot of no-talent, boring wannabes on the leftist political commentary circuit, and I can understand how tempting it would be for these losers to want to spread these rumors after watching her zip past them with ease, but it’s pure bullshit. You don’t get people interested by always making sure you share the consensus opinions of the academic elite in your particular sect of leftism and writing a low-energy article about it every few weeks (see virtually everything in CounterPunch if you want examples), you do it by creating high-quality, insightful and interesting content every single day. If you happen to have a smart, sexy husband to assist you with your work, that helps too.
5. The “Caitlin doesn’t understand US politics because she’s not from here” smear is inherently illegitimate.
Hi, hello, Caitlin’s collaborator here, and I’m as American as mass shootings. I co-sign everything Caitlin writes. You can claim we’re wrong, but you can’t legitimately claim that we’re not informed by an American perspective.
6. Caitlin has never spoken with Mike Cernovich.
Her haters talk about her like they’re buddies or something, but the two have never corresponded to any extent. She’s flagged his attention a few times when there’s some information she wants seeded throughout the MAGA community, and he retweets her frequently, but that’s the extent of their relationship.
7. Caitlin still maintains that the left and the right should collaborate in issues where their interests converge.
And she’s right. Everyone’s still shitting themselves because nine months ago Caitlin cited Mike Cernovich as someone that she personally wouldn’t mind working with on some specific issues, which her haters falsely twisted into “Caitlin wants the left to work with Mike Cernovich”, which they then falsely twisted into “Caitlin wants the left to work with the alt-right”, which they then falsely twisted into “Caitlin is a Nazi/racist/fascist/Strasserist”, but he was just an example and she explicitly said different people will have different degrees of comfort with whom they can work with on specific issues.
To this day Caitlin’s only collaboration with Cernovich consists of him sometimes retweeting her anti-interventionist arguments (including her opposition to interventionism in Iran), but there are many other conservatives with whom she collaborates to a much greater extent, like the Ron Paul Institute which frequently republishes her articles. This is a perfect illustration of ways individuals on the left and the right can magnify one another’s voices on issues of convergence against the Orwellian neoconservative warmongering centrists to whatever extent works for them.
Talking to people of differing ideologies is just being a normal adult human being. I always wonder how the people shrieking about Caitlin’s pointing this out function in society. Don’t they work? If so, how do they get through the day if collaborating with a conservative toward a common goal makes them a “Strasserist”? Do they refuse to go to Thanksgiving because one of their uncles voted for Trump, which makes him “alt-right” which makes you a Nazi for eating turkey near him? Their approach only makes sense inside the most warped echo chambers of an exclusively online forum.
8. The infamous interview with Cynthia McKinney and Robert David Steele was my fault.
In July of last year Caitlin’s nervous system was blasted out by the relentless smears and attacks just like it is now, but to an even greater extent. I had to basically carry her through the whole ordeal with tons of support, and I got some stuff wrong. She was really messed up from all the abuse she was suffering when she received a request to make an appearance on a video chat with Robert David Steele and Cynthia McKinney, who wanted to support her against all the attacks. She asked me what I thought, and I knew she badly wanted to talk to McKinney, whom she adores, so I said go for it.
Before we knew it there she was, with Steele talking about how “the alt-right and the alt-left” need to come together, a position Caitlin never held, but in too much of a mental fog to protest. Now whenever these smears come up Caitlin’s haters share a clip of the interview with Steele saying that crap with Caitlin nodding mutely along. They mock her shell-shocked appearance when they were the ones who caused it, and it guts me.
I am Caitlin’s partner and collaborator; it was my job to protect her from that in her frazzled state, and I failed. I felt really bad about it. I think I do a good job of helping her most of the time, but sometimes I screw up in a way she’s not able to catch and correct, and that was definitely one of them. The info she later needed to correct about Seth Rich’s Reddit posts getting deleted was another one of my fuckups as well. We’ve both been a lot more careful since then.
9. Caitlin has never plagiarized anything from anyone.
There’s someone named Nina Illingworth who we recently discovered had been telling her followers for months that Caitlin plagiarizes her writings. Neither of us knew anything about Illingworth (the name was vaguely familiar to Caitlin, I’d never even heard it), and we were both completely unfamiliar with her work. After viewing Illingworth’s website and Twitter page, two things were clear to us, and will probably be clear to you too: (1) Illingworth is clearly mentally and/or emotionally disturbed, (2) she can’t write for shit.
This hasn’t stopped a few relatively high-profile lefties from circulating Illingworth’s claims as fact. They did this not because those claims looked legitimate, but because they hate Caitlin and want to harm her reputation.
The only person Caitlin will shamelessly use the work of is me, and she does so with my permission. Her writings are born out of our ongoing daily conversations about life and politics, and I don’t copy anyone either.
10. Caitlin’s haters are assholes.
Okay, I guess this one’s a little more opinion than fact, but whatever. Fuck Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank and their CounterPunch stooges, fuck Benjamin Dixon and his Groupthink Army, fuck the humorless twat Ben Norton and the perpetually hateful Eoin Higgins, fuck Robbie Martin and his unbelievably wanky “let me spend years making an eight-hour documentary and then hide it behind a paywall so nobody knows it exists except my sister’s fancy friends” elitism, fuck Caitlin’s Facebook stalker Yoav Litvin, and fuck the rest of them as well. Fuck you all for hurting the most amazing person I have ever known. I hate you.
~ Tim
23 responses to “10 Facts About Caitlin Johnstone, From The Guy Who Knows Her Better Than Anyone”
Stand by her Tim. She needs you. Every great warrior needs a bulwark to rest upon. You are that bulwark. Secure her foundation and let her rip!! I envy you for winning a heart so true. Keep her true. We need you too Tim.
I only recently discovered Caitlin’s writing, and have since become a huge fan — along with my wife of 36 years with whom I share and discuss what I consider to be Caitlin’s “greatest hits.” We reside in beautiful southern Utah. I grew up in the Salt Lake City area; my wife was raised in the San Francisco Bay area. We are life-long “Mormons” (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints); passionate Italophiles (we actually met while serving LDS missions to southern Italy from 1979-81); and have gradually evolved, over the past few years, into anti-establishment/anti-Deep State/anarcho-capitalist/libertarian-leaning quasi-revolutionaries.
We are the parents of four adult children (three daughters and one son) and two precious grandsons. Our children have wholly rejected virtually everything which we hold as sacred and true, and regard us as paranoid “psycho-preppers” (a gross exaggeration) and greatly resent the fact that I routinely characterize them as typical of the most “obedient-to-authority” generation in American history. They have become not only tolerant of “Big Brother,” but passionately embrace Stasi-like government institutions as the virtuous and essential enforcers of ideological purity.
My succinct message to Caitlin in the context of the intense persecutions currently being heaped upon her (in the immortal words of Bono as expressed in U2’s classic Acrobat): Don’t let the bastards grind you down.
There is no tyranny; no evil; no combination of armies, wealth, and violence on earth that can long stand against the overwhelming power of an idea whose time has come. I submit the reality that we are all brothers and sisters; the literal spiritual offspring of divine parents, is such an idea. And notwithstanding the many differences that distinguish us one from another within the vast human family, I remain convinced that our familial bonds will, sooner than later, triumph over the wicked powers that seek to divide and conquer us pursuant to their own sociopathic ends.
“Talking to people of differing ideologies is just being a normal adult human being. I always wonder how the people shrieking about Caitlin’s pointing this out function in society. Don’t they work?”
I’ve seen this “functioning” in action, and it is mind-blowing. I was at an airport with a bunch of coworkers the morning after Trump was elected, and everyone but me was shell-shocked. I had long resigned myself to the fact that I didn’t support any of the candidates (other than Vermin Supreme) and so I was surprisingly sanguine, though I played along so as not to give the impression that I’m a “Trump supporter”(TM). One of my coworkers, a woman in her mid-20s, asked a stranger what he thought about the election, assuming that he (a person of Middle Eastern extraction, apparently) was as shocked as she about the outcome. When the guy responded in the affirmative about Trump, and was actually stoked at the way the vote turned out, my coworker was literally speechless. She got away from the guy as fast as possible, came to me with a pale face, and asked how a “person of color” could vote for Trump? I told her she could ask him, which just got me an unbelieving stare.
If talking to people of differing ideologies is just being a normal adult human being, I fear we’re facing a diminishing supply of normal adult human beings.
Caitlin and Tim: Thank you both for sharing this dimension of your lives and work…the mutually supportive, caring, co-creative quality ‘born out of (y)our ongoing daily conversations about life and politics’. What a way to be engaged with each other and with life itself. When you stand for something like LEFT AND RIGHT SHOULD COLLABORATE IN ISSUES WHERE THEIR INTERESTS CONVERGE = we all could collaborate in issues where our interests converge, it’s no wonder you are hunted and haunted by bashers and haters. The debate culture (Whose side are you on?) is so entrenched around the globe that most can’t bear it when some of us stop fighting and point out another path. Bon courage, stand tall. …moving us all towards that relationship with life itself of ‘effortlessly advocating for each other’. Life is advocating for me, and I’m advocating for life.
Thanks Tim for sharing…Caitlin’s lucky to have you.
And we’re all lucky to have Caitlin!
Wishing her peace and much deserved rest away from the nasty insecure haters.
Tim, anyone who follows Caitlin’s writing can tell that she is a deeply spiritual person who is committed to speaking the truth, to unite all people who want to break the chokehold of the oligarchs, deep state and corporate media.
Caitlin is at the top of a dark tower watching from a window the burning of the world by dragons and demons. Her words are smoke signals for those of us also watching the burning down of the world looking for hope. She tells us how to unite and strategies to fight. There are others locked in cells, complaining of the noise of the truth tellers are making, while ignoring the screaming of bombed children, the smell of burnt flesh, the Earth being ravaged and the waters being poisoned. Hopefully they will wake from their trance before it is too late. Not everyone can be saved.
It is so beautiful that Caitlin has a prince that sees her, hears her, loves her battered soul and defends her good name. My dear Tim, it is not necessary. She is far from a damsel in distress, but rather a Warrior of Truth. The armor of truth cannot be penetrated. She is a Joan of Art! : ) Although she is tired and weary, let her be lifted by the love of all that follow her and appreciate her art, poetry, humor, positivity and her relentless advocacy of truth. We see her, and we see you. We send our love and sincerest support.
Second go! I said I’m a supporter from Sydney. Caitlin cuts through the cake of lies and misinformation on out plate every day. More power to her!
I’m another supporter . She cuts through the cake of lies and misinformation we have on our plates every day.
However when I put in my email address to subscribe, all I get is “An error occurred” and try again. No good.
There’s a bug in the system which needs addressing . I doubt I’m the only one who’s application gets rejected
John Doyle
Fill it in for me!
Thanks
J
There’s a saying in Chile that goes more or less, “If imbeciles could fly we would all live in an eternal night.” Yea, they’d block the sun. Unfortunately, most of humanity, lacking access to correct information at a formative age, lack the ability to resist the manipulation of professional disinformers, especially when they’re at it 24/7.
Caitlin’s brilliant mind, uncanny talent to zero in on what matters in these information wars, and her fury at the criminals who have robbed, lied, and murdered their way to the top, and remain there thanks to the huge machinery of lies they have built, is shared by many who for reasons she can easily understand are not as visible as the idiots that the capitalist system trots around as exemplars of fine humanity.
At our site, THE GREANVILLE POST, regarded by many observers as one of the best in the left blogosphere, and which fights against imperialism, for socialism (in a non-factionalist way) peace and truth, we built a special page for Caitlin, and have defended her in every venue where we found her being attacked, not the least by the self-impressed morons at Counterpunch. Goes without saying we despise the arrogant, ultra pc, humourless liberal masses that currently are doing the bidding of the deep state, with all the awfulness and imbecility that that entails. We also try to support her via Medium. The Greanville Post is not rich, however, no one gets paid on our site (except for the techs) and like most REAL left organisations, we work on fumes.
Here’s the address in case you want to visit. Our circulation is about 35% of Counterpunch’s, but extremely loyal, and despite the constant attacks by the usual suspects, especially Google, still growing.
THE GREANVILLE POST (TGP)
http://www.greanvillepost.com
Here’s a random sampling of Caitlin’s articles on TGP
http://www.greanvillepost.com/?s=%22caitlin+johnstone%22
Never give up.
Sending you a warm fraternal embrace,
Patrice Greanville
Editor
TGP
There’s a saying in Chile that goes more or less, “If imbeciles could fly we would all live in an eternal night.” Yea, they’d block the sun. Unfortunately, most of humanity, lacking access to correct information at a formative age, lacks the ability to resist the manipulation of professional disinformers, especially when they’re at it 24/7.
Caitlin’s brilliant mind, uncanny talent to zero in on what matters in these information wars, and her fury at the criminals who have robbed, lied, and murdered their way to the top, and remain there thanks to the huge machinery of lies they have built, is shared by many who for reasons she can easily understand are not as visible as the idiots that the capitalist system trots around as exemplars of fine humanity.
At our site, THE GREANVILLE POST, regarded by many observers as one of the best in the left blogosphere, and which fights against imperialism, for socialism (in a non-factionalist way) peace and truth, we built a special page for Caitlin, and have defended her in every venue where we found her being attacked, not the least by the self-impressed morons at Counterpunch. Goes without saying we despise the arrogant, ultra pc, humourless liberal masses that currently are doing the bidding of the deep state, with all the awfulness and imbecility that that entails. We also try to support her via Medium. The Greanville Post is not rich, however, no one gets paid on our site (except for the techs) and like most REAL left organisations, we work on fumes.
Here’s the address in case you want to visit. Our circulation is about 35% of Counterpunch’s, but extremely loyal.
THE GREANVILLE POST (TGP)
http://www.greanvillepost.com
Here’s a random sampling of Caitlin’s articles on TGP
http://www.greanvillepost.com/?s=%22caitlin+johnstone%22
Never give up.
Sending you a arm fraternal embrace,
Patrice Greanville
Editor
TGP
Thanks for showing your support in such a way, unfortunately, there are so many PC people out there who complain viciously about everyone’s viewpoint that doesn’t agree with theirs. I had my Twitter account blocked for making a comment that wasn’t offensive but apparently offended someone who asked that my account be blocked. I got it up and running along with another copy of the rules and regulations and I responded to Twitter with my own complaint stated that I am not an activist hounding others, I have a private account which limits who can follow me ( I only allow those whom I accept to follow me). I told them that if a person felt rejected I didn’t want contact with them (for whatever reason) all they had to do was block/or mute me on their feed not eliminate my account based on Twitter rules. I told Twitter it was their responsibility to ensure that bullies ( who usually have big followers) don’t react negatively to those who limit their followers as not all of us want to be popular with everybody in the universe.
I know Caitlin is trying for a bigger audience than me on social media but she can also be selective in who follows but muting and blocking those who create problems as they also need to realize that their remarks can be caustic to others.
Good work Tim. As a 58 year old in northern Wisconsin I stand beside you and Caitlin.
Tim and Caitlin, please join us at Mewe.
mewe.com/i/richard.eldredge
To Tim – nice to officially meet you. In response to your comments, let me say that I agree with most of what Caitlin writes. However, one does not need to be in 100% approval to recognize the fire and fury and goodness within her. She has one thing in common with my feelings regarding vulgarity. Regarding the latter, it is not the way letters are strung together that is significant but, rather, the intent behind them. Even then, I dispute Freud’s contention that vulgarity equates to incompetent intellectual capacity. Through personal observation I have determined that, sometimes, there is no better way to express the degree of feeling than by the use of vulgarity that readers will instant understand. When you say ‘fuck’ this one or that one, I get it in a way that no other words could elicit.
To Caitlin, I hope that your bath was glorious and recharged you to come back even stronger than ever.
To both of you, together, I wish a long and glorious shared life.
Anyone with a soul can read Caitlin’s writing and know she is in a high dark tower writing about the demons and dragons that are destroying the earth. Her writing is smoke signals to us who are also wanting to escape the carnage we see happening around us, while others willingly walk into the mouths of the dragons. Caitlin is calling all who will hear to fight their oppressors regardless of the flag flying over their house. It is great to know that the lovely Caitlin has a handsome prince in this story that will fight tooth and nail to defend her honor. Keep loving her as you do. It warms my soul that she has your unwavering support. But remind Caitln that she is far from a distressed damsel, but instead a Warrior of Truth and her well researched, honest writing is her weapon.
The truth cannot wait for us to defend tossed pebbles when the world is burning down. Remind yourselves that your message is the reason you both exsist. These people are nobodies and are jealous that Caitlin has an following that she built by telling the uncomfortable truth. Truth cannot be erased by lies. The liars are afraid that the trurh is winning and they will lose their captured audience. We see them. Those who cannot see it are lost anyway. Let us forge ahead, sharpen our blades, ready our arrows and keep our focus on the true fight. Keep writing. Your audience keeps growing as the veil is lifting.
What Mr. Caitlin said!!! :+)
Try to spend less time thinking about them, than they spend thinking about you.
Hi Caitlin & Tim.
For every “hater” there are ten of us who really appreciate what you do.
Coping with mindless hate is never easy and no one should ever have to put up with it
I love what you’re doing. You’re making a difference which is more than the idiots will ever do.
I’ve watched the idiocy bubble away and have copped some flack on occasions daring to defend you.
Most of the haters remind me of all the splinter terrorist groups in the Life of Brian – they’re hilarious when you don’t let them get under your skin. You can’t argue with sick minds – let them disappear up their own backsides.
I love your work and am insanely jealous of the profile you’ve built. I suspect your haters are too but they’ll never admit it.
Talent talks bullshit walks.
Keep fighting.
Knackered? Is that similar to snockered? Great article! Nice to hear from Tim & to know you have that kind of great support daily.
These assholes know that their days are numbered. They’ve run out of things to say, people just aren’t that into them anymore. One trick ponies. I hope Caitlin can recognize all this crap for what it is; jealous losers lashing out in frustration. Then I hope she can bring herself to ignore them.
Dear Caitlin and Tim,
I know how difficult it is to not engage when being attacked. I’m the sort who pretty much itches for a fight and relishes the opportunity to confront ignorance and vanquish robots of the State. But I also know that engaging these vermin on the level of their ignorance is just what they want. They want you to stop writing about higher ideals and come down to their level, to muck around in the mud they create, to address and respond to the endless falsehoods and red herrings they can throw at you. I’m reminded of an anecdote about Lyndon Johnson when he was first running for congress in Texas. One of his cronies was editor of a local paper. Lyndon told him to run a story about his opponent saying he was known to be fucking his pigs. The editor said, “Now, I don’t know Lyndon. There no evidence he’s ever fucked a pig.” Lyndon says, “Well I know that. I just want to hear the son-of-a-bitch deny it.”
Don’t give the bastards credibility by responding and recognizing them as having power and say. There’s a scene in the movie “Tombstone” that comes to mind when thinking about what you are dealing with. On a dusty Tombstone street a bully named Johnny advances on Wyatt Earp from behind with a shotgun. Suddenly a voice: “Why Johnny Tyler, you madcap, Where are you going with that shotgun?” It’s legendary gunslinger Doc Holliday. Johnny cowers and freezes. Doc and Wyatt engage in casual banter about gambling and the general state of things, Johnny looks on, trembling, not sure what awaits. Finally Doc turns to him and says, “Oh sorry, Johnny, I forgot all about you. You can go now. Just Leave the shotgun.”
You are Doc Holliday, Caitlin. They are all Johnnys.
All the very best,
Bart Marshall
Not that I needed to hear any of this from you, because it is all so obvious, unless one is one predisposed, predetermined, or self-interested to think otherwise, but thanks for saying it all, anyway.
Big fan of Caitlin’s (and your) writing. Keep up the good work, and don’t let the haters get you down.
Moved to leave my first comment ever: Wow, good job! And thank you.