Waiting for the results of the US presidential election is like waiting to find out if you’re going to get hit by the mugger with the bat or the mugger with the crow bar.

Dave Calhoun, CEO of top war profiteer company Boeing, said back in July that he’ll be quite happy regardless of what happens on November third.

“I think both candidates, at least in my view, appear globally oriented and interested in the defense of our country and I believe they’ll support the industries,” Calhoun said. “I don’t think we’re going to take a position on one being better than the other.”

And of course he didn’t take such a position. Why would he? Arms manufacturers have been pouring money into the campaigns of both candidates, and they know that no matter who wins the presidential election they’re going to reap highly profitable mountains of corpses. Since they know they win no matter who wins, why risk offending a future business partner?

The fact that war plutocrats are happy with either candidate tells you more about the reality of this presidential race than all the billions of dollars worth of mass media reporting and punditry that’s gone into it over the last two years combined. No matter what happens in the election and its aftermath, this is the real headline.

It’s so unspeakably insane that people can become unimaginably wealthy by using campaign donations to help warmongering politicians rise to the top of the political system of the most bloodthirsty government on earth and then selling the weapons used in the wars those politicians start.

Really, just think about that for a second. Imagine if someone said “I’m going to become a billionaire by killing people in the Middle East and Africa and selling their organs on the black market.”

That would be insane, right? That person would immediately be branded the most disgusting person in the world.

But if someone becomes a billionaire by starting wars in the Middle East and Africa and selling the weapons used to kill the same number of people in those wars, they’re considered industrious businessmen and philanthropists.

They did functionally exactly the same thing as someone killing those people and selling their organs, but their evil is completely invisible to the scrutiny of the mass media which informs the way people think, act and vote. War profiteers pour money into political campaigns, think tanks, mass media advertising and other narrative management operations which have the direct result of more mass military violence and more public support for it, but they are seldom even criticized for that depravity let alone held accountable for it.

The more you think about it, the creepier it gets. This is true not just of the military-industrial complex, but of the US-centralized empire as a whole.

There is nothing more creepy than the close power alliance loosely centralized around the United States which functions as a single empire on foreign policy.

Its leaders promote ideals like “freedom” and “democracy” while brutalizing any nation which disobeys its dictates and squeezing its own populace with increasingly authoritarian measures.

They extol the virtues of “human rights” while butchering human beings around the world whenever it is geostrategically convenient.

Their media virtually never point out the fact that their government is never not murdering human beings to fill the coffers of war profiteers and ensure unipolar planetary hegemony, but they will churn out sitcoms and feel-good stories about unity and togetherness like no one’s business.

The reality that they are riding on the parade float dressing of an insatiable death machine is carefully concealed from the denizens of this murderous empire, and instead they are fed a constant Hollywood diet of movies and shows about how fun and hilarious and awesome their country is.

The US empire is a serial killer with a horrifying grin stretched over its blood-spattered face. A smiley faced psychopath babbling about civil rights and the importance of inclusive language while chopping a Yemeni child to pieces.

Once you’ve seen it, you can never see the smiling nice guy again.

Survive The Night GIF by THE PURGE: ANARCHY - Find & Share on GIPHY

Despite all the partisan shrieking and melodrama and hyperbole, Trump is not uniquely evil.

Despite all the partisan shrieking and melodrama and hyperbole, Biden is not uniquely evil.

What’s uniquely evil is the murderous globe-spanning empire which dictates the fate of our species fueled on human blood and posing as a nice guy. Our world has never seen anything quite like it. It is a one of a kind monster.

Only deeply depraved people are capable of serving such a deeply depraved machine, and only deeply depraved people will ever be given an opportunity to. Trump and Biden are not unique in their depravity. They’re not even remarkable. They’re just the next in line to serve at the front desk of the smiley faced murder factory.

This will be the case regardless of who is inaugurated on January 20th. It should remain at the forefront of everyone’s attention above the hysterical partisan fray. Ignore the drama over who gets to be DeathCorp’s secretary and keep your gaze fixed on the smiling killer.

_____________________________

Thanks for reading! 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 at  or on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My work is , so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on , following my antics on throwing some money into my tip jar on  or , purchasing some of my , buying my books  and . For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, . Everyone, racist platforms excluded,  to republish, use or translate any part of this work (or anything else I’ve written) in any way they like free of charge.

Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2

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

74 responses to “The US Empire Is A Smiley-Faced Serial Killer”

  1. […]Ach – guten Morgen!
    Willkommen in der Wirklichkeit!

    Ich habe hier nur den zitierten Teil des Artikels von Caitlin ins deutsche übersetzt. Eine komplette Übersetzung gibt es bei theblogcat.de[…]

  2. THERE IS NO U.S. EMPIRE. THERE IS ONLY THE BRITISH EMPIRE. THE PENTAGON AND U.S. NATIONAL GUARD PLEDGE THEIR PERMANENT SERVICE TO THE BRITISH EMPIRE NATO HEROIN MAFIA IN SERVICE TO ISLAM AND THE KING OF SAUDI ARABIA. THEY KILL FOR ISLAM BECAUSE WORSHIPPING A CHILD RAPIST PEDOPHILE AS THEIR HOLY PROPHET IS THEIR OFFICIAL RELIGION. THEY DEMAND WE PAY FOR THEIR TREASON AND CHILD RAPE. THEY DEMAND WE WORSHIP THEM AS KINGS AND SURRENDER OUR CHURCHES AND OUR GOVERNMENT TO THEIR TREASON, MURDER AND HEROIN MAFIA.
    THE PENTAGON AND NATIONAL GUARD WIPE THEIR ASS WITH OUR DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE WHILE THEY POISON AND MURDER OUR CHILDREN WITH HEROIN THEY BRING HERE FROM AFGHANISTAN.

  3. That’s about the size of it.

  4. Caitlin Johnstone wrote:
    > It’s so unspeakably insane that people can become unimaginably wealthy by using campaign donations to help warmongering politicians rise to the top of the political system of the most bloodthirsty government on earth and then selling the weapons used in the wars those politicians start.
    .
    “When will they ever learn?”
    .
    Where Have All the Flowers Gone? — The Kingston Trio

  5. Great article
    in other words USA is like a violent psychopaths with no conscience but with a lot of fake charm skills and the loudest megaphone in a form of Pedowood

  6. Roundball Shaman Avatar
    Roundball Shaman

    “Arms manufacturers have been pouring money into the campaigns of both candidates, and they both know that no matter who wins the presidential election they’re going to reap highly profitable mountains of corpses.”
    .
    The Empire’s War Machine always gives We the People a chance for our voices to be hear. The Machine always flips a coin to decide our national policies. Their rules are, “Heads – We win, tails – You lose.” That satisfies the American people that they had a chance and a choice and just simply came out on the short end! It never occurs to them that they ALWAYS come out on the short end no matter how many times the coin is flipped over countless administrations. But when one group controls the coin, and the flip, and the game, and the results… it tends to come out that way. “Freedom” has a price. And that price is for We the People to NOT be free.
    .
    “Trump and Biden are not unique in their depravity. They’re not even remarkable. They’re just the next in line to serve at the front desk of the smiley faced murder factory.”
    .
    The countless Factory servants and lackeys come and go. Even the leadership structure comes and goes. But The Factory lives on. The Factory is all that matters. The Factory defines the nation. The Factory provides the national narrative and mythology of who and what the nation is. The Factory determines Right and Wrong. The Factory has become a deity unto itself. Worship and kneel, or die.

  7. On the one hand, Caitlin makes these valid points: “Their media virtually never point out the fact that their (American) government is never not murdering human beings to fill the coffers of war profiteers and ensure unipolar planetary hegemony, but they will churn out sitcoms and feel-good stories about unity and togetherness like no one’s business. …The reality that they are riding on the parade float dressing of an insatiable death machine is carefully concealed from the denizens of this murderous empire, and instead they are fed a constant Hollywood diet of movies and shows about how fun and hilarious and awesome their country is.” Yet then, on the other hand, Caitlin observes that “(o)nly deeply depraved people are capable of serving such a deeply depraved machine….” Am I alone in seeing a disconnect here, or at least a distinction that should be made, given the fact that most denizens of America are directly or indirectly engaged in endeavors that serve the interests of American Empire? Are these American denizens themselves thus deeply depraved, or are they rather deluded/distracted/deceived by their MSM? The same question, I suppose, could be posed about German denizens during the rise of Hitler or about the denizens of any country when its leaders engage in gross evil ignored or sugarcoated by its national media. Having lived a lifetime in the U.S., I cannot say in good faith that the majority of my fellow citizens are “deeply depraved.” A lot of them strike me as generally well-meaning people within the limited, manipulated context of their worldview. Once upon a time, and for too long a time, I was like them. Certainly, the more that American citizens know about their nation’s crimes against humanity, the more they become complicit in them, unless that knowledge provokes oppositional, anti-imperial thought and action. But as harried as most Americans are these days, as conditioned as they’ve become by the news and entertainment relentlessly fed them, are they nevertheless under a duty to ferret out the truth about their government’s conduct? If so, what should trigger this truth-seeking, a good start being frequent visits to this blog? When, in other words, does complacency morph into complicity? I ask myself these questions all the time, but answers seem elusive.

    1. good question Newton. God sends a convincing accomplishment to deceive those who do not love the truth but condone injustice. This is what the Greek text in 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 says but most translators don’t get it. The church-state alliance is the convincing, so-called “democratic” accomplishment which deceives most people. These ancient scriptures say this sorry situation will continue until this civilization implodes because 99% of people are not interested in discovering the truth. They condone injustice because that is easier than questioning and exposing the corrupt leaders they elected. Christians and complacent zombies will not survive the collapse of this civilization.

      1. If you don’t know you’re being lied to and manipulated and deceived, then you wouldn’t have any reason or motive for seeking out the truth (about whatever).

        The key thing about propaganda is that it is practically always concocted and designed to ’emotionalise’ people, because once emotion has been triggered, any potential for critical thinking goes out the window, the alleged Salisbury poisonings being a classic example.

        It is of course absurd that Putin would suddenly think to bump off someone and have it done just TWO days before the ‘celebrations’ to mark 100 days to go until the World Cup Football Tournament begins (which Russia was hosting for the first time), and just three months or so before it kicks off AND for the assassination to be planned in such a haphazard fashion AND using a chemical weapon. And then – some two-and-a half years later, having repeatedly refuted being responsible for the poisonings – to then use the very same chemical agent to try and assassinate someone else.

        It’s ludicrous of course, but once emotionalised you are just in the emotion(s). And not only THAT, but it is inconceivable to the vast majority of people that, for example, ‘Salisbury’ was all staged – as it undoubtedly was – and that they are being lied to and deceived on such a gargantuan scale. And I don’t mean inconceivable in the sense that they considered THAT possibility and then rejected it as inconceivable, but that it was so inconceivable that THAT possibility could never-ever enter their minds in the first place. And the PTB know it!

    2. Tomo Stojanovic Avatar
      Tomo Stojanovic

      to answer your question as someone who spent 14 years living all around USA – Americans are both confused and they genuinely don’t care about the harm their country does around the world.
      In 14 years spent there I have never met ANYONE who even pretended to feel sorry for what their gvt did or what it does bombing, killing, stealing and destroying.
      But I have heard several (jewish) friends ask openly – ‘why don’t we just nuke IRAN??’
      They have been brought up to be a bunch of passive and dumb (deliberately and otherwise) cheerleaders for psychopaths basically.
      Like a bunch of stupid salves who used to have a master who would share some of his loot with them, but has stopped sharing decades ago.
      Yet they are so disoriented, confused and psychopathy-enabling that they don’t know what to do – and don’t forget that around 85 % or more of Americans are genuinely expecting Jesus to come down from his cloud any day now (I am not joking unfortunately).
      Add to this that they can’t aggregate meaningfully at any level – fundamentally disoriented, alienated, lonely and lost (thanks to decades of predatory, soul-destroying Pedowood brainwashing) – and you have a recipe for destruction and rot
      So you have a recipe for psychocracy – controlled by Israeli Lobbies like AIPAC , MIC etc

    3. I met some veterans of Hitler’s army when I was in Germany, they were no more depraved than the rest of us. I’ve also met politicians while working at a state legislature, again no more depraved than anyone else. I sensed that in both cases they lived in a sort of bubble where everyone they listened to and trusted was saying the same thing. I think that’s what we miss sometimes, the “depraved” often do us harm while they think they’re helping.

      1. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

      2. Strange way to describe it John – ie that they were no more >depraved< than the rest of us. So are you suggesting and implying that everyone on the planet is equally depraved?

        Anyway, having said that these veterans of Hitler's army AND the politicians you refer to are no more depraved than the rest of us, you then finish by implying that they are NOT like the rest of us, and often do us harm etc.

        There's a heck of a lot of muddled thinking going on in there John!

        The reality is that there are the psychopaths on the one hand, and the empaths on the other, and everyone else lives in the reality that the two mentalities have created, but mostly, by FAR, the reality the psychopaths have created, both in the present, and throughout most of human history during the past ten thousand years or so.

        1. No, I’m saying it is a mistake to assume that people are monsters and it is also a mistake to assume that hearing a lot of people agree with you makes you right. You filled in the rest on your own.

        2. Curiously, do you ever preclude your opinions with “I think” or “in my view” or “It’s been my personal observation that…” or better still; “IMHO…”? Or do you always state your personal opinions as though they were facts?

  8. What I have been fortunate to learn is that jobs should be for usefulness not for profit. Capitalism is based on greed = it brings out the worst in people. Crony capitalism is just more openly rotten but it is just one form of the same disease.

    1. ALAN ROSS: I highly recommend that you read “Economics in One Lesson” by Henry Hazlitt, and read for comprehension. The knowledge you’ll acquire from such an endeavor will help prevent you from posting fatuous comments in the future.

    2. true to an extant…but fundamentally not a system thing (i.e. capitalism)… a human thing…..certainly there were no greedy communists under Stalin right? or in the Catholic Church all those centuries?? or in the Roman Empire? some humans love greed and power, we know this historically and in every day life, only solution is to keep centralized power diffused as much as possible in both govt and private industry, to inflict the least amount of damage.

  9. When I woke up this morning, my first thought was to ask myself what about the US arms manufacturers vis a vis the two heads of the American UNIQUE PARTY, Biden or Trump
    Then I went to Twitter and tweeted on
    @elmir1975

    In Europe and in Australia, example ABC, are following impatiently the US election and waiting for the name of the coming hawkish president

    By reading your daily pieces, I remember fearless journalism of the late Robert Fisk who passes away in Dublin after an illness at the age of 74

  10. Because the simple truth about what America really is about is so horrible is a main reason that it’s citizens refuse to look at it and acknowledge the nightmare they are part of. It’s just so much easier and more consoling to go along with all the pretty lies about who we are. Leaving the familiar tribal circle and stepping into an unknown dimension of self discovery is a pretty scary affair.

    1. Quite correct – Christians and complacent zombies will not survive the collapse of this civilization. Christians will have to denounce their leaders and leave their church if they want to escape the chaos will eventually erupt.

      1. The marxist controllers want to destroy christianity in the U.S. There’s a reason for that, they don’t want anybody believing in Jesus or God.

        1. Well why doesn’t God step in and prevent them Joe?

  11. If you vote Dem or Rep you are an accessory to murder. Jeffery Dahmer only killed 17 people.

  12. Michel Bélisle Avatar
    Michel Bélisle

    Politicians, media people, experts etc… are all products of the “System”.

    They will do anything to protect and perpetuate the “System”.

    The “System” is kind of their divinity.

    In my life, I have to thank God because I have always loathed the “System” because it is people in the service of money instead of money in the service of people as it should be.

    Keeping my Rosary on hand!

    1. Michel Bélisle Avatar
      Michel Bélisle

      So, what good can be gained from going to vote in elections if the “System” remains in place?

      And it is always always the case!

      Keeping my Rosary on hand!

  13. I agree with almost everything Ms. Johnstone wrote in this column except in making Biden identically as evil as Trump. Like so many people, I despise Joe Biden and his buddies very much for all the harm they have done and will likely do in the future, but I will join others on the real left, e.g. Ray McGovern and Noam Chomsky, in voting for him. I think Trump and his gang are the greatest threat to respect for people that has ever been in the White House. Perhaps, most important of all is the fact that Trump is far worse in bringing out the most vile emotions in people, and such feelings, including massive contempt and hate for other Americans, and the truth itself, will not just disappear even if Trump is defeated in this election. This is where great evils begin, in us, and leads to even violently supporting them. Hardened anger against science, and violence against certain religions, races, and the people of other countries, and the heightened conceit evoked by Trump will be corroding our country for years to come. He has degraded Americans far beyond what even a creep like Biden has done with all his bad actions.

    So I did not stay home in disgust over the rotten choice that has been forced on us, but I held my nose and voted for Biden. I did not feel dirty after voting for Biden, really against Trump, because I did this only to help keep this country from going over the tipping point and quickly and irrevocably sliding into fascism, war, and climate annihilation. Biden may be worse on foreign policy than Trump, but give that murderous clown and his buddies another four years and I am sure we will see this horror of a man doing things overseas even Biden and his crew wouldn’t. At the very least I want Trump’s dirty hands to no longer have in them, the codes to launch a nuclear holocaust. How anyone on the real left can rest easy sitting home in a swing state and let the fate of mankind depend on the latest mood of this unstable egomaniac, is still beyond me.

    1. Christians vote for lame duck Donald and some for hideous Joe. Christians will not survive the collapse of this civilization. Christians will have to denounce their leaders and leave their church if they want to escape the chaos will eventually erupt.

    2. Note that Trump has yet to start a war, while the Obama team destroyed Libya, almost destroyed Syria, devastated Yemen, conducted a coup in Ukraine that cost thousands of lives, and did the same in Honduras.

      I will not vote for Trump, and not vote for Biden either, who promised to change nothing. For those unaware of the 2009 coup in Honduras.

    3. Thanks so much for providing a text book example of the intellectual bankruptcy that is partisan politics.

  14. Any argument for this candidate, or against that one, is pointless. It is the fundamental nature of all governments, that the only thing any of them have demonstrated any efficiency in is killing people, and they are quite good at it. The government of the US just happens to be sitting on top of the heap at this particular point in time. It will fall, and likely soon, since its economy is in shambles. Another will just take its place.

    1. CAPTCHA has become more of an eye test than a verification. One I often fail. Some competition is needed here.

  15. Follow the money. Who is benefitting from Covid.
    1. Over leveraged businesses are able to shut down, file bankruptcy and begin again. Stock market soars.
    2. Bloated healthcare industry is being curtailed benefitting insurance companies. Less optional surgeries etc. Less payouts.
    3. Covid deaths are helping insurance companies because deaths by pandemics are not covered in their life insurance policies.
    4. Federal government now have a reason and means to bail out overleveraged state governments.
    Follow the money, open your eyes and stop listening to the propaganda aka marketing.

  16. https://www.johndayblog.com/2020/11/fear-and-loathing-2020.html
    Fear, fear, fear.
    Fear of the virus slowly transforming into the fear of a civil war, and then, perhaps, if the civil war stubbornly fails to appear, transforming back into the fear of the virus. Clearly, a relaxed, thinking, united population is horrible for business.
    Someone wants us all to be on edge.
    Someone wants us to accept the perpetual stress and the near inevitability of violence as the “new normal.”
    Someone wants us to view the people with different political beliefs as a different species, unworthy of saving or compassion.
    Someone wants is to beg for security and predictability.
    Someone—whoever that someone is—is messing with our heads​…
    I choose to honor my heart and ask my heart to guide me because I have the power to choose it.
    And so do you.
    Without our fear and hate of others, they cannot win.​ Tessa Fights Robots
    https://tessa.substack.com/p/we-have-the-power-to-refuse-the-fear?

    Ouch!
    Hunter Biden’s Story Could Help Hillary Clinton To Become Vice President
    There are only two ways for Joe Biden to prevent Republicans and independent media from further digging into the affair and all the potentially illegal issues it reveals.
    If Joe Biden loses the election the scandal will likely vanish as soon as he retreats from the public view.
    If Joe Biden wins the election the scandal will fester until he resigns.
    The second case is especially interesting. Vice President candidate Kamala Harris has been groomed by Hillary Clinton’s inner circle since 2017…
    Clinton’s recent Foreign Affairs piece, A National Security Reckoning – How Washington Should Think About Power, must be seen as a job application for a high position in a Harris (Biden) administration. Removing Joe Biden soon after he has won may well be in Clinton’s interest.
    https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/11/hunter-bidens-story-matters-especially-if-joe-biden-wins.html#more

  17. You could actually make the argument that your serial/thrill-killer selling organs on the Black Market, was at least potentially saving lives – perhaps more than s/he took with the murders – since each of thr victims’ stolen organs, could save multiple parties, who end up receiving those transplants.

    But in the case of the victims Boeing and Raytheon, and our psychopathic rulers – nobodys’ lives can be reasonably anticipated to be “saved” – just taken. Our killing spree abets only the expansion of our hegemonic monopolar global Empire, and the profits which can be made thereby.

    You are scary-brilliant Ms. Johnstone.

  18. No, sorry, you’re quite wrong on this one. There’s absolutely no comparison between Trump and Biden.

    The Obama/Biden/Clinton was demonstrably one of the most corrupt and evil administrations in American history! Think about the thousands of innocent civilians in Libya who were slaughtered under Obama/Biden’s watch; the thousands of blood-thirsty ISIS mercenaries they flooded into Syria to set up a radical Islamic caliphate; the deadly snipers that were brought into the Maidan to shoot and kill the peaceful protestors so that they could instigate the coup d’etat to bring down the legitimately elected government there. These are truly sinister!

    1. You are so right. They were so much worse than what Bush did in Iraq and Afghanistan. Chasing after fictitious WMD in Iraq and the Taliban were justified as we all know compared to the crimes continued by Obama, Biden and Clinton. Bush never did anything wrong unless you consider him and his papa being all cozy with the Saudis since before Iraq War I. Also absolutely no coincidence that 19 Saudi brought down the World Trade centers but it was Suddam Hussein who was supporting it.

      1. 9/11 was an inside job. You are late to the party.

      2. Have you all looked up who’s right there, side by side, in these wars? It’s easy, even Google admits it. Blair, Bush +++ all the usual suspects in Iraq. Libya? UK, US, France +++, Yemen, US, UK, Australia, Canada, tee hee hee behind my hand like Regan sp? in the Exorcist, great war, huh?, all sell weapons and fly bombings. Anyone think we here don’t just love it? It must really help you all sleep at night if you believe your government isn’t right there, too. Or, doesn’t it put it’s wars on the news? Oh! Same here. Say, how are you guys doing getting Assange home? Too scared of us? Tee hee hee. The other day, it was “violence around elections only serves power”. Today, it’s darn near a call to arms, burn the mofo down, and luckily, we’re all on edge anyway, watching potentially 1000s, 10’s of 1000s (more?) gather in major cities around the US for a bloodbath (unlike around the world, nice & orderly there). US regime change (Americans Suck! Rock on!). Hope no one gets killed…lol, no, I’m kidding, we serial killers love a good bloody war. At parties, we’ll throw you out if you bring our wars up. Funny, all these countries sell arms for these wars, they’re always about oil & markets, dollars, gold, control, money! and somehow, it’s always just mean old US demanding loyalty from you decent, woke, better gov allies. Gosh, wish I could be like you. Or live there with you- no guilt. Maybe they all make big money on these wars, because… it’s a global Empire. Huh, what do you know. Ass Trump said f-off and wouldn’t play, and they’ve done everything they can to get their wars ‘booming’ (tee hee hee) again. So, relax, Western buddies, you’ll be helping us kill again very soon, I’m sure. As equals, too, once no one has a voice for sovereign nations, or a place to go when it gets uglier. Sorry. We’re losing our country and some young kids soon, probably. We aren’t serial killers. Not us. Sheesh. Btw, Caitlin DIDN’T say that, but the commenters sure did. We are all in the other club, and you are in it, too. Get off our backs with your finger pointing. We’re fighting for something good here, too. I’ll apologize later. It’s tense here.

        1. Here’s the answer to your inevitable Q’s. Of course he’s not perfect. He’s stupid, in many ways. But, he’s been lied to, too. Surrounded by power. One man CAN NOT rule like a king. He’s pretty dumb. Agree. But ‘they hate him and WANT HIM OUT’. He doesn’t agree with them. That’s good. Second, you read the same fake b.s. in our news, as I read in yours. Yes, your news is full of lies, too. I catch it all the time, yet it’s reported internationally, so, there.. Plenty of propaganda all around. We all have to read so dang much these days, and thank God if we’re older, we have a bit of history education (removed from kids) & core values (bred out). I’m sorry I lost my head. The U.S. as it was once meant to be is going to die, and soon may many people may, too. Pray for sovereign nations to remain, so there is no central fascist govt and countries with no say, and no one left to fight back, ever.

          1. In March 2020, this elaborate website appeared (one of many). It seems like a absolutely, thoroughly, decisively done deal future is in store for us. But, oddly, it appeared before there was any evidence of long term disease, mass death, no factual info of the severity, the course, the nation’s involved. This well examined? You don’t find this odd? Covid. Lockdowns. Crashed global economy (2 quadrillion in derivatives, pensions lost, mortgages bet & lost, city budgets broke, I want markets, -#DefundPolice? we have since discovered it’s a Federal Police Force they want (or global militarized police force, even better, per ‘them’, if possible-what have we done?). Anyone who thinks, get the govt of the US, get re problem? Sorry. If you fight, don’t fight white people because you were told they’re all white supremacists. We ALL grew up with post 60s education. This is divide & conquer by identity. Again World, don’t pick on one. We need to unite. Is this the world you dreamed of? If you don’t get 9 new changes, post virus life, look until you find it. It even says, kids don’t need their parents education (no Shakespeare? Plato? Schiller? Beethoven? Goya? Poe?
            We know to research the Great Reset.

            https://www.cognizant.com/futureofwork/article/after-the-virus-9-ways-the-world-will-change

    2. Meanwhile back here on earth. Trump has dropped more bombs than Obama at the same point in his tenure.
      Put the Foxnews and breitbart down.
      There’s a real world full of actual facts out there.
      You apparently are quite ignorant to those facts…

      1. Nonsense! STOP believing everything CNN and the NYT tell you to believe. You Americans are simply pathetic.

  19. Yup, you’re right, that’s what America is all about, and mostly that comes pretty close to describing each and every single individual that lives in this great land of Lincoln. I wish it wasn’t so; so how you ever found something worthwhile here in this country to take home and bring into your abode I’ll never know, maybe you or him got lucky. For the most part though all Americans are filthy serial killers, just as you describe them.

  20. Queen Victoria couldn;t eat a fresh orange during winter. She was Empress of the biggest empire the world had ever seen. A century later and even the poorest in our society can eat a fresh orange in January. That’s capitalism!

    1. Well I guess everything is fine hunky dory then

    2. Actually, she could, and probably did. Rich people had greenhouses actually called “orangeries” in which they grew and ate such things as oranges out of season and only grown in tropical climates. The rich have always been scum. As several studies have shown (sorry, no reference), people who become rich then mostly become scum. Wealth is dangerous to an empathic life.

      1. Thank you, Mike, for emphasizing an old teaching from the Jewish prophetic tradition, culminating in a prophet from Galilee soon caricatured to the point of unrecognizability. You might enjoy checking out the free sample (Look inside) of this strange, marginal booklet.

        https://www.amazon.com/Life-Truth-synoptic-gospel-Theophilus-ebook/dp/B00NIZOJ4C

      2. Please stop contradicting with facts. It is so annoying.

    3. In 2020 starving children in Yemen (as only one example) can’t eat an orange during any season. That’s capitalism!!

  21. Incredibly, although the United States constitutes only 5% of the worlds population, America boasts almost 50% of the worlds total military expenditure, spending more on the military than the next 19 biggest spending nations combined.
    In fact, the Pentagon spends more on war than all 50 states combined spend on health, education, welfare, and safety. Yet what most United States of Americans fail to recognize is that these ongoing wars have little to do with keeping the country safe and everything to do with enriching the military industrial complex at taxpayer expense.
    ~
    This article can be read here:
    America After the Election: A Few Hard Truths About the Things That Will Not Change By John W. Whitehead!
    https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/america_after_the_election_a_few_hard_truths_about_the_things_that_wont_change

  22. Ms Johnstone, the United States population has been systematically brainwashed to believe that ” all those other people ” deserve to die because they are not ” us “! The twisted hypocrisy flowing within this country is a sight to behold. The Devil is in charge here; of that there is no doubt.

  23. Attention, readers:
    Crony capitalism is evil because there is a coercive government whose officials take bribes.
    Capitalism (true capitalism) does not suck because there is not.
    Confusing the two helps nobody.
    Thank you for your attention.
    Still loving all of your tireless work, Ms. Johnstone!

    1. Like a lot of people today you believe in the Toy Town version of Capitalism we all learned in school. You know, the butcher baker & candlestick make theory. All happy good folk going about their business. However that is not the whole nor the true picture as anyone who has examined our history knows. The realities Caitlin describes are real too; and the Capitalists she speaks about are not created by government. They are created by human nature and Capitalism itself.

      1. “the Capitalists she speaks about are not created by government.”
        Yes, they are. In fact, this is the point.
        I hope you don’t spend your whole life believing in vain that some coercive government will help humanity out of the pit that having coercive governments has created…

      2. How can a system built upon and fueled by greed not produce it in gross excess, far beyond any other “commodity?” Behind the endless war of the American Empire, in which Caitlin has sunk her sharp teeth, lies the greed relentlessly churned out by capitalism. How can we stop the war without changing this system? Human nature we cannot alter, but its best or worse aspects are brought out by its surrounding culture. What was that line about which dog inside me I choose to feed?

        1. Talking to me? Confusing true capitalism and crony capitalism behooves only the oligarchs. (You seem guilty of it by referring to “capitalism” when it is not. As long as we have coercive governments, which I am fighting against in every way I know how by the way, we don’t have capitalism, but crony capitalism)

          1. No, Bill, I was talking to David. Had I been talking to you, my comment would have been indented below yours, not aligned with it. I know it’s easy to confuse the columns, having done it myself on more than one occasion.

            1. My mistake, good sir!

        2. “built upon and fueled by greed”. How myopic you are in that view. Capitalism is based upon the pursuit of one’s own best interest, and by acting as such, fulfills the best interests of others. And while greed can and does factor into that, it indeed factor’s into ANY financial/economic system, as it is one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Greed, in and of itself, is no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

          Shall we then assume that good tasting food is evil because too many people are gluttons and get fat by overly consuming it?

          1. Maybe you do not know what Stockholm syndrome is. I’m afraid you suffer a lot from it.

    2. Well I’m on the edge of my seat to hear what the differences are between crony capitalism and capitalism. Any examples of non-corrupted capitalism you would like to share?

      1. Hmm.
        Crony capitalism is evil because there is a coercive government whose officials take bribes.
        Capitalism (true capitalism) does not suck because there is not.
        Non-corrupted capitalism will come about when enough people realize that the government is just the tool of the oligarchs to “manage” capitalism.
        In the meanwhile, while governments exist, there will be people trying to get rich by bribing those in power.
        Voluntaryism, or anarcho-capitalism, will solve this when we people give it the chance to.
        I have no examples for you. The propagandists are pretty good, and seem to have people believing in governments, and not true “self-governance.”
        Just know I am consistent in my beliefs against coercive governments and their corrupt mandates.
        Welcome?

  24. When you live your life without a moral compass you will follow anything that holds your attention until the next great thing comes along. Everyone worships something. What do you hold most dear other than yourself.

    1. https://www.johndayblog.com/2020/11/fear-and-loathing-2020.html
      Yale Psychiatrist Argues That Trump is Worse Than Hitler
      “At least Hitler improved the daily life of his followers.”
      https://summit.news/2020/11/02/yale-psychiatrist-argues-that-trump-is-worse-than-hitler/

      Plutocratic Violence and Election night Horror – Marxian Analysis Shows That Antifa is Fascist​, ​Joaquin Flores​. Thanks Eleni
      “When fascism comes to America, it will be called antifascism” – Huey Long (misattributed)
      ​ ​Antifa’s fascist violence will return on election night. That’s why it’s important to understand their fraudulence and fascism, and reject the politics of plutocrat-contrived violence. Perhaps strangely, Marxian analysis itself is best suited to communicate this point to the radical left.​..
      ​ Both the traditional radical left and fascist right were proponents of violence towards political goals, even if in self-defense, but the traditional radical left used to focus on ‘punching up’: Attacking capital, the ruling class, the banks, big land owners.
      ​ ​But historic fascism in its late-nascent stage is more similar to Maoism during the Cultural Revolution (there’s a strong New Left orientation to Maoism as well). It organizes and concentrates power by ‘punching down’.
      ​ ​This dangerous fascistic trend among what has come to be known as ‘the left’. At the level of universities, it began in the late 90’s when coastal university classrooms became ‘call-out sessions’.​..
      ​ ​That Antifa punches down and that mainstream media echoes their talking points, and that public service announcements are increasingly indistinguishable from Antifa propaganda, is a clear sign of its fascist essence.
      ​ ​Punching down is always from a position of power, and its appropriation by the overt sections of power is a clear sign that their ideas have become what the French Marxist Althousser called the Ideological State Apparatus:
      https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/10/29/plutocrat-violence-election-night-horror-marxian-analysis-shows-that-antifa-fascist/

  25. of course: capitalism…the rule of the head, which has capitulated to the rule of money representing matter which includes people…and is Mother Nature’s cancer.
    people as matter, now called data, to fuel the want nevermind need.
    to fuel capitalism you will need lots and lots of lies.
    massive numbers of losers. dead zones all around.

  26. The Devil Can Trick You Into Selling Your Soul

    In Goethe’s Faust, the character Faust is tempted by the devil to sell his soul for the fulfillment of all his desires. According to the bible the devil offered Christ the same thing, but he refused. This metaphor applies well to all of us today. Look at all the “leaders” that have emerged on the internet at this time. Their following, their admirers have grown and they are in demand, they are highly respected. To be true to themselves they must be wise enough to not take the judgements of others, no matter how positive they may be, to heart, which in my opinion, is the same as acquiescing to the temptation of the devil. By allowing their ego to be appeased, they are essentially selling their souls. The trick is to never allow the judgement of others to affect one to any degree. In that way, one will maintain their integrity and be worthy of their lofty position.

    The individualism, the competitive nature of our society fortifies the false conception of ourselves of identifying with the ego. In this way all of society has sold its soul to the devil and the multiple crises we all face are our redemption. Karma, the idea that there are consequences for each and every one of our actions is what humanity is experiencing right now.

    There are really many reasons one could put forth for what is happening in the world; the corruption that we live in, the systems that we allow that disregard the environment that we depend on, all the wrong decisions of humanity, all the false beliefs, to name a few. But the one that is most overlooked is the false concept of who we think we are, the idea of our separateness.

    How can anyone understand how people can be so cruel and heartless to one another? While at the same time there are countless examples of compassionate acts of love.The variability of behavior that is available to humans seems far beyond any other species. We are alone in that we can choose to be ethical or not. To be humane is to be human. But in this illusive world, there are so many illusions that must be shed if we wish to attain a society that is sane and ethical.

    The first, being our miscomprehension as to who we are. The ego is who we think we are but who we are not. How does the ego form? Slowly, as babies we discover our individuality and our desires, milk, I want your breast, mama, now! Slowly, a persona forms, contingent entirely almost on one’s surroundings and the people that inhabit them. It is quite possible that we are born with some inclinations, some tendencies, even some innate skills, and this too will play a role in our growing assumption of who we are.

    What differentiates us is not only what we encounter as experiences but how we choose to respond or react to them. This obviously would make each of us unique, but when we are all heavily bombarded with the same conditioning we will lose much of that distinctiveness and in many ways we will seem similar or the same. For example, those who are raised Christian or any particular religion will be often somewhat similar, because this is a form of conditioning. Wouldn’t it be wonderful and more authentic, if each person had their own private beliefs/religion instead of these mass religions? Instead we are all to some degree indoctrinated by the religions of our parents.

    In any case, our sense of who we are forms most often unconsciously and one can easily imagine that if we were born in a different location or had different parents or circumstances that our personalities would be likely vastly different. From this, one can see how arbitrary in many ways is our sense of who we are and how it is more of a conceptualization that formed quite unconsciously.

    In W.Africa, the Ivory Coast, where my x lived 2 years as a nurse with the peace corp in a village of 1000 people who were constantly without money. There, everyone thought of themselves more as “we” than “I” as all were shared, even sleeping areas. The men and women slept separately, but when a man wanted a woman, he would pick one, and have consensual sex together. In this way, no one ever knew who their actual father was.

    I know that most of us never would want to physically torture, maim, or kill anyone and yet there are some among us who have no compunction about doing just that. Who are these people and how can they be so heartless and devoid of empathy?

    Psychopathy describes these types, but psychology offers little more.
    Apparently, they are everywhere, from leaders of governments to board rooms to prisons. There seems to be some chemical element, along with brain dysfunction, as well as possibly heredity, perhaps traumatic childhoods, however the etiology remains unclear.

    But how many of us would bomb entire countries, create world wide refugee problems, kill millions, etc? Only our world leaders would do that. Yet the American people have turned a blind eye to these constant atrocities. And now there are reports that these very same leaders along with famous movie starts are pedophiles that torture, have sex with, and eat babies and small children.

    Most people cannot believe this could be true. I am one who finds it hard to believe that all these people could be so evil. But we know that at least our leaders are capable of waging war on innocent victims with the most flimsy and/or dishonest justifications for them. We all know that Afghanistan is not a threat to the United States, yet we have been militarily involved for 18 years.

    There are so many violent conflicts happening on our planet and I can’t honestly say why or how to stop them. One could view them as an illness like when the body is not homeostatic and out of balance. That is to say that things need to be in balance if peace is to prevail. That would imply that injustices must be resolved and human needs be met. One might then surmise that it is our systems of governance and the economies that are the bases of our societies that are failing the people and are out of whack.

    We are clearly being led by psychopaths and it’s taking us to extinction and/or totalitarianism. This must be stopped asap. I at least protested most of these wars back in the 90’s, though it had little effect. But those who accept these atrocities, who ignore them, are to some degree complicit.

    Now the chickens have come home to roost, the cows are back in the barn, redemption time, and there is hell to pay. The devil is here to collect his debt. Can we turn on a dime? That could be our only hope for escape.

    1. Karma is wishful thinking. But things are very bad for the world as more species go extinct every hour but the real human suffering of coastal flooding and soaring temperatures hasn’t even started yet. When it’s 130 degrees outside people will have wished they had done something about the fossil fuel industry

      1. Climate change is a political delusion. We speak of marketing but believe in climate change and covid. Covid is just climate change part 2. Its all about reducing world population. Technology and fossil fuels allow a large world population. You are all advocating eugenics but too blind to see it. Of course the ones advocating it will not be the ones starving. But hey, like war it will be the other guy getting shafted so no problem.

    2. To believe we can turn on a dime is an affront to reason, probability, history, reality itself. Yet, like you, I suspect that this is our only hope to escape the nightmare. Thus, I choose, against all odds, to will to believe that we can turn on a dime, and work in my own small way toward the birth of that seeming impossibility. Using the language of Christian tradition, Albert Schweitzer said that by far the most difficult demand Jesus made was that we believe–and stake our lives upon–the coming of Kingdom of God on earth. Has that ever been more difficult than right now?

  27. Actually will either have a masked killer or a sadistic clown and as you say either one will be fine for the American Public. In the United States if you go to a party and talk about the war crimes of the Empire you will be kicked out in disgrace. The party goers will be celebrating the victory of their favorite criminal, because of course, he is the lesser of the two evils. I personally think the History of the Rise and Fall of the American Empire will be a much shorter tome than Gibbon’s Masterpiece. Hopefully Caitlin will still be around to write it.

  28. Thank you again Caitlin …
    I expressed it before
    War what is it good for !
    Franchise opportunities

  29. It would be interesting if you would go a step further and talk about the relationship between what the US does in regard to imperialism and endless wars, and capitalism, which I believe fuels this behavior.

    1. Caitlin did and does link Capitalism to US Imperialism. The whole article says it again & again. Eg the War Industry CEOs giving money to both candidates.

Trending