Journalist Glenn Greenwald has made major waves throughout mainstream and alternative media by resigning from The Intercept, an outlet he co-founded in 2014 with the stated mission of holding power to account with the power of unrestricted journalism.
Greenwald says he resigned because Intercept editors refused to let him publish an article he’d been working on about the mass media’s role in covering up the Hunter Biden October surprise and obfuscating its nature, which he says is a violation of the conditions in his contract for editorial freedom. He also published part of the email exchanges he’d been having with the editors in the lead-up to submitting his notice of resignation.
My Resignation From The Intercept
The same trends of repression, censorship and ideological homogeneity plaguing the national press generally have engulfed the media outlet I co-founded, culminating in censorship of my own articles.https://t.co/dZrlYGfEBf
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 29, 2020
The email exchanges make it fairly clear that Intercept editors were holding Greenwald’s analysis of the allegations against Joe Biden and his family to a much higher evidentiary standard than they hold any journalist who wants to criticize Trump or promote flimsy Russia conspiracy theories on the platform, and generally creating pressure and inertia to remove anything in the article that might hurt Biden’s election chances. Journalist Matt Taibbi has his own article out on Greenwald’s resignation which contains more information on the email exchanges, and which is very much worth reading.
More revealing than the emails is the information which Greenwald shares in his Substack article about his resignation, saying The Intercept has been deliberately opaque about those who were responsible for the Reality Winner debacle and the actions they took which led to her arrest when leaking NSA documents to the outlet. Greenwald claims editors rushed the publication of the leaks “because they was eager to prove to mainstream media outlets and prominent liberals that The Intercept was willing to get on board the Russiagate train,” and says their silence has allowed the blame to fall on him for Winner’s imprisonment despite his having nothing to do with the ordeal.
Greenwald also reveals that The Intercept refused to report on the daily proceedings of the Julian Assange extradition hearing “because the freelance reporter doing an outstanding job was politically distasteful”. It’s unclear exactly what was meant by this; Greenwald has praised the excellent Assange trial coverage by Shadowproof‘s Kevin Gosztola and Richard Medhurst now of Press TV in the past, both of whom say they don’t at this time know who he was referring to. Regardless of what he meant, refusal of a media outlet whose motto is “Fearless, adversarial journalism” to cover the single most important journalistic freedom case in the world is outrageous on its face.
I always wondered why @theintercept didn’t cover #Assange. pic.twitter.com/YNTWe4gB6G
— Richard Medhurst (@richimedhurst) October 29, 2020
The Intercept editors called Greenwald’s criticisms “a grown person throwing a tantrum” in a remarkably snarky statement on their website, claiming on what appears to be no basis that their co-founder was “attempting to recycle the dubious claims of a political campaign — the Trump campaign.”
“We have the greatest respect for the journalist Glenn Greenwald used to be, and we remain proud of much of the work we did with him over the past six years,” the editors wrote. “It is Glenn who has strayed from his original journalistic roots, not The Intercept.”
These accusations are fully in line with the smears you can read from the blue-checkmarked commentariat by typing in Greenwald’s name into the Twitter search bar on every given day. Establishment spinmeisters have been painting Greenwald as a closet Trump supporter who stumbled his way into useful idiocy for the Kremlin ever since the award-winning journalist began questioning the establishment Russia narrative, and this statement is plainly both informed by and designed to appeal to acolytes of that smear campaign.
Contrary to its claims of adhering to its “journalistic roots”, The Intercept has in fact been going down the tubes for as long as I’ve been at this commentary gig. Its coverage on Syria has been blatant security state stenography, it’s published hit pieces on Assange, its sources keep getting arrested, and it has been promoting Russiagate with all the fervor of any garden variety corporate liberal rag. So the fact that it has joined with the freakishly unified narrative management campaign on the Hunter Biden story, and is now citing unsubstantiated assertions by US spooks to do so, is not terribly surprising.
When intel officials decried the recent Post story, they wrote, "We do not have evidence of Russian involvement." The recent Intercept story quoting the letter left out that line.
“The CIA letter was more honest than The Intercept,” Greenwald notes. https://t.co/9i43bgwKds
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) October 30, 2020
The Intercept has fallen victim to the same decay as all other outlets past a certain size and funding level. Matt Taibbi, who says he’s spoken to “multiple well-known journalists” who are encountering similar pressures as those Greenwald encountered in the lead-up to the US election, wrote the following in his aforementioned article:
The traditional method of controlling the press — as described by legendary independent journalists like I.F. Stone — was the quiet aside by the boss, “a little private talk,” where a “hint that the reporter seems irresponsible, a little bit radical” would be dropped. Getting the message, and fearing for his or her job, the reporter backs off. Or, in cases like the Iraq war runup, the strategic dismissal or un-hiring of a big name with the wrong views — Phil Donahue, Jesse Ventura — makes sure the rest of the employees get the message.
Greenwald co-founded the Intercept with this exact scenario in mind, building a structure where “little private talks” with bosses would never happen, and there couldn’t be high-profile dismissals for ideological reasons.
What he didn’t guess at was that even in an atmosphere where managerial interference is near zero, a collective of independent journalists can themselves become censors and enforcers of official orthodoxies. In some cases, journalists will become more aggressive propagandists and suppressors of speech than the officials from whom they supposedly need to be protected. This is what happened with The Intercept.
I really enjoyed my 3-hour discussion yesterday with @joerogan — a wide range of issues: media censorship in general & on Biden, free speech erosions, surveillance & privacy, what responsibilities come with a public platform, just raw & honest discourse:https://t.co/X6gIDwVkcz
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 28, 2020
People will cite all sorts of reasons for The Intercept running cover for intelligence agencies and powerful politicians, including its Omidyar funding and the possibility of government infiltration. But I think the primary source of the decay of The Intercept is much more basic: having large, well-funded news media outlets simply is not conducive to good reporting.
Powerful people pour so very much energy into manipulating how the masses think, act and vote, and news reporters are constantly interfacing with that severely polluted stream of information. For this reason the most heavily propagandized people in the world are those who are responsible for distributing propaganda, namely the news media. As the final guardians of society’s incredible shrinking Overton window, reporters are necessarily the group who will be most aggressively pushed within that window.
If as Upton Sinclair says it is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it, then surely that is especially true of those who’ve spent their working lives learning what frameworks of understanding help them ascend to prominence in the sphere of journalism. This would have shaped them long before they arrived at any outlet which purports to promote “fearless adversarial journalism”, and it would continue shaping them as they interact with fellow journalists.
This combined with a dominant plutocrat-funded media system designed to streamline journalistic thought into mainstream establishment orthodoxies creates a kind of conformity conveyor belt that journos get processed through like the schoolchildren in the video for Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall”.
The dominant worldview in any collective of journalists is statistically likely to be a mainstream worldview, simply because it’s more common by its very nature. Mainstream worldviews are only mainstream because vast amounts of wealth and effort went into shoving them into the mainstream by sheer force for the benefit of the rich and powerful, whose kingdoms are built upon the capitalist imperialist status quo. If you set out to just hire a bunch of journalists who seem good to you, you’re necessarily going to get a lot of people unwittingly promoting the interests of the rich and powerful just by sheer statistical probability.
When you take all these factors together and throw them into a large media outlet full of journalists, our primitive impulses to conform with the pack kick in and the consensus worldview has a much easier time overtaking critical thought even further than it already has.
Additionally, when you gather news reporters together in a large outlet you’re going to attract the attention of powerful forces who have a vested interest in controlling how the news is reported. If you can use your leverage and/or resources to manipulate how that entire outlet reports, then that’s energy well spent.
All this to say, decentralization is going to have to be the way forward for good critical journalism. There are so few reporters who haven’t been digested by the conformity conveyor belt, and if you stick them with the groupthink herd they’re going to be squeezed until they either fall in line or leave. Stop trying to throw the few alive ones in with the zombies and let them go out on their own or in small groups; they’ll be much harder to influence and they can do a lot more damage to the lie factory.
I don’t know if the best way to make a living doing that is with paid Substack subscriptions like Greenwald and Taibbi or more like my own Patreon-based model, or with some other approach we haven’t thought of yet. I just know that every time we cluster up in groups we bog ourselves down and make ourselves an easy target for the machine. It’s clear with the decay of The Intercept that we’re better off finding ways to let our own skills and insight guide us down our own paths toward this journalism thing while the conformity drones rot in their well-funded outlets. The audiences will be there. Truth is attractive to people, serving power is not.
I don’t know that the Hunter Biden October surprise shows anything more scandalous than you’d expect for any major US presidential nominee. I do know that the uniform conspiracy of silence and obfuscation from the mass media about it is uniquely scandalous and says bad things about the future of journalism in western news media. We can’t keep doing things the way we’ve been doing them. Drastic changes are desperately needed.
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87 responses to “Greenwald’s Intercept Resignation Exposes The Rot In All Mass Media”
The notion that the press is “the tocsin of liberty,” in Jefferson’s words, is naïve at best. From its very beginning the federal government had several monetary incentive programs to secure favorable reporting in the nation’s newspapers. In addition to advertising and subscription revenues, most privately owned newspapers depended on federal subsidies to turn a profit. Much of that funding consisted of printing contracts from Congress and a variety of executive department agencies, to inform the public of new laws and regulations, as mandated by the Constitution. The post office also provided newspapers with additional funding, in the form of advertisements describing the creation of new postal routes. That agency also granted lucrative mail delivery contracts to favored editors and even appointed some of them as postmasters.
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Notice that in the carefully worded legal language of the First Amendment, freedom of speech and of the press are not enumerated as positive rights that people possess, but rather as activities which only the national Legislative branch may not infringe upon. In the next clause of the amendment, Bill of Rights author James Madison specifically defines peaceful assembly and petitioning the government as rights of the citizenry.
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In eighteenth century legal usage, “freedom” was synonymous with “privilege” or “immunity,” defining something granted (or removed) by civil or clerical authority, whereas “rights” were considered natural and inviolable. Notice also that the amendment provides no protections of these granted freedoms against encroachment by the Judicial or Executive branches, or by state or local governments or non-governmental actors.
Caitlin please.. Talk about covid and Schawb’s great ” reset’.. This is the most traumatic event in our human history.. Much more important now than anything else. Be brave and come out of the pseudo-left shadowlands on this!! For stimulation check out a fellow spiritual woman Alison McDowall at wrenchinthegears.com
Here’s a few questions about Greenwald and Snowden
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Why haven’t the Snowden documents been fully released? Last I heard, no more than one percent of the documents were released.
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Greenwald claimed it was because Snowden didn’t want the documents released en masse for fear that it would put people’s lives in danger and damage national security. So we get this drip, drip, drip of government/crime syndicate crimes being released, in what appears be to be very controlled and methodical way.
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Does the NSA make the decisions on when and what is released? Sure sounds like it.
“‘. . . and that they give the NSA a chance to argue against the release of certain classified materials.’”
(See excerpt from AP article below.)
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Doesn’t seem like journalistic integrity there.
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It seems odd to me that, made for tv, Snowden found asylum in Russia. Wouldn’t the KGB have access to those documents? Shouldn’t Russia want them to be released?
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What’s up with the rumors floating around a few months ago that Trump was going to pardon Snowden?
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Wouldn’t he want to charge Snowden, and Greenwald for that matter, with the same crimes he’s using against Assange?
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What was the deal with Greenwald’s partner, David Miranda when he was held for hours at (I think) the Heathrow airport with the laptop that, supposedly, held the Snowden documents? He was later released with the laptop. High drama at Heathrow.
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From Sibel Edmonds at Newsbud:
(Links to her series on Greenwald and the Snowden leaks found at the bottom of the page.)
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https://www.newsbud.com/2014/01/06/part-ii-david-mirandas-detainment-the-calico-kitten-in-wag-the-dog/
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“How much publicity would a well-plotted and well-acted detention drama at Heathrow Airport create? A lot. Didn’t it? How much value would it add to their movie and book rights? Tremendously, of course. Wouldn’t it? Thus, considering all the contradictions, omissions, lies, and exaggerations, could this be a publicity stunt? Highly possible.”
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“Costs of Snowden leak still mounting 5 years later”
By DEB RIECHMANNJune 4, 2018 GMT
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https://apnews.com/797f390ee28b4bfbb0e1b13cfedf0593
`. . .
““The mainstream view among intelligence professionals is that every day and every year that has gone by has lessened the value and importance of the Snowden archives,” Wizner said. “The idea that information that was current in 2013 — and a lot of it was much older than that — might still alert somebody to anything in 2018 seems like a stretch.”
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“Greenwald said the journalists were handed some 9,000 to 10,000 secret documents under the condition that they avoid disclosing any information that could harm innocent people, and that they give the NSA a chance to argue against the release of certain classified materials.’
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‘Greenwald said the journalists were handed some 9,000 to 10,000 secret documents under the condition that they avoid disclosing any information that could harm innocent people, and that they give the NSA a chance to argue against the release of certain classified materials.
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“We’ve honored his request with each document we’ve released,” Greenwald said. “In most cases, we’ve rejected the NSA’s arguments as unsubstantiated, but always gave them the opportunity for input, and will continue to do so.”
. . .
I really don’t think Glenn Greenwald is the latest savior of journalistic integrity.
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https://www.newsbud.com/2014/01/31/the-entire-snowden-nsa-cache-exposed-once-and-for-all/
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Here Sibel Edmonds points to how the Snowden documents have been monetized. She writes about how we (those paying attention) already knew about most (all) of what has been released by Snowden and Greenwald. Brave whistleblowers like Katherine Gunn in 2003, William Binney in 2002, Russel Tice in 2003 and Mark Klein, the ATT emplyoee in 2006. Not to mention Julian Assange. Snowden (and Greenwald) appear to be taking credit for much of what they achieved.
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“Let’s go back to my first paragraph in this commentary. Now we all know: NSA spies on everyone via every piece of hardware, every bit of software, every network, every ISP, every news outlet, every game, every cartoon, possibly through every poop hole. The hidden code in the Snowden-Greenwald Mockery appears to be one objective; one message: Be Afraid, people, be very Afraid. You are watched every second of every minute, and everywhere. You live in a Panopticon State, so watch out (all the time) and behave accordingly. Oh, also, give us your money. “
The NSA, and it’s private corporate sponsors, have Varint and Narus software connected to beam splitters on the trunk cables of every common carrier, AT&T, Verizon, Concast, Quest, etc. Half of the signal gets processed by Varint and Narus software and then stored in the Bluffdale Utah data center that can store up to 12 exabytes of data, and the other half of the signal is sent on to its normal destination such that end users are completely oblivious to the fact that their conversations were recorded, analyzed and permanently stored for future reference.
Yes, I remember reading about the giant NSA, Utah data center when they were building it. Ten or twelve years ago? AT&T, Verizon, Comcast Quest, etc. all part of the global crime syndicate.
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I think one of the points of the Newsbud article is that this information has been in the public sphere for a long time. Before Greenwald and Snowden. With the help of paid “journalists” we are continually being conditioned to the fear and (self) censorship of a police state that spies on everyone at all times.
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From the Newsbud article:
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“Be Afraid, people, be very Afraid. You are watched every second of every minute, and everywhere. You live in a Panopticon State, so watch out (all the time) and behave accordingly. Oh, also, give us your money. “
I’ve noticed that Trump supporters are praising Greenwald and Biden supporters are condemning him for his Biden piece. I should have made it clear that my election status is unaffiliated and I would never consider voting for Biden or Trump.
If most people weren’t of low moral character we wouldn’t have to worry about a bunch of fascist psychopathic nut jobs taking over the world; unfortunately, most people are low-life cretins, so we have the sort of world that we have.
Caitlin, your censorship of your readers’ comments mirrors the Intercept’s censorship of Greenwald. Watch this comment disappear while you condemn the media for squelching free speech. You are just as bad as the media you decry.
The only “censorship” that Caitlin has chosen up-front to exercise, as best I can discern, is her refusal to provide a platform for the expression of clearly anti-Semitic views, as opposed to criticism of Israeli governmental conduct, Zionism, etc. Perhaps there are other forms of prejudice or bigotry that also trigger her scrutiny, but the wide divergence and clash of perspectives demonstrated in these comment threads indicate otherwise. Obviously THIS comment of yours, highly critical of Caitlin, was not erased, so what subject matters are you specifically referring to as being squelched on this blog?
Although the MSM has been predicting a Joe Biden presidential victory; my ” gut ” tells me that Donald Trump is going to win by the same margin as:
1988: Republican George H.W. Bush won 426 electoral votes against Michael S. Dukakis, who received only 111.
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This article lists the most lopsided POTUS elections.
The Most Lopsided Presidential Elections in US History
https://www.thoughtco.com/landslide-presidential-elections-by-electoral-votes-3367489
Get ready for a false flag cyber attack on US hospitals and or the electric grid – that more than likely will be caused by Israeli funded cybersecurity company(ies) that have infiltrated the US – and will be used to justify an attack on Iran or China. If you want all of the indicators leading to this statement watch this video. It is long but essential to get a clue of where all this Surveillance and AI is going.
My guess is we are being lead down the path of a new caste system. One tier being surveillanceed 24/7 and being monitored – and punishment – by AI for those who do not obey and the other a priviledged tier that the AI will be programmed to make invisible.
https://www.minds.com/newsfeed/1169373264281976832?referrer=bbrebozo
The good news is that Caitlin doesn’t work for the Intercept so they can’t kick the shit out of her. It is also good news that Caitlin is exposing the shit-pile known as “the Media,” the problem is that most people will never figure out what Cate is talking about even if they had enough brain cells to find her blog.
So, if Biden wins the November 3rd election (both popular and electoral) but soon thereafter is conclusively demonstrated to have committed multiple felonies in collusion with his son Hunter by abusing his elected office of the vice presidency in pursuit of personal gain (high crimes), who will be sworn in as president on January 20th?
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Does the office default under the constitution to the second place finisher for the presidency (i.e., Mr. Trump)? Or does the Democratic candidate for the vice-presidency have a procedural claim to the office of president? Strictly speaking, Ms. Harris would not be vice-president, and entitled to ascendance, until Joe were to be sworn in as president. Unless there is a specific proviso made in the constitution, both sides will fight for the office tooth and nail.
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This could become as interesting as it could possibly get. Perhaps if Joe is disqualified his electors become free to vote for whomever they choose, most likely Ms. Harris. (Ms. Clinton will surely start yelling me! me! me! The presidency is MY precious!) There are many states that have laws constraining the electors to vote for whom they pledged, would this stand even if Joe is disqualified? If splitting their votes would deny the presidency to Harris, would the electors, could the electors, actually vote in a thoroughly disgraced and ineligible felon just to ensure that Ms. Harris becomes his legitimate vice-president and eligible to ascend to the presidency upon his immediate resignation?
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Wouldn’t Joe just rather face a self-aimed bullet to his defective brain than all the shame such a sequence of events would bring?
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The ultimate extravaganza in this greatest show on earth would be if the electors or their will could never be agreed upon and the decision had to fall to the US House of Representatives. The Dems would go crazy under this scenario. They will clearly have a much larger total of congress critters, but they will have a smaller number of state caucuses which are each entitled to only one vote in the matter. So, California would have exactly the same say as Wyoming or North Dakota and Nancy Pelosi’s head would explode.
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Or maybe she’d try to indefinitely delay any action on the matter by the House and she would fill the office as third in line for the presidency. As an octogenarian, she’d be even more seasoned than the elderly Biden or Trump. Yep, best form of government ever devised by the human mind, guaranteeing a peaceful transition of power every time. Bow down and envy us, World!
Basically, he wouldn’t be disqualified. He’s over 35 and a citizen. If Biden gets a felony conviction before inauguration he can still serve because he hasn’t been impeached and removed- because he hasn’t been president yet. If he gets impeached and removed after that, it goes to the VP, and if she were impeached and removed the gov’t would use it’s long standing succession process.
I totally see your point about the decentralization of news, but also see the problem of all you indies bouncing around like pinballs on the Internet. It makes it harder for you to all be heard above the din – you, Greenwald, Taibbi, Tracey, and a few others.
What I think – and if someone who reads this is up to the challenge, I will pitch in as much as I can – that we need to form a volunteer network of ***collators*** who collect these articles and self-centralize them. Volunteers who are willing to assemble these journalists and their fellow truth-seekers. Obviously, if it is a moneyed interest, it will eventually be compromised, but if it is unique individuals, and enough of them, we can pierce the veil of obfuscation set up by the Narrative Matrix.
We need money to do that and people need to be paid for the work they do. Maybe you are financially independent and can afford to do volunteer work, I can’t.
I do like your idea otherwise however. It takes a lot of work, because for every article collated, there needs to be permission obtained from the originator of the article.
This can be done, but you have to be realistic about the difficulty involved.
Dear Caitlin – you have rightly pointed out that if people understood how they have been propagandised they could use the strength of their numbers to change things. You have also said that we should try to spread an understanding of the basic dishonesty of the media. You think it a useful, even necessary step. I wonder though if the likes of Trump haven’t already done the job for you. The endless stream of lies from him and others like him has generated a sense of doubt that has sunk the very idea of objective truth. What replaces it is tribalism. It no longer matters what you believe (you can’t believe anything), only who you stand with. Loyalty is more important than rationality. Where do you go from here ?
You go, I think, to the ultimate tribalism, that of the entire human race. No, not even that–you go all the way to reverence for life, for all living things. As Caitlin said a few posts back, we’ve painted ourselves into this corner, and it’s either reverence for life or death. And it’s our choice, each and every one of us. If and when enough of us wildebeests turn and run AT the lions, predation is over.
I had been wondering for years why the Intercept stopped publishing the Snowden documents, and why its articles had become more and more biased.
I did not know that Greenwald was no longer a driving force for the organisation. The fact that this happened explains a lot.
My use of The Intercept had dwindled significantly. Now it will go to zero.
Greenwald also reveals that The Intercept refused to report on the daily proceedings of the Julian Assange extradition hearing “because the freelance reporter doing an outstanding job was politically distasteful”. It’s unclear exactly what was meant by this; Greenwald has praised the excellent Assange trial coverage by Shadowproof‘s Kevin Gosztola and Richard Medhurst now of Press TV in the past,
i don’t understand why this is unclear. i read it to mean that the people at the intercept who censored him found one of the reporters doing an outstanding job politically distasteful, just as the find greenwald distasteful.
obviously you are correct!
In the US, where it’s protected by law, journalism has never had anything resembling a reputation deserving of credibility. It has always promoted the power it preferred, at times opposing each other, but rarely those in power. Especially after Lincoln brought the hammer of the state down on its head during the Civil War, in spite of its legal protection. The availability of alternative sources we now have is an entirely new thing. From the ownership of major news papers in major cities early on, to the Gulf of Tonkin, there was little opposition present. Exposure of the evils of power were rarely reported. More has been exposed since the widespread access to the internet than the entire history preceding it. Journalism has always been much as it is now, we just never saw it before.
MSM Journalists were doing ‘copy and paste’ a long long time before it became de rigeur.
Regurgitation being their favourite pastime.
Normally the disgust circuit is triggered through the classic “Nuts and Sluts” shaming technique used on Republicans or anyone else the powers that be want removed from the public stage.
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“Nuts and Sluts” is easy to understand. Simply accuse the person you want to destroy of being either crazy (the definition of which shifts with whatever is the political trigger issue of the day) or a sexual deviant.
This technique works because it triggers most people’s Disgust Circuit, a term created by Mark Schaller as part of what he calls the Behavioral Immune System and popularized by Johnathan Haidt.
The disgust circuit is also easy to understand.
It is the limit at which behavior in others triggers our gut-level outrage and we recoil with disgust.
The reason “Nuts and Sluts” works so well on conservative candidates and voters is because, on average, conservatives have a much stronger disgust circuit than liberals and/or libertarians.
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This fine article can be read here:
BidenGate – That’s Quite Enough of That by Tom Luongo!
https://tomluongo.me/2020/10/30/bidengate-enough-limit-disgust-bobulinski/
Let’s place things in context please.
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Western Modernity with, ‒ its hyper-individualism ‒ its societal atomization ‒ its scientific and technological pies in the sky, has separated the individuals from one another, from their society, and from all other entities in their habitat. As a result the individuals are trapped in the egotistic illusion of their
absolute centrality. Since in their minds nothing has any longer a higher status than their own ego, the
words of priests politicians economists intellectuals scientists doctors engineers, are no longer trusted.
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The people of the world have been witnessing aghast, how Covid-19 has taken off the lid on what can only be characterized as what is the West utter un-governability. The Western media peddle fake news, the politicians peddle propaganda, the intellectuals peddle frivolous theories that ignore the primacy of the principle of life, all kinds of charlatans peddle egotistical flights of fancy on the web market-places for ideas. And no one knows any longer what is true and what is false. As a result trust has gone away and a virus of suspicion has infected our minds. People have become wary of each other, of public, and of private institutions. Everyone is on his own now ruminating in loneliness about who she/he should blame for her/his miserable life.
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Deaths by suicide, by drug overdose, by heavy drinking, by binge eating are all on the rise. The national curve of life expectancy in the Anglo-sphere has peaked and is going down. Anger is rampant. People are looking for a culprit. The politicians are eager to suggest a scapegoat that will deflect the anger pointing at them, at their sponsors the big capital holders, at their colleagues in the media and in academia.
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Yesterday the Germans deflected popular anger pointing at the Jews, the Gypsies, the communists. Today the West deflects popular anger by pointing at the Chinese. And when the fire-works start these same lonely individuals will act as the torchbearers of the powers that be who created the madness of Late-Modernity in the first place.
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What is there really left to say for News people ?
If interested to read more in depth about this kind of approach check “The first blow to Late-Modernity”
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Have a great week-end everybody.
Ironically, the Germans were prescient in their assessment. Most all of their concerns have revealed themselves.
Telling observations, Laodon, going to the heart of our current quandary, and thank you offering them. You’ve made me eager to check out your link, which I’ll be doing right after I post this response.
For those similarly struck by the import of Laodan’s (not Laodon’s ) comment, I suggest pondering this additional observation from the voluminous material on his website (linked in his comment). “Covid-19 has brought the enormity of this confusion to the fore and it has passed judgment on human governance around the world. This judgment is non-negotiable. It is by now inscribed in the historical facts. And what the facts show without an inch of a doubt is that countries plagued by hyper-individualism have been penalized by high death counts and huge falls in their economic output while countries that are gifted with a high sense of community have minimized their death counts and have also minimized the fall of their economic output.” This observation is made in merely one piece among a myriad of others, all rooted in an abstruse but fascinating metaphysics transcending today’s antagonistic camps, one looking to science and technology to save us, the other seeing only the collapse of human civilization and possible extinction of our species. For those of Marxist inclination, the piece I read recognizes the gross distortions of capital and the destruction it brings both to our minds and spirits and to the ecosystem which sustains all living things. There’s substantive philosophy here to chew on, accompanied by rather stunning paintings, so why not give Laodan a look? And no, I’ve never met him (assuming it’s a him) and have no idea who he is apart from the interesting biography he provides.
Oh boy, the crazy going off to the right thing that is unique to this site has absconded my moniker. Oh well.
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This is a test.
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As an aside, I’m sick and tired of dreary hopelessness and always thinking things are for the worst. Most of us just want to live in peace and harmony.
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This is a test and good luck to Greenwald – seems like he is not crystal pure and so I suppose like all the rest of us, he will get what he deserves. Maybe he has something to offer – maybe not. I’d guess the latter.
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This is a test of my moniker.
Happy Halloween I say once again to folks checking out the discourse here, but for myself, there are a few oddities that need to be resolved before I put forth more effort sharing my views at this place. No harm in that sentiment is there?
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So the oddities I refer to include two main ones. The first is that comments go so far off to the side that it becomes ridiculous to both make the comment and read it if it posts successfully. As for successful posts, the whole “Gotcha” thing is bizarre. You either got me or you don’t and once you have had me so many times why do you need to keep getting me again so to speak. You got my goat OK and I know what a freaking hill is, and I know about bicycles and traffic lights and fucking paths to cross the street. What a pain in the ass that is so unnecessary – unless you are so worried about security I suppose…….bunch of effing foolishness if you want my opinion, which is coming to an end here and I’m sure we are all happy bout that. Myself the most.
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OK – it has been fun talking to the rest of you all.
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Let these be the last words I leave here: things are going to get better going forward for everyone and that is why I’m so excited for the younger generations and it is only through the hard work of those seeking truth that this future will come to be!
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Peace,
BK
I’ve really enjoyed and benefited from your comments, BK, regardless of whether I happened to agree with them. So I ask you, respectfully, to reconsider leaving this blog. When the back-and-forth gets to the point of moving off the righthand side of the screen, it’s probably just a pissing match that we’re all better off not reading. As far as the “Gotcha” thing, who really gives a shit if somebody wants to waste time trying to one-up or demean another? You’ve brought a lively, unusual, and interesting perspective to these comment threads, your own style and substance, and I really hate to lose that for purely selfish reasons. And as you indicate, Caitlin’s posts deserve a higher level of comment quality than she often gets. So why not hang in there with us and continue to help that happen?
The Captcha is designed to train Google’s AI. Humans are still better at pattern recognition, so by having people identify objects in a fuzzy image, it helps refine their AI algorithms so that AI can become as good as humans at recognizing objects in a fuzzy image.
Also, I only reply to the second level post, that way my text doesn’t get smooshed up against the right side.
Buffalo Ken, I discovered Greenwald and the crowd he founded and worked for are not squeaky clean a long time ago. Some of his articles were borderline and some even way over the line. When I saw this beginning to become common, I ceased suscribing to that rag. None of what’s come out these few days, is really any news to me.
The Intercept was always from the very beginning an outsourced CIA operation Pierre Omidyar started his career as a US Navy intelligence officer, and has never stopped being a CIA asset, he controls hundreds of such disinformation websites, he is essentially just another branch of the US intelligence service, the very reason why the last 4 whistle-blowers who came to the Intercept, quickly found themselves in US custody. The myth is that this man knows programming and that that is how he became a billionaire. LOL. Just another low-life operative of the US government, or other filthy institution or individual.
Seams quite obvious Omidyar bought the Snowden files just to try to hide them from the public. But what ive never understod; is there no more copies around? Didnt Snowden save a copy for himself?? That he can release again? Or Greenwald? Why isnt another copy out? Downloaded and spread by everyone interested all over internet? It’s hard to understand that intelligent people like Snowden and Greenwald would give the ONLY copy if this century-unique leak to an imperial oligarch, without even saving a back up (!), that can be leaked again. I dont understand.
Updated listing for “The Intercept” in the Newspeak Decoder – Once a leading independent news source founded in part by Glenn Greenwald, consistent advocate for free speech and one of the most influential critical journalists of our time. Unfortunately, Greenwald left due to editorial censorship. Now look for him elsewhere. Evaluate with a critical eye for the occasional gem within the range of opinion and debate of accepted “resistance journalism” parameters. https://mbrigade.com/newspeak-decoder/
“Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.”
– Joseph Goebbels
Thank you for a perfect example of why the source of a statement doesn’t necessarily invalidate its truth, a fact which many have forgotten these days or deny in knee-jerk fashion. My favorite example is the Preamble to America’s Declaration of Independence, perhaps the most succinct and sublime expression of the highest values of the so-called Enlightenment. That this preamble was written by slaveowners says NOTHING about the truth of its content–a glowing description of basic human rights and how democratic government is supposed to be created and operated to protect and promote them.
“… when you gather news reporters together in a large outlet you’re going to attract the attention of powerful forces who have a vested interest in controlling how the news is reported.”
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There once was a King where everything he touched turned to gold. Today, there are major corporations and groups of rear-end-kissing faux media outlets where everything they touch immediately turns into SHI….
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Corporations and rear-end-kissing media outlets are soulless, money-and-favor-seeking adulterous traitorous monsters that ruin everything they become involved in. True journalism is (was) a quasi-sacred profession that endeavored to uncover truths and revelations and honest historical documentation and would hold governments and others accountable instead of becoming their paid whores and lackeys and which used to treat their readers and viewers as valuable human beings and not empty-headed THINGS TO SELL SHI… TO. All we have left now is a competition to see who can be the Biggest Media Whore in our new Globalist Paradise from Hell.
In times of growing media distrust, maybe that’s been the strategy of Imperialist Oligarch Omidayar’s various media-projects all the way; regain peoples trust in media and make them believe your media channels are truly independant by sprinkling a few daring anti-establishment pieces (or journalists), so that he then can propagandize people all the more efficient with that channel.
Also I’d like to add this is not the first time Naomi Klein has sided with power. It’s becoming less heartbreaking and shocking, and more predictable to be disappointed by her.
Thanks for standing alone for the truth you have discovered, and encouraging others to do their own work and stand on it above all biased critiques Caitlin. Our own patiently developed truth is finally the only (non)authority we can have, as buddha pointed out to the Kalamas in a famous teaching. Find the light within yourself and stand fast on it.
I have been following Glenn Greenwald closely for about 12 years, and I am 100% sure his journalism principles have not changed. His compass points true north, and this is very confusing to those whose brains have been colonized by partisan propaganda, as their compass keeps spinning towards their herd. He called out the Bush administration’s crimes, which got him a lot of Democrat fans, then when he held Obama to the same standards, Democrats wailed that he changed and walked off in a huff, and Republicans became fans. The ability to maintain a consistent standard, and speak honestly to partisans who are capable of listening, is a thing I admire about both Glenn Greenwald and Caitlin Johnstone.
Agree wholeheartedly. Having looked at the various articles today, it seems clear that the Intercept editor Reed handled it badly and has made matters worse by insulting Greenwald publicly. It will backfire on the Intercept.
Glenn Greenwald’s resignation will likely damage the Intercept considerably, leaving them with few good journalists, and some of them may soon resign as well. I stopped reading it a while ago because it has lost its original independence.
Hmmmm . . . Why do I have to include my email address ?
I think that Glenn may have been referring to Craig Murray as the reporter on the Asante extradition trial. Craig attended almost all of the sessions and stayed up late at night to write his very comprehensive reports.
Assange… Not Asante…
More like Cassie Fairbanks
Hey, Jama !
Kevin Gosztola wonders if Glenn was referring to him, Kevin G.
https://twitter.com/kgosztola/status/1322267348716441601
Intercept has been compromised, controlled by the corporate intelligence deep state. Read the excellent book “ Presstitutes Embedded in the Pay of the CIA: A Confession from the Profession” by Dr. Udo Ulfkotte and realize that all corporate media provide controlled explanations & propaganda to keep the population deep in the Matrix.
https://www.amazon.com/Presstitutes-Embedded-Pay-CIA-Confession/dp/1615770178
Looks interesting. A German MOCKINGBIRD’s confessions and memoir. Pushed down stairs, Cancer AND a “heart attack”… That’s a CIA assasination Trifecta.
First, Matt Taibbi did more harm to investigative journalism by being a pivotal supporter of the 9/11 propaganda over a decade ago. While it is nice that he is now giving voice in support of honest journalism, I don’t think that comes close to undoing the harm he caused by his role in killing any attempt to get an honest investigation of 9/11, an event that was used more than any event in history to foment the fervor for the grand expansion of empire. Were the facts of 9/11 widely known today, it would probably be enough to put a permanent end to the U.S. empire.
I thought the Intercept was doomed from the beginning because they had Pierre Omidyar providing the financing. I wasn’t sure what Glen Greenwald was doing there really, and had imagined that perhaps the he had already been hopelessly compromised. I see now that he was perhaps deceiving himself in the hopes that he could steer the ship in the direction he would have liked. As Mayer Amschel Bauer (later changed his name to Rothschild) observed in the 1700’s, “I care not who makes the laws of the land, if I control their currency then I care not what laws they enact.” So it was with the Intercept.
The way forward is with thousands of local news services with thousands of news bureaus across countries and the world, keeping tabs on would be autocrats, oligarchs/plutocrats/netocrats.
Rather than Google, let’s have 10’s of thousands of information sources on independently operated servers.
Instead of Zoom, how about https://meet.politea.us.
Instead of Facebook, how about something like https://www.politea.us
These are examples of self hosted video conferencing and social media platforms rather than part of the Google or Amazon “Cloud.”.
Google/Amazon/Facebook represents the consolidation of all power in the hands of a very very few; Netocracy. Self hosting represents something akin to a form of Demarchy, where there is a requirement to be be technologically capable of hosting such a web service to get into the game, but where no one is arbitrarily prevented from entering the game. That says, the only requirement for entry is motivation, which is the way it should always have been.
“Were the facts of 9/11 widely known today, it would probably be enough to put a permanent end to the U.S. empire.” Any reasonable person who spends time on a website like AE911Truth will realize that the official narrative about the WTC Atrocity is ludicrous and that the massacre had to be, at least in part, an inside job. And yes, if it became “widely known” that elements within the US government perpetrated or assisted in the mass-murder of 3000 American citizens on American soil merely to set the stage for endless criminal war, that would likely be the end of both American government and empire as we’ve known them. At least I like to think so. Yet I understand why Caitlin shies away from beating on this seemingly-dead horse, rendered inert by the relentless propaganda of the CIA-controlled MSM. Still, still…if she did reopen this scabbed-over, yet festering wound in her inimitable style, and then Greenwald joined her, and then Taibbi came around, and then Jimmy Dore focused his rage on it, and so forth, who knows what might happen?
“At least I like to think so.”
The basic facts of the war on Iraq should be widely known by now. There were no weapons of mass destruction, Hussein was not in league with al Qaeda, Bush and Blair lied to get their war going, and hundreds of thousands died.
Similarly with the wars on Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Imperial wars of aggression leaving millions of dead.
Did either result in the end of the US empire?
Why, then, would the revelation that elements of the US ‘deep state’ were involved in an attack that killed three thousand in the name of national security? (If, indeed, they were aware in advance – I find the evidence for that less than convincing.)
I’m not convinced, either, which is why I indicated it’s something I’d like to think. But how many times have you heard someone say that most or all of the wars you mention were mistakes as opposed to intentional evil? That couldn’t be said about a WTC inside job. Another key difference would be that the victims in this case would have been Americans, and that the attack occurred in America. Sad to say, but in the exceptional nation, those are the only people and the only country that matter to so many.
Even if the WTC were proven to be an inside job, it could, and probably would, be passed off as a mistake. A few over-enthusiastic patriots acting out of the sincere conviction that the USA needed new laws and agencies to deal with the threats of the twenty-first century. They thought national security was at stake, and they made the wrong call.
As you say, many in the USA think they’re the only people in the world whose lives are of any significance. How would focusing on September 11 2001 change that?
But the main reason I’m happy Caitlin doesn’t get into all this is there are already websites, some of them excellent, dedicated to amassing and poring over the evidence. Replicating their discussions here would generate frantic and heated debate, potentially drowning out all other issues, without settling matters either way. So far as I can see, among those who have looked at the known facts, there are still those who think it was an inside job, and those who think it wasn’t. What good would it do for this website to repeat all that?
Letting out hearts lead and not the endless stream of thoughts in our head is the way forward. That takes a huge amount of courage, however.
But 9/11 was the psychological trauma that enabled every draconian measure that followed. Think of the millions dispossessed of their homes in Syria.Think of the radical change to the U.S. government, where rights are no longer rights but privileges that can be revoked at any instance. Think of the current lock downs that have already seen 20% of small businesses fail. Think of what the landscape will look like after another 20% of those businesses fail by March. What kind of a world are we headed for? A world where everything is produced by a few global companies and everyone else is a slave to their machines? What future shocks are in store for us that will be designed to instill paralyzing fear into us so that we accept any and every requirement demanded of us without question. Those shaping our new world know very well that we have a psychological vulnerability when in a state of extreme fear. If recent history has anything to teach, it is that shock and awe will be used on us again unless we wake up to the fact that it has been used for the last 20 years to shape the way we have all been subjugated.
Well said. This stage that is happening now however, is called the “Great Reset”, “The 4th Industrial Revolution”.
Key globalist players working on the implementation of the technocratic agenda include the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, Bill Gates and foundations such as the Rockefeller Foundation, the UN Foundation and George Soros’ Open Society Foundation, Avanti Communications, 2030 Vision and Frontier 2030, Google, Mastercard and Salesforce. The Globalists now are openly discussing their evil plans about their Global Takeover.
According to Klaus Schwab, the founder and CEO of the World Economic Forum (WEF), who just published (July 2020) a book, called “Covid-19 – The Great Reset”, he states in page 422 of the book:
“ “At the micro level, that of industries and companies, the Great Reset will entail a long and complex series of changes and adaptation. When confronted with it, some industry leaders and senior executives may be tempted to equate reset with restart, hoping to go back to the old normal and restore what worked in the past: traditions, tested procedures and familiar ways of doing things – in short, a return to business as usual. This won’t happen because it can’t happen. For the most part “business as usual” died from (or at the very least was infected by) COVID-19.”
The final stage of human subjugation by the Global Elites has began.
Or…perhaps not the final stage of human subjugation but the FIRST stage of human liberty and decency. Neoliberalism has rendered us all unable to think and imagine in anything but dystopian terms. The revolution, if there is to be one, must start in our own heads and hearts, so let’s get this dystopian fixation the hell out of them. NOW.
Thanks you, I will get the book.
In my opinion, Craig Murray’s coverage of the Assange hearings was the best of the best. Good for Glenn Greenwald for resigning from The Intercept and exposing the site’s establishment bias.
Ms Johnson is way ahead of me as usual.
Ms Johnstone Glenn Greenwald refuses to be censoered; good for him!
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I am posting here the most recent draft of my article about Joe and Hunter Biden — the last one seen by Intercept editors before telling me that they refuse to publish it absent major structural changes involving the removal of all sections critical of Joe Biden, leaving only a narrow article critiquing media outlets. I will also, in a separate post, publish all communications I had with Intercept editors surrounding this article so you can see the censorship in action and, given the Intercept’s denials, decide for yourselves (this is the kind of transparency responsible journalists provide, and which the Intercept refuses to this day to provide regarding their conduct in the Reality Winner story). This draft obviously would have gone through one more round of proof-reading and editing by me — to shorten it, fix typos, etc — but it’s important for the integrity of the claims to publish the draft in unchanged form that Intercept editors last saw, and announced that they would not “edit” but completely gut as a condition to publication:
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This article can be read here:
Article on Joe and Hunter Biden Censored By The Intercept By Glenn Greenwald
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/55797.htm
Greenwalds best revenge would be to start another publication adhering to the truth. This time however, keep control of the organization.
There used to be the news and then the opinion page. Now it has all been merged together where facts are massaged to fit opinion giving us propaganda.
Why would The Intercept behave in this way?
I came across this interesting piece recently. The author makes a convincing case for the role of ‘belief cronyism’, the fear of ostracism plus the thought that whatever you as an individual say or do won’t change much. Quite long, but I found it well worth reading.
‘It pays to believe obviously untrue things’
https://unherd.com/2020/10/why-do-people-believe-such-complete-rubbish/
If he founded it (“Intercept”), what was the purpose?
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If the purpose was profit, then that is a dog-eat-dog world.
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Credibility in my mind diminishes for most entities focused on profit, including the founders.
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Still, a smart founder would have never let editors get in control.
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This story about someone biding their time and enjoying the fruits of their family status will come out eventually. I think many sense it has substance, and so when it does come out in full and, imagine this, is cleared of obfuscation, that will create an opportunity for change! Big Time!
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Don’t you think?
Not really. Even if the story does eventually ‘come out’ (hasn’t it come out already?), it will sound like ancient and irrelevant news to many, with a whiff of Russian disinformation, and the President, whether Trump, Biden, or a replacement, can easily manufacture a distraction.
OK. Ian thanks for your hopeless opinion.
What was that line from “Us and Them?” Something like “it can’t be helped but there’s a lot of it about?” Seems applicable to hopelessness these days, doesn’t it?
What was that line from ‘Life of Brian’? Something about looking on the bright side?
https://youtu.be/jHPOzQzk9Qo
I like it. Here is another one.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gxwutvlTw8
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I just want to go “naturally”
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ha, ha.
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BK
Ah, the genius of Rick Wright. Piano and sax to die for with terrific harmonies and of course the brilliant lyrics by Roger Waters. One of my favorite pieces of all time.
It is disgusting to me that Greenwald – he who sold the Snowden archive to the oligarch Omidyar for millions perhaps tens of millions is given any sort of credibility. Greenwald IS the Intercept he can’t separate himself from the fact that he personally profited from and agreed to suppress 97% of the documents in the archive and bury them for ever.
Greenwald is far more interested in his own enrichment by serving the empire than anything else.
Greenwald is a high value imperial propagandist.
Agreed.
Babyl-on must have an axe to grind, or worse. The Snowden papers were released by Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras in 2013. At that time Glenn was at the Guardian and not the Intercept, which was founded in February 2014.
Perhaps Babyl-on ‘s disinformation was inspired by 60 Minutes, which claimed that the Federal Reserve was founded in response to the Great Depression. However, the Fed, a private banking cartel, was founded in 1913, and the Great Depression began in 1929.
But I digress; right from the start I knew this would eventually happen, it was only a matter of time and the only question was how Glenn would respond. I’m happy to say that I’m mightily impressed by his integrity.
Yeah 1913. Jekyll island. That was the first coup. Effing bankers.
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The second coup occurred recently.
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So now, my only question is who is really in power?
By the way….the meeting actually occurred in 1910.
“Who is actually in power.” If you want the names of those in power, pick up a copy of GIANTS: The Global Power Elite by Peter Phillips. In it he names the names and outlines the structures of imperial oligarch power. The book is a few years old now and the new bailout legislation have changed things a little but the basic structure is all laid out. He states the core capital of the empire is about 45 trillion but that number is approaching 100 trillion by now and there must be another 100 trillion in the offshore. It’s all there read it and weep.
OK, I’ll take the bait, but guess what, I don’t want the names because I already know!
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Peace,
BK
ps – complain about fuzzy pictures if you want, the pictures for me on occasion change on the fly and I consider it a challenge and so far it is actually been kind of fun to show them what my mind can do. Gotcha you effing spooks….
Since you are on the right track and taken the red pill, here’s another book that supplements “Giants”. I have both. It’s called “ The New World Order in Action Vol. 1” by Takis Fotopoulos. Spread the word!
Here is a quick poem.
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red pill blue pill are they any different really
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the matrix of you mind is yours and yours alone.
No pill will change that!
Learn or Die and spooks are about and always will be but don’t be scared of them because you are amongst the living!
Praise the Lord it is good to be alive.
Let there be peace.
Here is a quick poem.
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red pill blue pill are they any different really
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the matrix of you mind is yours and yours alone.
No pill will change that!
Learn or Die and spooks are about and always will be but don’t be scared of them because you are amongst the living!
Praise the Lord it is good to be alive.
Let there be peace.
Throwing out “disinformation” as if you have evidence of it or it is self evident that I spread disinformation is avoiding the subject.
Greenwald DID sell the published and unpublished (97%) to Pierre Omidyar an oligarch who has buried them for ever. It was part of the deal that created the Intercept. This is verifiable.
Greenwald is an imperial apparatchik.
if he were an imperial apparatchik he wouldn’t be putting himself in danger by revealing this.