Headlines were blaring the word “Russian” again the other day because the mass media narrative managers found yet another reason for westerners to feel terrified of the icy potato patch that we’d barely ever thought about prior to 2016. I’d like to talk about the Kremlin’s latest horrifying horrific addition to its fearsome doomsday artillery, and recap a few of the other incredibly frightening and terrifying tactics that those strange Cyrillic-scribbling demons of the East are employing to undermine truth, justice, and the American way. Just to make sure we’re all good and scared like we’re supposed to be.

Gather the kids, clutch your pearls and sign off on hundreds of billions of dollars of extra military spending, my patriotic brethren! Here are five super scary ways the Red Menace is trying to destroy you and everything you hold dear:

1. Whales

Headlines and TV news segments from virtually all mainstream outlets were falling all over themselves the other day to report the fact that some Norwegians found a tame beluga whale with a harness on it, and “experts” attest that the animal may have been part of a covert espionage program for the Russian navy.

While there is no indication that this spying cetacean has been trained in the arts of sonar election meddling or shooting novichok from its blowhole, the Guardian helpfully informs us that the harness was labeled “Equipment of St. Petersburg”, and was equipped to hold “a camera or weapon”.

“Marine experts in Norway believe they have stumbled upon a white whale that was trained by the Russian navy as part of a programme to use underwater mammals as a special ops force,” the Guardian reports.

The Norwegian tabloid Verdens Gang, which picked up on the discovery well before the breathless English headlines began gracing us with their presence, is a teensy bit less Ian Flemingesque in its reporting on the matter: the harness is equipped for a GoPro camera. The words “Equipment of St. Petersburg” are written in English.

Why is the Russian military writing “Equipment of St. Petersburg” in English on the garments of its aquatic special ops forces, you may ask? If there were indeed a secret beluga espionage squad assembled by Russian intelligence services, would they not perhaps avoid writing the home address of the whales on their harnesses altogether, and maybe, you know, not let them run free in the wild?

And to that I would say, stop asking so many questions. That’s just what Putin wants.

2. Crickets

report seeded throughout the mainstream media by anonymous intelligence officials last September claimed that US government workers in Cuba had suffered concussion-like brain damage after hearing strange noises in homes and hotels with the most likely culprit being “sophisticated microwaves or another type of electromagnetic weapon” from Russia. A recording of one such highly sophisticated attack was analyzed by scientists and turned out to be the mating call of the male indies short-tailed cricket. Neurologists and other brain specialists have challenged the claim that any US government workers suffered any neurological damage of any kind, saying test results on the alleged victims were misinterpreted.

The actual story, when stripped of hyperventilating Russia panic, is that some government workers once heard some horny crickets in Cuba.

*cough*

3. Puppies

Ye gads, is is nothing sacred? Is there any weapon these monsters won’t use to transform the west into a giant, globe-spanning Mordor?

That’s right, in 2017 puppies became one of the many, many things we’ve been instructed to fear in the hands of our vodka-swilling enemy to the east, with mass media outlets reporting that a Facebook group for animal lovers was one of the sinister, diabolical tactics employed by St. Petersburg’s notorious Internet Research Agency. As the Moon of Alabama blog has explained, the only evidence we’ve seen so far actually indicates that the Internet Research Agency’s operations in America served no purpose other than to attract eyeballs for money. As journalist Aaron Maté wrote of the highly publicized Russian Facebook meddling, “Far from being a sophisticated propaganda campaign, it was small, amateurish, and mostly unrelated to the 2016 election.”

The late, great Robert Parry, one of the earliest and most outspoken critics of the Russiagate narrative, covered this one for Consortium News in an article he authored a few months before his untimely passing:

As Mike Isaac and Scott Shane of The New York Times reported in Tuesday’s editions, “The Russians who posed as Americans on Facebook last year tried on quite an array of disguises. … There was even a Facebook group for animal lovers with memes of adorable puppies that spread across the site with the help of paid ads.”

 

Now, there are a lot of controversial issues in America, but I don’t think any of us would put puppies near the top of the list. Isaac and Shane reported that there were also supposedly Russia-linked groups advocating gay rights, gun rights and black civil rights, although precisely how these divergent groups were “linked” to Russia or the Kremlin was never fully explained. (Facebook declined to offer details.)

 

At this point, a professional journalist might begin to pose some very hard questions to the sources, who presumably include many partisan Democrats and their political allies hyping the evil-Russia narrative. It would be time for some lectures to the sources about the consequences for taking reporters on a wild ride in conspiracy land.

 

Yet, instead of starting to question the overall premise of this “scandal,” journalists at The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, etc. keep making excuses for the nuttiness. The explanation for the puppy ads was that the nefarious Russians might be probing to discover Americans who might later be susceptible to propaganda.

 

“The goal of the dog lovers’ page was more obscure,” Isaac and Shane acknowledged. “But some analysts suggested a possible motive: to build a large following before gradually introducing political content. Without viewing the entire feed from the page, now closed by Facebook, it is impossible to say whether the Russian operators tried such tactics.”

4. Pokémon

Yes, Pokémon.

This Russia hysteria has been a long, wild ride, and sometimes it’s honestly felt like they’re just experimenting on us. Like they’ve been testing the limits of how ridiculous they can make this thing and still get mainstream Americans to swallow it. Like the establishment propagandists are all sitting around in a room smoking blunts and making bets with each other all,
“I’m telling you, we can sell a Pokémon Go Kremlin conspiracy.”
“Do it!”
“No way. There’s no way they’ll go for it.”
“Yeah well you said that about the puppy dogs!”

And then they release their latest experiment in social manipulation and place bets on how many disgruntled Hillary voters they can get retweeting it saying “God dammit, I knew that jigglypuff looked suspicious!”

The October 2017 CNN report which sparked off a full day of shrieking “OMG THEY’RE EVEN USING PIKACHU TO ATTACK OUR DEMOCRACY” headlines was titled “Exclusive: Even Pokémon Go used by extensive Russian-linked meddling effort”, and it reported that Russia had extended its “tentacles” into the popular video game for the purpose of election meddling. Apparently the Internet Research Agency attempted to hold a contest using the game to highlight police brutality against unarmed Black men, which of course is something that only an evil autocracy would ever do. 

Not until the fifteenth paragraph of the article did we see the information which undercut all the frantic arm flailing about Russians destroying democracy and warping our children’s fragile little minds:

“CNN has not found any evidence that any Pokémon Go users attempted to enter the contest, or whether any of the Amazon Gift Cards that were promised were ever awarded — or, indeed, whether the people who designed the contest ever had any intention of awarding the prizes.”

Mmm hmm.

5. Laughter

Late last year the BBC published an article titled “How Putin’s Russia turned humour into a weapon” about yet another addition to the Kremlin’s horrifying deadly hybrid warfare arsenal: comedy. The article’s author, ironically titled “Senior Journalist (Disinformation)” by the BBC, argues that Russia has suddenly discovered laughter as a way to “deliberately lower the level of discussion”.

“Russia’s move towards using humour to influence its campaigns is a relatively recent phenomenon,” the article explained, without speculating as to why Russians might have suddenly begun laughing at their western accusers.

Is it perhaps possible that Russian media have begun mocking the west a lot more because westerners have made themselves much easier to make fun of? Could it perhaps be the fact that western mass media have been doing absolutely insane things like constantly selling us the idea that the Kremlin could be lurking behind anything in our world, even really innocuous-looking things like puppy dogs, Pokémon and whales? Could we perhaps be finding ourselves at the butt end of jokes now because in 2016 our society went bat shit, pants-on-head, screaming-at-passing-motor-vehicles insane?

Nahhh. Couldn’t be. It’s the Russians who’ve gone mad.

____________________

Everyone has my unconditional permission to republish or use any part of this work (or anything else I’ve written) in any way they like free of charge. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics on Twitterthrowing some money into my hat on Patreon or Paypalpurchasing some of my sweet merchandisebuying my new book Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone, or my previous book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for my website, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here.

Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2

Liked it? Take a second to support Caitlin Johnstone on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!

43 responses to “Whales, Crickets, And Other Fearsome Russian Doomsday Weapons”

  1. Based upon this, what are we supposed to wonder about the collective knowledge of our so-called “intelligence” agencies? And those are the same people who concluded that the Russians were hacking a United States election without ever examining any evidence that showed they had anything to do with anything that happened!

    Stupid is as stupid does!

  2. Anybody who cannot now see that the transnational Elite are going to lead humanity to extinction is blind or deliberately blind.
    ..
    I will describe one possible Golden-Rule-based alternative to the present economic system in which the vast majority of wealth and LARGE SCALE capital equipment are owned by a microscopic percentage of the population for its own astronomical profit.
    ..
    I’ll resort to the greatest tool in any species — “human imagination” — to do that.
    ..
    I want to take a mind trip. I want to compare two worlds – the earth on which we live and another planet that is identical to ours, except that in that planet’s solar system there has been a brief solar event whose radiation has not only instantly killed all of the people on that planet, but, amazingly, also slowed down the physical deterioration of any of the things that the planet’s deceased inhabitants created.
    ..
    Hearing about the calamity on earth’s twin planet, millions of people from our planet, who just happen to be unemployed ex-technicians from various professions (yes, a very competent bunch), jump into spacecraft and fly to that other planet. But, before they leave, they agree that ABSOLUTELY ALL of what is on the other planet will be “owned” equally among them and used for the good of all. (Yes, you are right, that is exactly where I’m going.)
    ..
    Just like there is on this planet, there is an internet on the other planet, so the immigrants instantly realize that a so-called representative government will NOT be necessary …………. on the other planet. In that place, there shall be direct democracy. People will hammer out important decisions amongst themselves using the internet as a means of virtually instantaneous, mass communication. (Ah yes, “human nature” will certainly be tempted in this new Garden of Eden.)
    ..
    There will be only one “nation” on one new world which will be called, simply, the world. There will be only one set of rules for all individuals. There will be no other nation to export to. There will be no nation to import from. Therefore, whatever economic system is decided upon will be of a design which can/will NOT be dependent upon either imports or exports. Human beings will either sink or swim together.
    ..
    After the new immigrants arrive on their new planet, using existing transportation systems, they disperse all over their planet so that they can get their new (old) machines up and running; fields plowed and planted; hospitals operating, etc. (Yes, it wasn’t easy. But with the common good in mind, people were successful. Just accept it for the moment.)
    ..
    The immigrants soon realize that it takes very few people (far fewer than immigrated) to keep the machines running, food on the table, etc., and, with some more design engineering, EVEN FEWER people will be required as time goes on. Not only that, but the products of these machines can be made to a much better quality then they apparently were previously, so these products will last far longer. As a result, it is realized that perhaps some of the huge machines can be operated far less frequently than they used to be. For example, automobiles soon come to be made much simpler, easier to fix and much more reliable. They have a far greater useful lifespan than they once had.
    ..
    The people enjoy leisure time, developing their artistic abilities, playing games and other non-productive activities.
    ..
    Rather than unfairly have the same small number of people constantly toiling on the machines, the people decide to divide up, or “distribute”, what little remaining HUMAN LABOR that is necessary to operate the machines, plow the fields, construct buildings, roads, etc. That is, EVERYONE has to work on the machines, etc., but for only a short period of time each year. And as the machines get improved and further automated, even LESS labor is required over time and, therefore, even MORE of each individual’s time is “free”.
    ..
    The newly-designed machines in this new world come to do almost all of the things that must be done, and the “profit” from the machines – leisure time and the actual products of the machines–is equally divided amongst all people, not hoarded by a microscopic percentage.
    ..
    Some of the leisure time is used for training all people in the variety of tasks they will be undertaking – everything from brain surgery to sewage treatment. Apprenticeship and training via video (just like Youtube on planet earth!) are found to be the ideal ways of training people. It is soon discovered that most medical and dental procedures can be either performed by robots or learned in a fraction of the time once thought to be absolutely necessary.
    ..
    Through apprenticeship and video “schooling”, the population becomes very knowledgeable, so they soon realize that by reducing their own population naturally, by slow attrition – by having only one or two children – the remaining population has even less to do (less water treatment, housing, electricity, food, everything), so their descendants have even more free time to themselves and the planet’s biosphere becomes more and more fit for human habitation, not less and less as it was becoming under the stress of the 8 billion and growing former human population.
    ..
    These people’s new-found religion is two-faceted — the Golden Rule and the continually-evolving simplicity, ease-of-use, and, most importantly, high-quality-construction and, therefore, long usable life, of the products they create. Unlike they did back on planet Earth, the immigrants now strive to manufacture things ONLY ONCE — things that with simple, inexpensive maintenance, last essentially forever.
    ..
    Transportation systems move people to and from the machines and other places where labor is needed, as well as moving people about the planet for other less practical reasons.
    ..
    Life is great in the new world.
    ..
    The End.
    ..
    My point is that there are possible ALTERNATIVE ways of living (economic systems) to the one in which we now live, but the only thing we are allowed to hear in our prefect Matrix of education and 24/7 propaganda is that there are NO alternatives available, other than the experimental ones that are at this very moment being literally dreamed up by the present entrenched powers-that-be (and their now TBTF banks) in order to serve only themselves.
    ..
    The fictional planet that I have just described is a place that is pretty close in design to the place described in a book by B.F. Skinner called “Walden Two”, published in 1948. So I’ve really said nothing that hasn’t been proposed for THIS planet since 1948 and actually put into practice in several small communities since that time as alternatives to this ongoing whatever-you-want-to-call-it experiment we live in today — and ancient “experiment” which is quite obviously nothing but a for-profit, corporate-owned-and-operated enterprise.
    ..
    Regardless of what you think of the aforementioned fictional planet and what revisionist historians have to say about the 1960’s, what I’ve said most recently was what the so-called “counter-culture” movement of that time was all about.
    ..
    The part of the generation of people who went to the moon and crafted war and war machines to destroy the people of Vietnam were not the only intelligent people of that generation. Other intelligent, committed, resourceful people founded places such as Twin Oaks which were, again, attempts by like-minded individuals to break out of the corporate-controlled Matrix into which people are still being born today.
    ..
    Much as average people would like to avoid facing the reality of their lives in the Matrix, there is simply no getting around the fact that there are descendants of very powerful, very rich people living among us today who want “the system” to remain exactly as it is and will use their power in every imaginable way to ensure that it does.
    ..
    We all hope that the system we live in can be made to work for humanity, but, again, history proved long ago that it is a system which must be changed. The history of the growth of the human population and the necessity of perpetual war express the two most important failures of the present system and will by themselves literally result in the extinction of the human race if they continue.
    ..
    Although a necessary first step, it is NOT enough to time and time again point out the fatal flaws of the present arrangement. What is desperately needed is detailed description of an alternative — one which starts with an overall outline like the one above and, most importantly, a fundamental principle as its foundation. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, AKA the Golden Rule, is IMO what MUST be the foudation of ANY successful alternative. The reason for that is blatantly self-evident. Without it, you and your neighbor cannot even build a fence, let alone a better world.

    1. “If I have seen further, it is because I stood on the shoulders of giants.” — Isaac Newton
      .
      Hi Ish,
      .
      Years ago I read Marx, having at the time a professor insistent that we read opposing political points of view, right – left, communism – capitalism, Castro – The John Birch Society, and so on, when trying to discern the “truth” of any matter.
      .
      Reading his analysis of class conflict, it struck me just how much Marx and Adam Smith agreed upon, until reaching his prescription for an altruistic “new man” who would lead us to utopia. To each according to his need, from each according to his ability. If only…
      .
      Deus ex machina
      .
      Today I read a story about an app which tracks a “social credit score” for each and every Chinese citizen. Without delving into detail, it insures that only those deemed loyal and subservient to their political masters may travel, shop or otherwise engage normal, ordinary social interactions common in every human society. I mention this because some forty years ago the Chinese ended their great Cultural Revolution which was supposed to sweep away the bothersome vestiges of their pre-communist life. Seems their new men have yet to arrive.
      .
      The difference between Marx and Smith appears, to me, not to be a difference between their assessment of human nature, but of how that nature must be governed — Marx is a utopian and Smith a realist. To achieve his utopian vision Marx (and his heirs) sanction mass propaganda, forced indoctrination and even genocide to force an evolution in human consciousness — after all, we can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs now can we?
      .
      On the other hand, Smith, contrary to all the bad publicity and abuse he’s suffered at the hands of both Marxists and capitalists, thought that for all it faults, capitalism was a natural result of liberty and individual enterprise — altho it could be terribly exploitive of and destructive to the society at large if not heavily regulated and properly controlled. He would have laughed at all the “free market” rhetoric employed by today’s propagandists and considered the control modern banks and corporations exert over culture, society and governance anathema.
      .
      “I sincerely believe… that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.” — Thomas Jefferson
      .
      Altho I forget who made the remark, in essence that the American Constitution and form of government could only work among a moral people, I think it accurate. It is governance predicated on the assumption that those whom govern themselves must actually practice the Golden Rule — Do unto others as you would have them do unto you — which is itself a utopian vision.
      .
      But thus far, we’ve been unable to escape our biology — our evolutionary heritage — as both predator and prey. Moreover, we prey not only on other species, but ourselves as well both socially and individually. Though not religious, I think the concept of the seven virtues and seven deadly sins accurately describes the contradictions inherent in the human condition…
      .
      It comes down to whom do you think ought exercise governance — power and control — in society. An elite which professes to answer to a higher calling, or the people themselves with all their warts? But in the end, there will be some kind of governance, even if anarchy reigns for a short while…
      .
      Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question. — Thomas Jefferson
      .
      Indeed, direct democracy bounded by a formal social contract, which is only just now becoming technologically viable, would be my preference. But I must ask, since democracy of any kind depends upon both the education of and accurate information available to the citizenry at large, as well as their shared morality: How do we get from here to there, considering how long the nation has been trapped in the empire’s “Matrix”?
      .
      All my best,
      Spanky

    2. You start with agreed-upon, detailed definitions of words like “socialism”, “capitalism”, “terrorism”, “labor”, “money”, “work”, “play”, “leisure”, “expert”, etc, because without a common understanding of exactly what those words mean, we are defeated before we even begin. After that agreement, people elaborate on the general outline of a new design such as the one I’ve mentioned — as a painter would “paint in” the oulines of a conception.
      ..
      For example, let’s make things really easy and start off with a single word. What exactly does the word “socialism” mean? Let’s see if we can agree on what that word “means”. Should be easy, right?

      1. Let’s see if we can agree on what that word [socialism] “means”. Should be easy right? — Ishkabibble
        .
        Lord have mercy! Agree on a political definition rather than babble in tongues? The heavens might fall from the sky before we can hammer that one out. ;>)
        .
        According to my sources, it means either nirvana or pure evil…

        1. Miss Margaret Avatar
          Miss Margaret

          Americans may recall (well, prob. not, it’s not taught in schools these days) that the Revolution we fought against the British was, in part, against British free trade. While Adam Smith and Thomas Jefferson are swooned over today by free traders, at the time of the founding and throughout our history, there was a major push for a unique system, which Hamilton and Clay and others promoted and was actually named The American System of Economics. It has been used on & off, mainly off in most recent years. If you look it up today, it’s poorly described, but if you read the source material, Hamilton, Clay, Carey, et al, it describes a mix of govt. duty to develop all infrastructure, transport, education, public properties, protective tariffs, national treasures/resources kept public-not privatized, commonweal/general welfare of citizens, etc, etc, (thru Natl. banking super low interest loans & taxation to private sector parties who develop productive labor & public works & by national govt. agencies) and private trade, often with high interest loans & taxes on commerce that serves little purpose to the most people (luxury tax is an example of). They also selected representative govt. because the one man/one vote idea could-could-result in mob rule-convince enough people, and reason, natural law & the general welfare of all could be muddled and lost, overturned by popular public and self interest. It was a good system. But like all good things, it was targeted endlessly by the pro British ‘free-traitors’ in our govt.

          1. Miss Margaret Avatar
            Miss Margaret

            …*popular public opinion…

          2. Perhaps it’s not taught, and poorly described, because it doesn’t conform to the corporations and banks “free to run riot over the citizenry” meme (laissez-faire capitalism / free trade).
            .
            This is what Ben Franklin was thinking about when he said: “A republic … if you can keep it.”
            .
            There are a few for reasons my comment elsewhere that, as a practical matter, if we are able to successfully challenge the “pro-British ‘free traitors’ in our govt.”, a return to the basic precepts of the Constitution would be in order. The first is because, if the legislators are honest and fairly represent their constituents, it is a pretty good system. (So, let’s relieve the FBI of all other tasks except investigation of violations of the public trust by elected and appointed government officials and the bureaucracy.)
            .
            A second assumes that, as a result of the empire’s indoctrination and ability to spew propaganda and social discord (which will not simply dissipate into thin air overnight), any attempt to change that social contract will be met by a veritable elite-mob onslaught.
            .
            And yes, direct democracy carries the possibility of mob rule, and if we’ve learned anything about ourselves recently, it is that corporate media can stir up and nurture an unreasoning mob… But, if carefully bounded and delineated by a social contract, I think it could work, and it does eliminate the problem of corrupt legislators… but in an era of mass communications controlled by corporate monopoly, it gives rise to its own set of serious problems.

            1. Miss Margaret Avatar
              Miss Margaret

              I, also, believe the Constitution, a culmination of nearly 2,000 years of deep longing by the world’s masses for the freedom to self govern was/is revolutionary. Also, many years of writings by philosophers who expressed true charitable love for humanity (agape’, as they understood it at the time) informed many of the founders of the New World and framers of it’s documents. While these framers weren’t perfect people, the Constitution, and, of course, the declaration listing the reasons for it’s conception, is a radically new type of govt. after those that preceded it.
              IT didn’t fail us, we failed it, but the odds have long been against us. If only people like these ↓didn’t exist…

              http://www.hamptoninstitution.org/engineeringempire.html#.XM7HKN9Ok4N

  3. The UK Daily Mail has a good clear picture of the part of the whale’s harness which is marked “Equipment St Petersburg”:
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6975883/Pictured-Russian-spy-whales-harness-clearly-marked-St-Petersburg-equipment.html
    There is also a logo which looks like a stylised leaping dolphin, such that it could be a dolphin-watching tour company logo, or similar. I don’t have the skills, but I expect someone out there has, to do a search to identify the company whose logo and trademark it is (or was).

  4. Stephen Morrell Avatar
    Stephen Morrell

    Thanks Caitlin, not least for introducing new (to me at least) expressions for madness. First ‘batshit crazy’ and now ‘pants-on-head, screaming-at-passing-motor-vehicles insane’. Can’t stop laughing.

    1. I wish I could leave a more cogent reply, but this about sums it all up. As Rush Limbaugh was want to say, “truly folks, I can’t make this up, I can’t”.
      I just feel sorry for so many Americans who believe they bought an education, and all they got was this box of rocks.
      I’ve met Russian Marines in various ports, Sailors and Soldiers, around the world, and they’re people just like us, professional, skilled, and just as willing to get drunk and a little crazy, and it’s taken a century to get “the American People” on board with “hating Russia”, with our government taking the position over a century ago.
      Semper Fidelis,
      John McClain
      Vanceboro, NC

  5. RedHawkRising Avatar
    RedHawkRising

    Waiting for the Barbarians
    BY C. P. CAVAFY (Trans. Edmund Keeley)

    What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?
    The barbarians are due here today.
    Why isn’t anything going on in the senate?
    Why are the senators sitting there without legislating?
    Because the barbarians are coming today.
    What’s the point of senators making laws now?
    Once the barbarians are here, they’ll do the legislating.
    Why did our emperor get up so early,
    and why is he sitting enthroned at the city’s main gate,
    in state, wearing the crown?
    Because the barbarians are coming today
    and the emperor’s waiting to receive their leader.
    He’s even got a scroll to give him,
    loaded with titles, with imposing names.
    Why have our two consuls and praetors come out today
    wearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas?
    Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts,
    rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds?
    Why are they carrying elegant canes
    beautifully worked in silver and gold?
    Because the barbarians are coming today
    and things like that dazzle the barbarians.
    Why don’t our distinguished orators turn up as usual
    to make their speeches, say what they have to say?
    Because the barbarians are coming today
    and they’re bored by rhetoric and public speaking.
    Why this sudden bewilderment, this confusion?
    (How serious people’s faces have become.)
    Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly,
    everyone going home lost in thought?
    Because night has fallen and the barbarians haven’t come.
    And some of our men just in from the border say
    there are no barbarians any longer.
    Now what’s going to happen to us without barbarians?
    Those people were a kind of solution.

    1. Thanks so much for this, I’ve never seen it before, but it is so cogent, timely, dead on target. Brilliant reply to an excellent question.
      Semper Fidelis,
      John McClain
      Vanceboro, NC

  6. Are there any links about Assange in court today?
    I am having a hard time finding much.

    Any photos-how does he look?
    Why has his Lawyer not said anything?

    Thanks.

  7. The theater of the absurd lives on. Thing about planting memes is that they don’t ask you to think about them, but just react to them. It’s a hit and run operation.

  8. Unknown to the CIA and the NSA is the ongoing training of military cockroaches that are already inside ” sleeper cells ” in every large United States cities ready to strike when the call comes!!!

    1. You probably know Ron that DARPA is actually weaponizing insects!

      1. Great reporting on this by Dilyana Gaytandzhieva who, I believe, was sacked after publishing what she had found out. There are other reports on the internet but it was Dilyana who did a very courageous job in getting to the bottom of what’s going on.

        https://dilyana.bg/the-pentagon-bio-weapons/

        1. That is magnificent reporting!!! Thank You, Robyn!

      2. Shit, you can buy the “kits” on ebay, make your own cockroach army.
        If you think drones are bad, wait for the nuclear cockroaches!
        Semper Fidelis,
        John McClain

  9. Miss Margaret Avatar
    Miss Margaret

    Would be funny if not so real. I, literally moments ago, was locked out of Twitter for retweeting this Prof. Steve Cohen article with ‘when did Mueller know this?’ (Putin/Kremlin had no idea how to reach new Trump admin because they had no previous relationship b4, during campaign, per Mueller Report) comment to several people and news orgs (maybe 4-5 times). ‘Suspicious behavior’ is the reason. Now they want my phone number and personal info to keep using their platform. I guess I go on a ’round ’em up for questioning if Congress makes a declaration of war on information’ list now. My 450 followers are nothing big, but address, etc, could cause my husband’s near 8 thousand followers to be at risk. The U.S. feels very 1984 (and I live here).

    https://www.thenation.com/article/muellers-own-mysteries/

    1. I find it surprising to hear of something I’ve commonly experienced, and had to question if I was being paranoid. Having served two decades as a Marine, I’ve spent more than that, merely finding out where I went, and why.
      Naming the reasons we did things has caused my computer to lock up, lose my email for weeks, and I’ve long given up on using any “social media”, even “discus” is having problems for me now.
      I have no problem believing, now, with another similar statement of experience. Don’t let the bastards grind you down. I used to know that in Latin, but alas, my mom has been gone for some years now, and won’t remind me.
      Semper Fidelis,
      John McClain
      GySgt, USMC, ret.
      Vanceboro, NC

      1. Miss Margaret Avatar
        Miss Margaret

        My computer guy husband fixed me up w/out having to divulge personal info requested (I’m not computer savvy, so maybe I was being paranoid when all that happened was I over-tweeted one article but it looked ‘spammy’ to the Twitter algorithms). But, I’ve tweeted other articles multiple times, yet this one with Russia and Putin mentioned thru-out was the first time ever that I tripped a lockout. My first thought was, I shouldn’t mention things I shouldn’t mention, because I know the subject (Russia) is a, well, flagged subject. I’m 57. Never before, ever, have I been nervous about something I said, knowing I had the 1st amendment, free speech as a right. I could say out loud anything, other than the fire in a theater comment. This, today, feels untrue. I actually think twice about my ‘neighbors’ on a SocMed site ‘reporting’ me (like in the old authoritarian countries), or being watched by AI word police. The internet opened the world, and that’s made some people very upset. Creating a criminal and then saying anyone who talks about the criminal is a friend of the criminal is extremely chilling to normal free dscussion. That seems to be the plan.

        1. Unfortunately, ” Deep State Government Officials ” are quite attached to their roles as ” masters of the universe “; hence they consider ” anyone ” not following the herd or not swallowing the propaganda to be dire threats to be constantly watched!! I made the mistake of reporting a criminal to the F.B.I. and all they did was watch me and disable my computer from ever being able to log on to The Rutherford Institute website!! My government has thrown out the United States Constitution and does what ever it wants to do because no one or nothing can ever stop them!!

          ” We The People ” are just sheep to be sheared by the masters!!

  10. At the very bottom of the corporate media report I read on the whale discovered with the harness containing English writing (and BTW, there is at least one American city known as “St. Petersberg” in the Tampa/St.Pete metropolitan area of Florida), they did finally mention the true fact that the USA has and continues to train marine mammals for various spy tasks.

    1. Interesting. Wikipedia article on Military Dolphiins (undoubtedly deep-state edited) says the “US Navy Military Mammal Program” is based in San Diego, CA. But it then goes on to say that they “get” (in other words, kidnap) some of their dolphins from the Gulf of Mexico. The American city of St. Petersberg is on the Gulf of Mexico.

  11. “Brooke” in the CNN Pokemon video seems to specialize in being condescending to guests. Here she is listening to Sander’s Medicare proposal:

    https://twitter.com/i/videos/tweet/1123298091346513923?embed_source=clientlib&player_id=0&rpc_init=1&autoplay=1&language_code=en&use_syndication_guest_id=true

  12. The Russians won’t admit their guilt no matter how many opportunities they are given!

    I wouldn’t be surprised if the St. Petersburg operation is just trolling. Russiagate is a joke in Russia and this businessman may have set up this operation to do meaningless nonsense and see if it provokes paranoid Americans into chasing their tails. It could also be a way to discredit Russiagate, at least with sane people.

    1. The sane people left that building a long time ago. I remember polls awhile back showing about 70% didn’t believe it. Which means it was really only the rabid wing of the Dems who believed it, but not all Dems and nobody else.

      And yes, I would say that about 25% of the people are insane Republicans and another 25% are insane Democrats. Neither group cares about facts or reason or evidence, but only repeat what Rachel Maddow or Rupert Murdoch tells them to believe.

  13. Communist Puppies! It’s a Russian Plot!

  14. “Like they’ve been testing the limits of how ridiculous they can make this thing and still get mainstream Americans to swallow it.”

    I think it was George Carlin who said, “When you think about how ignorant the average American is, don’t forget half of them are more ignorant that THAT!”

    I LMAO just thinking about it. They’re already using stuff that was rejected by The Onion for being too ridiculous.

  15. Caitlin
    That was your best yet.
    I literally cried as I laughed at those rediculus media talking points.
    They do not seem to see the humor in their pathetic blatant prostituting (actually thats a bit unfair to prostitutes but I am somewhat word challenged) clownish (scarey clown) “proffesion” – they are in no way in yhe same line of “work” as a Robert Parry please do not compare them or refer to them both in same paragraph.
    We need to savor and remember this period when the village idiots were exposed (they usually manage to be less obvious). This is our truth holocost – truth and reason and fairness are being burned at the cross in the dumpster tire burning fire that are the msm.
    As clapper (or is it brennan I cant tell them apart) would say the ruskies are genetically predisposed to humor at our expense.
    Bravo Caitlin this was your St Crispens day – you kickef theire ass.

  16. Funny thing, whilst browsing thru dollar store today, came across harness for dogs with attachment for GoPro camera. Could it be, the Russians are now training dogs to be spies ??????????

  17. The Trouble With Tulsi
    Part 3
    .
    To read part one of this comment, please see “The Trouble With Tulsi” comment under Caitlin’s article “Assange’s Imprisonment Reveals Even More Corruption Than WikiLeaks Did”…
    .
    To read part two of this comment, please see “The Trouble With Tulsi, Part 2” under Caitlin’s article “Trump Has Murdered Over 40,000 Venezuelans With Sanctions”…
    .
    So, finally, where do we go from here?
    .
    This is the most difficult question we must answer. It’s relatively easy to recite history or follow contortions of philosophy and logic. But this question…
    .
    Years ago I worked on a ballot initiative, going door-to-door for days on end trying to quickly establish person-to-person rapport and collect a signature or two before moving on to the next. It was mind-numbing and mostly folks answered the door then quickly closed it again. Perhaps one in ten would hear me out before sending me on my way and maybe one in ten of them would sign.
    .
    In almost every house a television bleated in the background. One older lady, kind enough to listen before sending me away and going back to her game show said: “Young man, if this was important it would be on the TV.”
    .
    Why should you consider, much less believe, what I’ve laid out in these comments? I’m a nobody, unknown and unimportant — all the important stuff is happening out there, in the media, among the well-known. Julian is arrested, a coup is in the offing in Venezuela, Britain wants to ban kitchen knives, and here I am knocking on your internet door asking for a few minutes to pitch a simply outrageous, totally crazy idea about owning the ballot box. I mean, if it was important, a well-known someone in the alternative or mainstream media would either praise or condemn it… Right?
    .
    Exactly so. We’re not thinking, we’re reacting to what he said, she said, they did, as reported by… We’re not talking among ourselves, having conversations and thinking about shredding the empire’s box. Instead, we’re cheering for our guys, the ones telling us what we want to hear, and jeering the other guys, the ones who simply don’t understand how wrong they are… And, while entertaining, even enlightening, it gets us nowhere.
    .
    Don’t misunderstand me, Caitlin’s (and many others’) work exposing the empire’s lies and propaganda is important. Never doubt that. Their work will never be done, but as important as it is, it’s still only a reaction to the empire’s previous move and will rarely, if ever, prevent its next.
    .
    My point? It’s time to start countering the empire with plans of our own. Yet, if awake, you also know that’s easier said than done.
    .
    After all I’ve got a wife, kid, mortgage, car payments, credit cards, student loans, insurance payments, property taxes and two jobs to pay for it all. Hell, I’d just like a few days off, not to mention a vacation, to catch my breath. Where am I going to find time to protest, even if I wanted too? Most of the protests I’ve seen have little to do with my concerns… I’m paying more every year in taxes and they want to raise them again. Food and gas keep going up while they talk about how low inflation is and wanting more. My savings account earns next to nothing while credit card interest just topped fifteen percent. The car needs new tires, the kid needs braces and I’d like to get the wife something nice for our anniversary but, frankly, we’re just tapped out. Talking TV heads keep telling me the economy is booming and how great everything is, as we fall further and further behind. We’re just barely hanging on…
    .
    Call it the middle class lament. And while it might seem trite compared to what Julian or Venezuela or Syria face, it’s still a very real threat — especially to an empire which supports itself by their belief, labor and sacrifice.
    .
    The glue holding the empire together — that this was the best place to live in the world with high wages, excellent education and healthcare, affordable homes in nice neighborhoods and the best opportunities anywhere — is drying out. And working men and women know it. They may not know why, exactly, but cracks between their reality and the empire’s propaganda are becoming more and more obvious.
    .
    These folks bought into a middle-class dream the empire sold them and play by its rules chasing it. However, thirty years ago, when Soviet walls came tumbling down, the elite quietly changed those rules but kept on selling the dream. Wall Street brought home economic and financial exploitation, perfected overseas, as their corporations shipped middle class jobs to low wage Mexico, China and elsewhere. The elite broke the long truce, forged between labor and management during the Second World War and Cold War, with a financial and economic assault on the middle class.
    .
    And though the middle class may not know it, yet, they are waking up to the fact that their dreams are increasingly made of unobtainium. And their awakening threatens the empire.
    .
    It’s why Julian is being prosecuted. Why news provided by alt media is called fake and prominent dissenters labeled racists and nazis then purged from social media. Why the Patriot Act still exists, surveillance is pervasive, and police are increasingly militarized. The elite are so worried that the velvet glove is slipping from their iron fist… because they fear the natives becoming restless. Identity politics is their answer — divide and rule — pitting one against the other… And why not encourage us to fight among ourselves over nothing but crumbs, when the alternative is realizing who stole the nation?
    .
    The one thing we all agree upon is that the empire must end, before it destroys everything we hold dear. Liberal or conservative, right wing or left, capitalist or socialist — those awake understand the empire threatens us all, individually and collectively.
    .
    So where do we go from here? Someone seeking the truth is asking for directions.
    .
    Instead of merely reciting the ills and bitching about the injustices of empire, we must point them in the right direction. Toward a simple plan that does not require agreement on anything more than “the empire must end”. A public plan in which any citizen can participate with minimal risk. A political plan which not only quantifies our numbers and strength, but sends a message which cannot be ignored — we reject your empire and rule over us.
    .
    A plan which not only challenges the legitimacy of elite governance, but by their opposition calls that legitimacy into question…
    .
    As the ongoing economic and financial crisis we face intensifies, when the middle class come to their senses and start looking for answers, we must point them in a clear direction — or else some new and attractive spokesmodel for the empire will.

    1. So you still believe, going to the ballot box and inserting your choice will help change things ???????????????????????? L.O.L. best of luck on that one . Why hasn’t the vote changed things for the better for the last 50 years then ????? How is it possible, American voters constantly vote for the WRONG people ?????????????????

      1. Perhaps, if you read the entire comment, you might get the point… but as it is, you’ve missed it entirely.

      2. Since it is very hard to win elections as the 1% versus the 99%, there is a constant campaign to tell people not to vote.

    2. “My point? It’s time to start countering the empire with plans of our own. Yet, if awake, you also know that’s easier said than done.”
      ..
      I’ve commented here many times about EXACTLY what you’ve written above. The problem is that people who have been raised in the present “arrangement” (Matrix, if you will) are literally not capable of describing in great detail a better arrangement. They are perfectly capable of bitching about very specific “things” that are wrong with the present arrangement — as you have done in your comment — but, again, they become “tongue tied” the moment they are called upon to describe something better. People find the request that they do that ridiculous and repulsive. Why, “experts” should be doing that! “They” should be looking out for us. “They” are not and “they” never will.
      ..
      The foundation stone of an arrangement that will successfully replace the present one is as follows.
      ..
      Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.
      ..
      If we can not understand why that MUST be the foundation stone, it is because of what we have been “exposed to” since Day 1 or our lives.
      ..
      It’s very easy to see why this must be the foundation stone of a relationship between family members and “expanding out to” immediate neighbors. Quite obviously, it’s the one and the only solid basis of a good relationship.
      ..
      The perhaps insurmountable problem is acting on that foundation outside of that small area — for example to business relationships and even inter-national relationships. It is perhaps insurmountable because those relationships are presently based upon competition and, for lack of a better expression, “getting the upper hand” by “whatever it takes” — AKA “all options are on the table”.
      ..
      The microscopic percentage of the population that owns or controls the vast majority of wealth and LARGE SCALE capital equipment is going to do everything in its power to keep the present arrangement EXACTLY as it is. “All options are on the table.”
      ..
      Unless we can elect politicians who in one way or another elucidate the Golden Rule as their fundamental political platform, the human race will cease to exist. This is because the present arrangement requires perpetual growth of the human population in order to generate profit for that microscopic Elite AND, in the case of the US economy, perpetual enemies and perpetual war in order to justify the not only perpetual, but perpetually E X P A N D I N G, “defense” budget. Although it seems to be impossible that mainland US could be seriously damaged by anybody else on the planet, the other nuclear powered nations of the world who are being increasingly victimized and cornered by the US are going to strike back. That is not only possible; it is inevitable should the present arrangement continue.
      ..
      Again, there is only one foundation stone that can save humanity. That foundation stone is not a mere concept o idea. It is a way of life. It is a way of BEHAVING toward the other people of the world.
      ..
      Spanky, why don’t you take a stab at describing a better arrangement than the present one. I’ll chime right in after you. Good luck.

      1. Thank you for the thoughtfulness of your reply…
        .
        “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.”
        .
        We agree this is the only foundation upon which relationships can be built. Respect and empathy for others is the first prerequisite for mutually beneficial relationships in all aspects of life — personally, politically and internationally.
        .
        The chief problem we, the human race, face moving forward into a technological future is that all civilizations established thus far have crumbled under the weight of their “success”. I would argue that the other golden rule is to blame for those failures. But their failures did not endanger our entire species and biosphere.
        .
        We also agree the elite will use any and every option available to maintain the status quo and their power, as they’ve made abundantly clear.
        .
        What I’ve described in these three linked comments (part three above) is (1) the elite’s institutional mechanism for dominating our political system and electoral process, (2) a description of how voting legitimizes our governance, (3) an argument for how voting can be used to effectively challenge elite governance despite their domination of the political system and, finally, (4) a course of and call to action.
        .
        What I’ve described is a tactic, the first shot in a serious challenge to elite rule. Whether we challenge, successfully (a plurality or greater of votes) or unsuccessfully, the elite will respond — and their response will escalate in proportion to the political power we demonstrate.
        .
        Cannot say what happens next, because I simply do not know. What I would like to see and am trying to achieve is a peaceful transition. But our elites, drunk with their power, will not look to Mikhail Gorbachev for inspiration.
        .
        You ask for a description of a better arrangement, governance, and to be perfectly frank I’m reminded of two quotes: First Ben Franklin, when asked what the Continental Congress had created, replied: “A republic … if you can keep it.
        .
        And second, Thomas Jefferson: I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.
        .
        My preference is an explicit social contract, a formal agreement between citizens of a nation, as to how they should govern themselves. The Constitution is such an instrument, and as both a matter of principle and practical politics, I think we ought return to its basic precepts. While not perfect — many laws made under it, as well as numerous judicial decisions, violate not only its spirit but its letter — it nonetheless singularly captures the essence of self-rule by the people and respect for every person’s natural rights.
        .
        Given such an arrangement, perhaps a mix of socialism and capitalism would work best, since each in its unalloyed state concentrates too much power in too few hands which inevitably destroys the liberty to chart our own courses and fates — the first by government control and regulation, and the second by monopoly and government corruption.
        .
        In the end, there is no utopia waiting for us even should we successfully and peacefully end the empire. We are humans, with all the fallibilities and contradictions inherent in our species. No matter how good a governance we establish today, sooner or later it too will become corrupt and despotic. Looking back over our history, this to me appears inevitable because people who covet money, power and acclaim will rationalize anything to get it and worse to keep it.
        .
        Thus, while I desire good governance and will, constrained by reason and principle, do what is right and necessary to achieve it, I consider whatever success we might have to be, at best, temporary and that generations yet unborn will face exactly the same challenge as both we and our forebears.
        .
        The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive. — Thomas Jefferson

    3. One big unified movement sounds like a natural winner. But what if a million small groups with no direct connection to each other would be harder to stop, and more effective? This is the thesis of Paul Hawken in his book Blessed Discontent. Those small groups already exist, and are chipping away at the huge edifice of Empire. Kinda like the Lilliputians binding Gulliver.

      1. Am not seeking a big, unified movement. The elite would simply corrupt its leadership in short order, IMO.
        .
        Would rather have millions individuals and thousands of groups simply agree that ending the empire is our first and most important priority.
        .
        What I propose is simply a tactic for getting the ball rolling.

  18. Please watch “The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show” repeatedly. 😉 usa usa usa (repeat) #1 #1 #1 (repeat)

Leave a Reply to Ishkabibble Cancel reply

Trending