Listen to a reading of this article:

If the working class had as much class solidarity as the ruling class has there never would’ve been a ruling class.

Stealing someone’s labor is worse than stealing their property, because it’s theft of their life; you can replace property if you want, but you can’t replace hours of life. And rigging the system so people need to work longer hours in order to survive is this form of theft at mass scale.

Right now it’s ass backwards: people have to spend their lives away from their loved ones in pointless jobs, and if you tell the cop your employer stole hours from you he’ll just shrug while if your employer tells the cop you stole a company iPad you’ll be hauled off in chains.

This would all be a lot less confusing if we said people get paid by the Life Unit instead of by the hour, because it makes it much clearer what you’re actually trading. “You want a unit of my life for seven dollar bills and a quarter? Fuck you.”

Six months into Biden’s presidency it’s definitely not okay to be a grown adult and still believe Trump was a uniquely monstrous president.

Biden may be stopping all progress and breaking most of his campaign promises, but he did also campaign on bringing back the Obama years so in that sense he kept all his campaign promises.

Focusing on individuals instead of the system creates the illusion that if you replaced the individuals you could fix the problems with the system. The individuals are symptoms of the disease.

This is true whether you’re talking about oligarchy or the official elected government. Leave the systems in place and get rid of Jeff Bezos and another greedy plutocrat will just move into his niche. Get rid of Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema and you’ll just get different Democrats killing progress in the senate. It’s fine to criticize them, but it’s not about them. You criticize them to draw attention to the systems.

Sociopaths will keep getting elevated to the top as long as there are systems in place which elevate sociopaths. Right now wealth and political power go to whoever’s willing to do anything to get to the top and step on anyone in their way. That’s what actually needs to change.

Really the people just need to find a way to seize power and create systems which work for everyone instead of rewarding greed, sociopathy and corruption. But they’ll never do that by working within the current systems, because those systems are designed to do the exact opposite.

Sure Biden is shit. That’s what happens in a system which elevates shit. That’s why his predecessor was shit, and why his replacement will be shit. Without that system Biden would just be some creepy asshole in an assisted living facility who all the caregivers try to avoid.

But also it’s never actually about Biden; it’s about a system wherein mass-scale human behavior is driven by profit, and where war, ecocide, exploitation and corruption happen to be profitable. As long as that’s the case it will just be endless assholes ruling our world until they get us all killed.

  1. Be a government
  2. Do evil things
  3. Make it illegal to report those evil things
  4. Sentence anyone who does to draconian prison terms as a deterrent
  5. Keep the public from knowing what you’re doing
  6. Force them to guess
  7. Label this guessing “conspiracy theory”
  8. Censor them

For every whistleblower you make an example of you prevent a thousand others.

Republicans live in such an awesome world. There’s a war on white men, powerful anarchists rule the streets, the president is a Marxist, and US officials are being taken out by communist microwave beams.

Feds definitely knew about the Capitol raid in advance and definitely let it happen yet you’re meant to believe the only reason rioters didn’t lynch Nancy Pelosi and take over the US government is because their diabolical plot was thwarted at the last minute.

Imagine if the memesters who went to Area 51 in 2019 actually got in (because military forces opened the doors for them), wandered around for a bit and then left, and then this was hailed as worse than 9/11 and used to advance authoritarian agendas and legal precedents… and people believed it.

It would have been exactly note-for-note identical to what happened with January 6th. The one and only difference is that there was no ideological angle on the Area 51 memesters.

As a kid I certainly never imagined that I’d end up spending such a significant portion of my adult life arguing with strangers who think the government should be allowed to do extremely evil things in secret.

Still shits me how we all know our governments and institutions lie to us all the time about important things but when people are distrustful of those institutions they get treated like they belong in a straight jacket. Sure this distrust can manifest in ways that are not well-informed or truth-based, but expecting all rank-and-file members of the public who work full time to have a perfectly erudite understanding of every situation is absurd. The distrust is reasonable and it’s not their fault.

If people distrust their government and institutions, the blame rests exclusively on the shoulders of the government and institutions who created that distrust in the first place. You can’t create distrust and act like people are crazy for distrusting you. That’s not a thing.

___________________________

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99 responses to “It’s About The System, Not The Individuals: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix”

  1. “Focusing on individuals instead of the system creates the illusion that if you replaced the individuals you could fix the problems with the system. The individuals are symptoms of the disease.”

    I am so glad to read this here. I try to read everything Johnstone writes, and if this insight has been part of her views for long, I’ve been missing something important.

    It is quite true that our predators bring machine guns to the knife fight, and are therefore the more culpable, but the basic problem is that we are killing each other.

    I often counsel young people who want to gnash over capitalism that capitalism survives only because we continue to rabidly consume the trash it offers: poison food, poison jobs, poison education, poison media, poison debt, poison residential choices, and all manner of over-priced goods that are actually worth no more than you could get for them at the flea market if you had to sell them next week. If you grok this, and wonder where to start, I’ve been at it a while, and I could use some company.

    – When there’s an option, do not buy new. The system goads you to buy new everything, stuff you need and stuff you don’t: new, new, new. Starve the system, buy used. I’m wearing thrift shop clothes in a house we bought on the foreclosure market and filled with secondhand furniture, and writing to you on a refurb Mac. I drive a 1996 Toyota Tacoma which Kelly’s Blue Book says is now worth $200 more than I paid for it in 2014. I have everything I need and enough extra to give away 28% of my 2020 income to my struggling neighbors. I live happier, healthier, and a damn sight more free than a lot of folks who would sneer at my lifestyle. No one is rich until they know they have enough.
    – Don’t rent money, it’s a trap. Think of debt as a blood funnel jammed in your neck. It’s not a credit score, it’s a sucker rating. If you would rather pay a mortgage than pay rent, good for you. But buy an older place that’s about half the loan amount you’re approved for. A good rule of thumb is a 15-year fixed mortgage whose payments you can easily double. Pay it off in 8 years. Yes, you can. Well, then move somewhere sensible people can afford to live. The first thing you have to stop buying is the bullshit.
    – If it’s a window box, start growing as much of your food as you can. Buy your food as fresh, organic, raw, and local as you possibly can. If you have to shop corporate, shop the edges of the stores, where the produce and fresh stuff is. If you are eating out of boxes, bags, and cans, you are poisoning yourself. Look up “The Bliss Point.” You are hungry all the time because the nutrition has been removed from your food. It is culled and sold to hog farmers because it actually matters to the market economy whether hogs are healthy or sick. A human being will eat styrofoam that has enough sugar, fat, and salt in it.
    – Stop consuming corporate-sourced media. No “news,” no shows, no corporate sports, no Hollywood anything. No, my friend, “public” broadcasting gets more money from Raytheon in a week than they get from viewers like us in a year. Turn that pandering, patronizing honey trap off for six months and you won’t believe you ever let them soak your brain in that spew. The power to control the imagery you see is the power to make you believe absolutely anything. Boycott it.
    – Adopt a local person or family that’s having trouble. Share. Not your pocket change, but your substance. Ask them to pay it forward. Twice. It’s how to thwart the system and change our world.
    – You will find it terribly hard at first, but soon you will think of a thousand ways to do things that do not feed the system. When life sucks, start changing things until everything changes.
    – Involve your kids in everything you do.

    Marx was right about class struggle, but he got something essential completely wrong. We do not need a political revolution. We need a social one. We don’t need a new “-ism” to come along and fix things for us. Disengage in a serious way, and you will soon despise left and right, crats and cans, liberals and conservatives: none of it has any basis in reality now, if it ever did.
    Fight for what you knew was right when you were five: Sharing is fun, fair is fair, and don’t leave anybody out.

    1. Absolutely right on brother!!

      As long as we remain a bunch of dogs afraid of biting the hand that feeds them, the hand of the system will control us. Fact is though there are limits as to just how far we can toward breaking our life-dependency on this system. We are in such deep dependency just for basic life support needs within the context of modernity. If we want to leave behind modernity, abandon the technologies that have appeared say post-1750 or so, we’ll find it damn near impossible just to live…no place left where a significant number of people could go back to old ways and certainly not all the way back to H&Ging. So, I fear that we are stuck in this current mess until-unless the system itself breaks down, meaning that the system is no longer able to provide basic modern life needs for the majority of the people depending on it and/or no longer able to squelch internal social frustrations. If that happens, things will get very ugly for a while, but maybe, as a species, we’ll ultimately be better off if the system of modern economics based on continual technological “progress” and focused on ever-increasing GDP-per-capita simply falls apart and can’t be rebuilt again. Meanwhile, we can only do our best to keep up a resistance comprised of the simplification of our wants and as much refusal as we can muster to go along with the games and “-ismizing.” The system…can’t live with it, can’t live without it?

      1. That’s right, we cannot turn off the modern world without killing ourselves by the billions. And we don’t want to. Who doesn’t like screen windows and doctors that fix broken bones? The problem is not the means of production but what we produce, and why.
        The logical endpoint of the profit principle is to produce something totally worthless that sells for whatever you ask. Brother, are we there yet? We must be getting close.
        All we can do by way of steering this monster is to develop a cultural groundswell of aversion to spending our “life-units” (love that) on useless, harmful, and predatorily priced shit.
        If we stop buying it, the system will stop producing it: this is our lever for change.
        Let’s buy what is needful and wholesome, and share our extra with our neighbors. I ought to be ashamed of hoarding my extra until all my neighbors have enough. If everybody felt that way, we would all have plenty in no time.
        This has to happen organically, from within ourselves and our people. Outlawing passenger cars (for instance) would not solve a thing; the substitute will still be dreamed up and produced by a wealth-concentrating system rooted in reckless extraction and heedless consumption. What’s needed is the social consensus that a million separate passenger cars is a deeply stupid way to get a million people into the city today.
        It is not our job to overturn the world, or our brothers’ lives. It is our job– it is my job –to work within my reach, and demonstrate disengagement to those who need to see it most. No one sane wants to move to the woods and eat dirt. We just want our world to make a little more sense tomorrow.
        These ideas will not gain traction in the suburbs where folks are clinging to the shreds of “prosperity” for all they are worth. The most fruitful ground for change is amongst those forced by circumstance to understand how desperately change is needed.
        Sure is nice to get a positive response once in a while. All my best in the bond of peace.

  2. “Get rid of Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema and you’ll just get different Democrats killing progress in the senate.”

    Unbelievable. I’m not reading any further. For someone who claims to be operating on a higher plane of awareness and providing a 30,000 ft overview etc. your naive, partisan-level belief systems have been revealed.

    CJ looks like another paid psy-op shill writer….

    Bye.

    1. Explain how the quotation is untrue.

  3. “If the working class had as much class solidarity as the ruling class has there never would’ve been a ruling class.”

    What rubbish!

    If everyone became working class or all-one-class – as you suggest, then almost immediately a new upper, middle and lower class system would develop.

    Read Peregrine Worsthorne’s ‘In Defense of Aristocracy’ to understand class in a whole different light.

  4. This is the mantra that ought to be endlessly repeated “its about the system not the individuals”, frame that one in platinum.
    A friend once said that the geniuses of the past had been right due to their intelligence
    Well, a careful check of history shows that in the past most geniuses were WRONG most of the time despite their intelligence so obviously intelligence does not confer accuracy.
    So what does tend to confer accuracy?
    I think it is IMMUNITY to social pressure which is most likely to confer accuracy.
    An intelligent or unintelligent person who is prone to conform to institutions can not act with originality so can not correct error, a person whether intelligent or not whom is not inclined to conform for conformities sake is much more likely to be original hence accurate, capable of correcting error.
    Its not about intelligence or its lack, it is about independence or its lack.
    All institutions tend towards error to the degree they are privileged, the institution drags down individuals who should have known better.

  5. Leaders are like mantelpieces.
    Decorative.
    Unless they become dictators of course.
    Then they come crashing down on our heads.

    1. Our leaders are invisible, and in most cases, operate behind and through corporate power. The “upper class” individuals whose names we know, whose faces we see, are either mouthpieces or johnny-come-lately lottery winners like Gates and Bezos, who cannot avoid the spotlight. Even the most determined sociopath has to hit the zillion-to-one shot to amass globally meaningful wealth in a lifetime.
      Consider whether it is not more accurate to think of it as predation, not leadership, of any type, dictatorial or otherwise.

  6. Robert Greenshields Avatar
    Robert Greenshields

    The well practiced and accepted cultures of an incestuously corrupt community maintains the imbalance and injustices in administrations of cities, shires, and councils across Oz; and, as an example, with the acceptance of supposed party drugs as not having a devastating impact, irrespective of the continued maintenance of illicit networks, that erode and undermine families and community values, to use a term from the movie “The Sandpebbles”, “it is their rice bowl”, and that seemingly justifies the cowardly continuity. From the epitome of society, legislators, administrators, the judiciary, and downwards we witness the venality, and supposedly we need to accept that it’ll be right mate!

  7. Caitlin, you may have already noticed this one, but until I saw it I had this sense in the back of my mind that maybe your statement that many so-called lefties think you are a right-wing stooge was a bit over-drawn. Then I read the following (there is a whole paragraph devoted to you down in the body of the piece):

    Vaudeville left

    Its characterization of you bears no resemblance to what I’ve read by you over the past years. In fact, it goes further than your characterization of the leftie Caitlin-haters. I believe that this one is claiming that you are an actual fascist just trying to lure leftists into her lair.

    1. Well, I clicked on the link, then I hit “Ctrl-F” to find mention of Caitlin.
      I think this is a hit piece but time will tell.
      ~
      When they start accessing you and accusing you of being the opposite you proclaim to be, then that is when you know:
      GAME ON BABY! Game on Baba.
      ~
      My only advice is play to win.
      I’m on your side if that makes a difference.
      ~
      Don’t mean I agree with everything you say, but it does mean I will be there when you need some good counsel. I’ll be there for you if I can.
      ~
      Plus, I play to win. I hope you do as well.
      ~
      Peace,
      Ken

    2. Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio? Lacking any semblance of grace & dignity, and clearly misrepresenting cherry-picked “items” to support his flim-flam, this Anthony DiMaggio character just barfed up one of the more perverse and grotesque attempts at political analysis I’ve seen in awhile.
      He states “there is a heavily corporatized, nominally left segment of the punditry… dominated by personalities like Jimmy Dore, Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, Joe Rogan, Caitlin Johnstone, and Krystal Ball, among others…. normalizing rightwing Republican talking points…[fueling] a larger narrative, embraced by the mainstream media, political centrists, and the right, which all seek to normalize white supremacy and rising neofascism in America.”
      DiMaggio can’t begin to conceive that the FBI would ever be involved with manufacturing the very terrorist plots it ends up thwarting and then publicizing, something which should be common knowledge by now—or that gain of function research at the infamous Wuhan lab could ever conceivably be associated with dear Mr. Fauci. And, in due course, DiMaggio apparently is of the mind that significant numbers of people voting for Trump couldn’t possibly have any redeeming goodness about them. He doesn’t like that Matt Taibbi “fixates” (as he puts it) on Hunter Biden’s laptop (nothing to see there, right), and cannot comprehend that people of different political persuasions could find common ground for cooperation.
      Glenn Greenwald isn’t allowed, in DiMaggio World, to appear on Fox—geesh, that’s heresy, by God!
      He’s blithely unaware of Jimmy Dore’s many criticisms of Bernie Sanders and is moronically adamant that the Biden Administration’s interface with Facebook amounts to censorship in any way, shape, or form.
      The whole thing is really ugly and remarkable stupid (even in this day and age of remarkable stupidity).

      1. to clarify: Dore’s criticism of Sanders is always from a position to the “left” of Sanders

      2. https://youtu.be/jFECj1By-co
        ~
        Looks like Anthony DiMaggio needs to take a closer look at who’s promoting “Republican talking points” and who is just an honest-to-goodness leftist.

  8. I encourage all to speak up these days. Speak your mind and say what you think.
    ~
    You are going to have to shoot a bullet through my brain if you want to shut me up, but
    ~
    if you do, there will be consequences, for you, your family, and the family of your family, so
    ~
    think twice before you pull the trigger because you might just be killing everybody in your family.
    ~
    Sometimes, the best choice is to hold back and refrain.
    That is what my grandma believed I think though she never told me personally.
    Her family escaped from Russia, the year she was born, 1899 I think it was.
    Same year discussed earlier here if you read closely.
    ~
    OK pumpkins – check you out later and my printing press is getting ready to go!
    Exciting times we live in and it is fun in a twisted sort of 80’s way.
    ~
    I think we all are sick of the government edicts and the effing stupid statements from the scientist.
    I think we all know that we are on our own.
    Oh well, better on our own, than under
    a thumb of another.
    ~
    Why is Craig Murray being sent to jail? I just can’t get my head wrapped around that, but I reckon them Scottish bitches who demand anonymity, and even worse, they want it with no jury, must have an axe to grind. Problem is, they don’t care about innocence cause they have lost their minds. How about each and every one of them lying bitches be exposed for the harm they have caused and the judges and magistrates as well. Them bitches have gotten totally out of control and they have lost their minds. This is why, an innocent man is being sent to jail cause they don’t care and they don’t think it will affect them, but let me be the first to say, they have no idea as to the consequence of what they have unleashed and neither does the supreme court of the once called UK. You can’t be supreme if you have no sense of justice, and let me tell you if any harm comes to any of the prisoners so unjustly detained of late, there will be hell to pay, and even if no harm comes to them, there will be hell to pay because they have been unjustly detained, and THAT is upon you, you bitches who want to make all the decisions in the absence of jury no less. It just makes me puke.
    ~
    There is going to be consequences for this because the hole is now so deep you have unleashed powers and forces that are beyond your imagination. Get ready because we are coming to get you – one at a time.
    ~
    aaaaaahhhhh…..I’m just the messenger…..but I don’t mind a bullet to the brain – give me some peace why don’t ya……..
    ~
    Hell to pay.

    1. That is what you get from cheep Kentucky bourbon, but if you care to check the fact, Ms. Lady whatever who sentenced Craig Murray to 8 months, there was no jury, it was not a fair trial, anyhow, this bitch, lets call a spade what it is, advocates for no jury.
      ~
      Now let me ask you this. Is that a good idea.
      ~
      For eff sake – is that a good idea?
      ~
      Christ Almighty – if you think that is a good idea, then you have lost your mind as she has. The amazing thing is, the “system” supported her decision.
      ~
      So, any rational individual must ask themselves – is that justice? If so, the we are all fucked.
      ~
      Welcome to the rabbit hole – Welcome to Alice in Wonderland. Very few will survive especially when it comes to the magistrates. They will be hung up first in the land of rabbit hole justice.
      ~
      Seriously all you bitches out there – get a hold of yourselves unless you want to unleash forces that destroy everything, or is that your ploy? If it is, you have seriously lost your mind and there is no solution other than the strings that will hang you by a thread.
      ~
      One other idea I have if you get stuck in prison is have a look in your eyes that gives pause to anybody who might consider causing you harm or causing harm to those you love. Give them pause, and then kill them in a heartbeat if you think they aren’t getting the message. Kill them metaphorically and be done with it. Then serve your time and come out a better man at the end of it. What a travesty it all is. I wish it wasn’t so, and I don’t think it had to be this way, but it is, so when push comes to shove, kill or be killed. That is the other lesson I learned in prison. Glad I never had to put it into practice for fuck sake.
      ~
      God I’m sick of all this shit.

  9. Elections are a dumb show. They have nothing to do with power. The system is designed so the scum on top can only perpetuate itself and its system through the hoax of elections. So, bewailing a dumb show is dumber than dumb. Elections never have and never will constitute the representation of the common person. As I see it, the rulers are more desperate than ever to free themselves of the burden of managing common people. Because common people are aware more than ever that they are slaves still of the rich.

    1. The Income Tax is nothing other than a slave tax. The slaves were taxed 100%. How much slave tax are the Masters charging now?

      If voting mattered, then our “representatives” would at least read the bill before they voted it into law.

  10. As long as people mostly benefit from having a sick (Big Pharma) and worried (media, politicians) population at home and killing people abroad (MIC), we’ll have a system that rolls out a sick and worried population at home and kills people abroad.

    1. Right wingers hate science because it’s always proving them wrong.

      1. Left wingers hate science cause they are stuck on a wing.

      2. Jet planes will shoot you down in a heartbeat – they will do it with their left wing or their right cause they could give a shit about you.
        ~
        When you could be the target the it is fair to shoot back, but if you are target who never should of been, then the whole system deserves to get shot down. This is what I would say to the Obamas if I was sitting with them drinking some gin.

        1. When you are the target defend yourself. Do it for the sake of your family.
          ~
          Could anything be simpler?
          ~
          Time for something better and time for the “shitters” to get their due. You get what you give.
          ~
          BK
          time to take a shower

          1. I too feel a need to shower after any thought or mention of Obama. The slime from his slither and the smug from his face….

            1. A good shower is a good thing.
              ~
              Afterwards, if you are up for it, a good shot of Kentucky bourbon is good for the soul Herr Gregory Herr.
              ~
              May I get you a drink at the table? You know you are here don’t you? No need for an invite when you are a friend.
              ~
              Did you know it was a German fella I think who beat the #1 Tennis player in the Olympics. Oh well, just another competition I reckon.
              ~
              Let me get you some Maker’s Mark – I think we still have some of that around here and let me propose a toast to you Herr Gregory Herr…..
              ~
              to Herr Gregory Herr from Ken. A toast to you!
              Ha, ha……
              BK

            2. Prost!
              ~
              Just for clarity’s sake—do you know Clarity?—my ancestors were Swiss Mennonites. Had trouble with persecution for antiwar stance.

    2. Agreed, but who really in “benefitting” form any of this.
      ~
      So how about we stop it for the sake of acceptance.

  11. Here, to end the day, I got my drink, the bar was out of vodka, so I chose gin.
    ~
    Here is a story for the day it will be short, sweet, and simple and succinct.
    ~
    There once was a time when a few thought we know what common
    means. We are the keepers of “common” they thought.
    ~
    That was their first mistake and then the bans commenced.
    They couldn’t tolerate anybody speaking of another
    version of what it meant to be common.
    ~
    That is when you knew, they weren’t speaking for the common because if they were, then all views would be accepted. All views would have a moment to speak.
    ~
    But these ones, who thought they control the common dreams, they were biased in their view. Sad but true and time has proven this time and time again I say to all those who have been banned – myself being one of them.
    ~
    So, truly, it comes down to being local, and really the time of much improvement being achieved on the “www” is reaching its end because the tool has been contaminated. Is it not obvious.
    ~
    So what is one to do in this sort of dream….what is one to do.
    There is no easy answer. Karma doesn’t even know.
    Uncertainty is like a law inviolate if such could be.
    ~
    I choose to take care of my family and judge me all you want, but harm my family, and rest assured there will be harm sent back your way as recompense. Hate to talk like a mean lawyer, but fuck sake, I’ve been surrounded by them for so long, some osmosis has settled in. But no matter new generations are coming and they will have better ideas as long as we don’t let the zealots kills everything. Seems like an easy mission to me, so I take it on. If you are a zealot you’d be advised to not show your face within 100 yards of my property. If you come onto my property I will kill you in a heartbeat – metaphor or not you mother fucking shitting assholes.
    ~
    Peace is easy,
    BK

    1. This one doesn’t sound as far-fetched as it once did. Stay true.
      https://freefall555.blogspot.com/2017/05/time-after-time.html

      1. Freefall – that was good.
        Thanks.
        I read it in its entirety and thanks again.
        ~
        Who knows when the bullet from afar will strike the brain,
        but we all know when it does
        there will be consequences
        and consequences
        demand
        remit.
        ~
        Ken

  12. “If the working class had as much class solidarity as the ruling class has there never would’ve been a ruling class.” Martin Luther King Jr once said the whole purpose of Jim Crow was to weaken the working class by pitting blacks against whites.

    1. He’d have struck closer to the root had he said the purpose of slavery was to pit white servants against black.

  13. Carolyn L Zaremba Avatar
    Carolyn L Zaremba

    Thank you for calling a spade a spade (regarding Biden in particular) and not a “matter removal utensil”, Caitlin! Your clarity of mind and observational skills are so refreshing. Keep it up.

    1. In the card game of Bridge if my mind is working just now Spades are the top suit. The hearts, then diamonds, and then clubs.
      ~
      The spades and hearts are in a group of their own as are the diamonds and clubs.
      ~
      I think a bunch of Jews play bridge and I’m sure many from other religions play as well. I play bridge, but I don’t play with cheaters. If you cheat, I will figure it out eventually and I may or may not tell you that I know. So consider that when you lay your next card because I might know already that you are a cheater and if I do, this informs my opinion.
      ~
      Don’t worry, I do my due diligence before I decide.
      ~
      Looking for a partner in bridge – let me know if you are interested.
      Ken

  14. YES, it is the system, the 400 year old monetary system run by the global oligarchy that NEEDs to be replaced. That is the system of power. A private for-profit system issuing money as debt instead of a for-care public system issuing money as an asset. The struggle for national sovereignty is a global struggle to gain local control. https://www.monetaryalliance.org/petition-to-create-a-just-money-system/

    1. I signed the petition. Thanks.
      Not sure it will do any good, but I signed it nonetheless.
      ~
      I’ll keep my river rocks to myself.
      BK

  15. “Sociopaths will keep getting elevated to the top as long as there are systems in place which elevate sociopaths. Right now wealth and political power go to whoever’s willing to do anything to get to the top and step on anyone in their way. That’s what actually needs to change.”
    Gaddafi knew this. He saw that representational democracy was deeply flawed and that it attracted the wrong type of person. He also knew that political parties were inherently flawed. Consequently he outlawed all political parties, one of the few laws he laid down along with the outlawing of usury. To combat the problem of democracy he guided the people of Libya to establish local Peoples’ Congresses where all had a voice and a vote. The street decided what the street wanted/needed and the centralised administration carried out their wishes. Full Participatory Democracy. Networking was encouraged. Sociopaths had one vote like everyone else and power could not be concentrated in a few hands like it is today all over the planet. That was, imo, one of the main reasons the sociopaths and psychopaths of the west took him out. It would never do for them to let the masses decide for themselves en masse what they want.
    However, one cannot machine gun or sodomise to death an idea whose time has come. Fortunately Gaddafi left his how-to-do-it Green Book for us to consider: http://openanthropology.org/libya/gaddafi-green-book.pdf If you’re interested in what sort of life the people decided was the best for them then spend a few minutes watching this short video and be amazed at what it contains:

    1. Saved the book – thanks.
      Saved as as a pdf file on my hard drive or maybe it is soft.
      I saved it and it will be read by others.
      The stiflers can try all they want but some ideas refuse to be contained.
      ~
      Thanks again John Thomas.
      (not sure I want to watch the video, but I will if I must – I hope it contains no violence)
      ~
      Ken

    2. Is the price of gasoline still 14 cents?
      I doubt it.
      Tell you something.
      Don’t it.
      ~
      I stand in liberty with the dreams of those from Libya as well as the dreams of those from around the world, the whole thing. Including those who live in Isreal.
      ~
      Ignominy gold metal champion #1 – do I have to tell or isn’t it obvious. We ALL already know!
      ~
      At the end of the day, if there is any place on planet earth that deserves better, it is the continent of Africa and I want to say now public for all, that I stand in solidarity with you and your dreams.
      ~
      Dream quandaries lead to thinking and that is when things can change for the better if you listen to the waves of your dreams.
      ~
      Peace is easy,
      BK

      1. Once again, my post was edited without consent.
        We will get to the bottom of this.
        ~
        I didn’t say this nor did I type it: Ignominy gold metal champion #1
        ~
        So, now it ought be obvious. Sometimes the best plan is to just work locally and work in your garden (you do have one don’t ya?) and not try to type on the http://www……..contamination. When will it end?
        ~
        I’ve got no gripe with Israel nor the Jewish faith. It is the zealot Zionist I have a problem with. There shit is everywhere and they just put it in your face – time and time again.
        ~
        Well, let it be know – there are greater powers out there and WE have had enough. You can kill one of us, you can imprison many of us, but you will never get rid of all of us before we get rid of you, because we know you are zealots and ain’t that a lesson that has already been learned. So fuck off and get you some humility if you can before it is too late for you and before it is too late for so much innocence. How much more blood and death and fecal matter and lies and denials and trickery before you get your due?
        ~
        That is serious question and now I’m going to get a god-damn drink for myself.
        ~
        Buffalo_Ken

  16. It seems like we on an out of control train headed toward a train wreck. But if we try to get off or stop the train that will kill us too.

    1. It is a dream quandary.
      I don’t know.
      Get off the train is what I would do.
      ~
      Then if I lived, I’d try to stop it. Have you ever seen a nickel squashed under the weight of a train?
      ~
      Jeepers Creepers……something is blowing in the wind.

  17. Ain’t nobody else gonna “like” this article? Do I have to send a snippet for how this is done?
    ~
    Come on.
    It is easy.
    There is a “Like” place on the very first line about the title of this article.
    ~
    I’ll tell you this, from a single VPN Server or a bunch of highly-grouped “IP” addresses I sent 4 likes in on the article all by my lonesome. Now, if I can do this, can nobody else like something that is worthwhile.
    ~
    If so, then eff off. This article deserves to be re-printed, re-posted, and stapled to the bulletin board for further consideration. Do it with the comments as well if you can.
    ~
    Really.

  18. I just don’t get this notion that hiring a worker and paying him is somehow theft of that person’s labor or life. You could just as easily argue that the worker is stealing from the employer. This is particularly true when labor unions use coercion in the form of threats to strike or threats to beat up workers who would be willing to accept the wage offered. A worker is no more entitled to a specific minimum wage than a merchant is entitled to a specific minimum price. Not everyone is equally talented, ambitious, entrepreneurial, or hard working. Some people have a talent perhaps, but other people do not value it as much as other talents. This is why a star NFL football player makes more money than an equally talented concert violinist. Other people just do not have much talent or ambition. Karl Marx lived much of his life in abject poverty because he didn’t like to work and too few people valued what he wrote for him to make much of a living at it. That was his fault not that of the free market system he so loathed.

    1. Well, maybe that is why he was trying to end that system dip-shit.

    2. Now, just cause you want to end a system don’t mean you are correct now does it dip-shit?
      ~
      But let me suggest to you that you inquire into some evidence recently becoming most evident.
      ~
      Do I have to spell it all out for you or can you figure it out be your lonesome self?

    3. Jerome Kohn – the best way to figure things out is when we do it together and I suspect Marx thought that but he might of been a dipshit as well.
      ~
      Sorry, but you seem confused to me.
      ~
      It could be me that is though.
      ~
      Shall we prove it in the ring?

      1. I seriously want to prove this in the ring.
        ~
        It would be like a Tennis match against the fella – what is his name.
        ~
        #1 in the world and well deserved indeed.
        ~
        I think he is from Croatia. Oh, I got that wrong. He is from Serbia. Novak is his name. Novak Djokovic. That guy can play tennis and I think he has class. I really like his style on the court. I’m guessing he is a fine gentleman no matter the circumstance in which you might meet up via happenstance.
        ~
        As for you Jerome Kohn – I think you are a dip-shit.
        Prove me wrong.
        Ken

        1. Even #1 gets beat sometimes.
          Can’t be #1 always and forever.
          Lose with dignity when you get beat.
          ~
          The Serbian lost in tennis in his last match today.
          Live and learn and keep your shit in the toilet if you don’t mind.
          ~
          BK

    4. Carolyn L Zaremba Avatar
      Carolyn L Zaremba

      Capitalism is a rigged game and a cancer on the planet. Your slander of Karl Marx is typical coming from a lover of the capitalist system. I dedicate my life to the overthrow of capitalism and have done for 50 years. Saying that Karl Marx “didn’t like to work” is an insult to a genius who gave humanity a scientific explanation of world political economy and put socialism on a scientific basis. You are contemptible.

      1. The results of Marxism speak for themselves. Everywhere Marxist communists have taken power, tyranny and general impoverishment followed. Countless lives were lost in the gulags and famines of the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin, in the insane collectivization campaigns and cultural revolution in communist China under Mao and in the killing fields of Cambodia under Pol Pot. I could go on. All this was done in the cause of trying to create Marx’s utopia. Perhaps intellectuals in the 1920’s and 30’s can be excused for their naivete in embracing Soviet communism, but after more than a century of failure all over the world, you would think Marxism would be dead by now.

        Marx’s notion of class struggle misunderstands human nature and the relationship between employer and employee. Employers and employees rely on each other to achieve their goals. If there is an enemy to both employers and employees, it is the state. The state corrupts and distorts the market with its taxes, regulations, wasteful spending and wars. The state feeds on conflict and has an interest in promoting it both internally and externally. Socialists who decry poverty, war and injustice need to see who the real enemy is.

        1. Gaddafi made sure that ‘The State’ was subordinate to the People. The sort of socialism he introduced into Libya was truly wonderful. “Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (The State of the Masses)” Maybe Marx didn’t have a say in it, I don’t know, but this socialism worked well in Libya until the bloodthirsty lunatic psychopaths from the west decided to invest heavily in fomenting a truly nasty civil war in an otherwise happy progressive country. I refer you back to my original comment earlier in the history of Caitlin’s post where you can peruse details at your leisure.

          1. I agree with you that what happened to Gaddafi and to Libya back in 2011 was tragic. The West had no right to interfere with Libya’s internal affairs, and Libyans are likely far worse off now than before the the US and NATO murdered Gaddafi. That said, I would hardly hold Gaddafi up as a model of enlightened governance. Is that the best the socialists can do? Gaddafi’s Libya? Gaddafi was notoriously corrupt and brutal. To his credit, he did use some of the nation’s oil wealth (developed by the Western capitalists he so despised), to finance construction of better infrastructure, but Libya failed to develop very much during his long time in power. The country remained relatively poor compared to the West and to capitalist Asia. Meanwhile people living in resource-poor but free market nations like Singapore, Japan, and South Korea thrived and greatly improved the standard of living for even their poorest people. Just check out this image of the Korean peninsula at night comparing the capitalist South with the communist North. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/94/28/7f/94287fcdb0ef72aad4cfe475e6778890.jpg

    5. Marx was a successful newspaper editor who was deported after speaking up for the working class. He was doing fine until the government stepped in and screwed up his business. I’m surprised you’re not more sympathetic.

      1. I agree John Knox. Damn that is two times in a row. It is like my world is upside down.
        ~
        We ought be sympathetic for those who are suffering because it could be us in their shoes in another time or another version.
        ~
        Jesus said something about this or was it somebody else. It don’t matter who said it, if you can’t empathize with the suffering of your sister or your brother, then odds are you would be willing to shit upon the artwork of children just trying to understand all the suffering.
        ~
        It is obvious what needs to end and John Knox, the vaccinations are not the solution in this instance, rather, they are the problem. Do you want to be getting a booster shot every 4 months for an ephemeral virus. A virus of “fear” as I like to call it. So susceptible so many are to fear and why would that be I ponder. It must be all them fucking liches.
        ~
        I think it has to do with bullies who try to dominate and who think they can take a shit and shove their fecal matter into your copy machine.
        ~
        Well, sometimes actions have consequences, and guess what, a spirit just whispered in my ear what the consequences will be, and I’ve tried to share what I think but the spirit told me if I tell outright then I’ll be dead, so I’ll never tell. But maybe, the spirit was wrong. Maybe I should listen to my gut instead. It tells me that it is time to fight.
        ~
        I don’t have time to study up on Marx but if I study more on Kropotkin and Veblen (as referenced below) and it leads me to Marx, then study I will.
        ~
        I propose we banish any metal for ignominy, so lets pretend I never said what I typed, but I propose those who have succumbed to the ignominy of it all and perpetuate it, I propose they get justice and I want this justice to be transparent for all to sense. I’m tired of their ignominy and I want it to end.
        ~
        Let the chips fall where they will and let those who perpetuate and prolong suffering of innocence on and on again on a large scale of no doubt be strung up by their necks and hung in broad daylight for all to see the outcome of their ignominy. They will get what they deserve as we all will.
        ~
        Peace is easy,
        BK

      2. Agreed that the government is the enemy of any real enterprise. I do not know how successful Marx’s brief stint as a newspaper editor was, but in calling for the destruction of the very economic system that sustained him, he should have expected to be kicked out. This is what happens when you bite the hand that feeds you.

  19. This morning at 9:34AM I boarded MTA bus 8299 headed toward the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. A few blocks from the terminal, a tall angry un-masked man got on the bus and the bus driver radioed for the police. I was the second person that got off of the bus because we knew ” a confrontation was coming “! One never knows if and when the shooting is going to start; it is always prudent to leave before it does. Once home I get to read this article; our society is doomed!
    ~
    Besides trying to just live their lives in these days of socioeconomic meltdown, which, Gawd knows, is hard enough, the people can barely sort out the seemingly malevolent intentions of the folks in-charge of the monster that government has become. And so, the question arises: are they actually trying to kill us all, or are they so corrupt and stupid that everything they touch falls apart? In other words, is it mastermindery or clusterfuckery?
    ~
    This excellent article can be read here:
    Things Get Ripe by James Howard Kuntsler!
    https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/things-get-ripe/

    1. Hey Ron – so did that happen to you or did it happen to Kuntsler?
      ~
      A fair question.
      Ken

  20. My concern is this: The message for humanity right now is that everyone must be vaccinated if we are ever to end the plague of the virus. Anyone who refuses is essentially an enemy of the people and therefore must be forced by restricting their freedoms to the point that they cannot exist or must exist in solitary without access to anything. Assuming that this is not merely propaganda but is absolutely necessary, what assurance do we have that once given this power, governments will not abuse this and use it to control forever through the mandate of endless inoculations with God knows what, into perpetuity? How could we ever get governments to stop the mandate as long as there is forever a perceived threat? And how can we trust governments to not ever put anything harmful in the injections?

    how to organize without corruption: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wywMhg604W8&t=5s

    how to make an economy that works for all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsO-b0_r-5Y

    1. Hey Tom
      Are they ever gonna get that effing site up and running or NOT?
      Do you know?
      Are you still part of the effort on that pooling place?
      ~
      Anyhow, there might be a moment in the future when I am in Ecuador, and when I get there I sure hope we could meet – assuming you are available – and by then, I sure hope Ecuador gives Julian Assange back what they stole from him. It is a shame.
      ~
      BK

    2. I ain’t gonna overstay my welcome Tom, but what Ecuador did to Julian Assange after they put up an offer of help is full of shame. So much shame it rises on the ignominy scale, but don’t worry Ecuador ain’t even close to winning any sort of metal on this.
      ~
      When it comes to ignominy, let me just say one country has a monopoly. Gold, silver, and bronze champions of ignominy – let me introduce to you, if you have not heard of them yet, the USA. The best most ignominious of all bar none. Been that way for the last 4 Olympics, but it is bound to change eventually – ain’t it? History suggests as such.
      ~
      The evidence is rolling in and soon heads will be rolling and that was said metaphorically if you must know. Still – a metaphor speaks to that which is real. It just says it delicately because if you speak your mind too much these days, the stiflers might try to put you in prison.
      ~
      The new party I propose is the party called the “Mulchers”. We eat up old stuff and then come up with useful soil. The compost bin is our party image. Be good to your friends is our slogan. Lets all get together for the sake of all of us is what we say when we are in the mood to fuck with your attitude. We grow day after day and we know in the end the compost bin will bring new life.
      ~
      Join the Mulchers! We advocate for Article V of the US Constitution and we will change our mind cause we ain’t close-minded. Like everything else, what matters most is that we learn together.
      ~
      Later,

      1. This just in. Britain, the UK, the kingdom, whatever the fuck you want to call it has expressed dismay that they aren’t in the hunt for the ignominy metals, and goodness gracious me, just saw my long last Irish relative blown away to smithereens, and so it is true. The UK has a chance to win a metal as well. I reckon there is no monopoly on ignominy, but the USA and the UK are odds-on favorites to take it all as they have so well over so many years……oh how the relish their ignominy – it is a badge or pride they share only with acceptable companions of course – those who worship mammon as they do.
        ~
        Plus, let me share a rumor with you, it is told their is an Olympian from a relatively new country, referred to as Israel, who might be a surprise gold metal winner in the category of ignominy. I heard that from a good source, but don’t blame me if they win.
        ~
        Most other countries have already decided to drop out of the race cause they think they have no chance, but them three still left are battling it out to the end.
        ~
        May the worst country win.
        .
        Here is my prediction:
        1. Israel in a stunning show of perfection takes home the gold. The most ignominious of all this year.
        2. The so-called UK pushes back against the USA at the last moment in order to claim silver.
        3. The oh-so-sad USA must settle for bronze. Maybe next time you will do better.
        ~
        Chances are the USA will do better next year cause there are only 3 entities playing for this gold, silver, and bronze.
        ~
        The rest of the countries, the rest of the world for that matter, the rest of us, are sick of the shit and we are going to do something about it. My suggestion, as a member of the Mulchers is that we just cancel this competition because what is the point of proving you are the most ignominious of all?
        ~
        A story told in jest with a serious question at the end.
        What could be better than that besides free will?

    3. Putin got vaccinated and recommended that the rest of us do it too. It wasn’t because he wanted to be a slave to Biden.

      1. Putin told me to tell you this John Knox. Quit being a dumb ass.

  21. Susan Mercurio Avatar
    Susan Mercurio

    The fact that it’s not about the individuals, it’s about the system is the reason why I think Nick Brana is spinning his wheels and the left is wasting their time in dreaming about a third party. A third party won’t fix a corrupt system. It’s not the Democrats or the Republicans, it’s the system that corrupted them. And it will corrupt whatever third party gets in, under whatever name.

    If you read The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen, you’ll come a long way towards understanding how the system got to where it is today.

      1. By the way, originally published in 1899.
        You know…..sometimes, the hard copies are the best.
        You can hold them in your hands.
        ~
        Thanks again Susan, I don’t know for sure if I will read it all, but I’ll read what I can and hope others read it as well so that the discourse continues to what……..get better?……improve?…..be reliable?…..hells-bells, who knows. Not even who.
        ~

      2. By the way, just to go ad ad infinitum on this, after you click the link above, save it in your preferred “pdf” version and then you have a hard copy on your own memory device that can not be erased barring nefarious activity that will be discovered and ultimately prosecuted to the full extent of the law, both law on the books and law of the jungle so to speak.
        ~
        After that prosecution, then maybe you will have a chance to read the test. I’m guessing the author may have met Kropotkin, but if not, at a minimum I’m thinking they would have agreed on many topics.
        ~
        I reckon I’ll just have to read a bit more of it – assuming, I’m alive to do it!
        ~
        ha, ha…..
        Ken

        1. Oh, Sons of Bitches, the did meet.
          ~
          https://www.jstor.org/stable/4225501
          ~
          If not in person, it happened in the mind of another in the future.
          ~
          Ain’t life grand?
          ~
          Now lets get down to the serious business at hand. I don’t give an effing flip if you are left-handed or right-handed or something in-between. What I care about is if you have merit and are willing to work?
          ~
          If so, lets make a deal.
          ~
          Peace is easy.
          BK
          As typed: 73021 1224 est us of a

  22. The summit of the Lords of Washington-WallStreet-Vatican (adapted from “The ladies of the wood”)

    The old gods abandoned you. We the mighty lords of this earth care for your fate.
    Only the Lords of Washing-WallStreet-Vatican watch over earth.
    In foul times, when plague and famine reap their harvest (to not blame Monsanto), you must beg the lords of Washington-‘WallStreet-Vatican for help.
    If they see fit, they will hear your pleas and knock back fortune’s fouls blows.

    This is how one begs help from the Lords:

    Find a child, young and innocent, and take it to the lords of Washington-WallStreet-Vatican schools, churches, offices. Seek out the lords shrine – ’tis where the trail of treats begins. Set the child off on the trail and it shall follow the sweet track and find the good lords. The child will never want for anything again, for the lords are kind and generous.
    Stand before their shrine, pronounce your supplication and the good lords will hear, for they see and hear all that takes place in their demesne. If you made the offering as it must be done, your pleasure shall be heard.

    1. East Wizard – you are full of shit.

      1. And better yet, that post is “on topic”.
        ~
        Did you read it all – every single word?
        ~
        Did you get to the bottom of it or is your East Coast sinking in ignominy?
        ~
        That is a fair question.

        1. Here – let these states join up without California.
          ~
          WA, OR, Idaho, and Montana.
          Let Nevada decide if they want to sink with California.
          ~
          How you like them apples?
          10 cent a piece. We prefer 10 copper coins for that please.
          ~
          BK

      2. Nay. To be full of shit I would have to buy followers and viewers at the very beginning. And if I was full of shit would make sure to clean off all shit moving all these comments to another link on this blog directly inside of a forum. Then everyone new would not have the pain to read all nonsense here. You are a cool but naive.
        There is nothing to do about that.

        1. OK. You still are full of shit. Just like the shit the Israeli soldiers left behind after they ransacked the Palestinian place for teaching little kids how to live through suffering. The place that was walled in already.
          ~
          Well, hells-bells the Israeli soldiers thought to themselves, we will give them a lesson they will never forget, and I reckon they won the metal that year. Gold for sure. Fuckers through and through.
          ~
          Still, I hope the kids who had made drawings, that got defecated on as well, did you not watch the Pilger show, did not have to see that shit, cause if they did, then what do you think the outcome of that would be?
          ~
          Come on East Wizard – you ain’t helping your case just now and some of us are watching what you do very closely. I am.
          ~
          Be nice if you want to have a chance. Your chances diminish in my mind, but who cares about that is what you think I reckon.
          BK

          1. Man, what you are smoking? (Laughing)
            See, that’s the reason I come back. To laugh. I mean no disrespect; but I’m in a good place on my minimum wage job. Give your chances to someone else more qualified than me. I’m just a nobody wandering around.

            1. Good idea on your end East Coast Wizard. Float around. I’m floating around with ya.
              ~
              Ken

  23. The Corporate Owned News is intentionally split into two ideological groups who work tirelessly to split the electorate as a means of keeping the people incapable of rising up as one. They use the ever-present sports mentality in the US (Red Team vs. Blue Team) to incite anger and even hatred between the different segments of the electorate. It’s why you hear such vicious anger from Red Team conservatives against Blue Team liberals. So on top of the manufactured consent that they drum up for war, they manufacture discord among the people. Getting people to realize they are being played for fools by the rich, who own the news, is key. If you could get workers to unite, left and right, things would change much more rapidly.

  24. As a 71 year old white man born in Alabama and raised in Texas I know about this country because I wake up every day in a racist, white supremacist, militarized police state that is the most hated, evil and destructive country on the planet. This is America. Thank you, Caitlin for all you writings, poems and songs. You are one of the good ones.

    1. I agree with this.
      ~
      I was born in Buffalo.
      ~
      Raised there along with North Carolina.
      ~
      I got a bit of both North and South in me.
      ~
      My wife, the love of my love, does as well.
      ~
      Together we are a good team.
      ~
      Going on 30 years now….
      May there be many more is what I pray.
      ~
      What do you pray?
      ~
      Anyhow, I apologize if I said something disparaging regarding Alabama – it was just in the heat of the moment you know because I’ll tell you this. In the Civil War the “state” troops you did NOT want to face, were the ones from Alabama. Them sons-of-bitches are effing crazy and you ain’t gonna beat them man-to-man, so what you have to do, is set the flank to take advantage of their Alabama energy. That kind of energy has value is what I think.
      ~
      Peace Alan Coovert and I really appreciate your message.
      Ken

  25. Thoughts:
    1 I don’t trust much of what the government does. I’d say that I’m down to the service-related 5% and an odd additional 1% here and there as circumstances dictate.
    2. In this era of throwing money at everyone, the ones virtually forgotten are the seniors in need. Families making up to $75,000 will get checks for every child, while many seniors live in poverty, reliant on only Social Security through no fault of their own. Many have had debilitating injuries or illnesses and thus were unable to save. Others may not have had the skills needed to land decent jobs and some were even buried under college loan debt, so that their potential savings went to pay back the loans for a college degree that did them little or no good.
    Unlike younger folks who also received the pittance referred to as stimulus checks, most seniors – in forced retirement – are unable to get meaningful work to supplement their Social Security ‘checks.’
    And let’s not forget, despite the fact that social security has its own budget, only the agency that administers the checks is part of the federal budget. So, exactly why has Biden, for many years, been willing to cut Social Security claiming that it would help reduce the federal debt?
    3. “Six months into Biden’s presidency it’s definitely not okay to be a grown adult and still believe Trump was a uniquely monstrous president.” I don’t believe that Trump was a “uniquely monstrous president.” However, I do believe that he was – and is – a uniquely monstrous individual, with a voice that is uniquely annoying and a mouth that insults my intelligence with his constant barrage of lies and denials. But then, he’s not the only politician – past or present – that remains an unindicted criminal. I doubt that anything will be done to the others and suspect that the wort he will suffer is a major fine or two for illegal IRS filings. However, a start to cleaning up the system and creating a new and honest on would be if all such criminals – whether politician or lay person be brought to justice. To create a better system we must start with the premise that of all the things that are important in life, money is way down near the bottom of the list.

    1. In a book by Alan Greenspan that I read some 30 years ago, he said something like: “I am the author of a motion that I find nobody to second. It stipulates that anybody willing to do what you have to do to become president of the United States should be de facto prohibited from exercising that function” :o)

    2. I agree Harry NYDick,
      The elderly have been and are neglected in our society lately. It is a shame upon us all, but mostly a shame upon the “system”.
      Maybe some shit is gonna change for the better and maybe not, but at least you can imagine it either way.
      ~
      Your friend,
      Ken
      – what drink do you want?

  26. Here:
    ~
    I’ve almost finished reading it all, but I have a response. In the article, you express:
    For every whistleblower you make an example of you prevent a thousand others.
    I agree with that to a point, but I’d like to propose an alternative way of thinking about it:
    ~
    “For every whistleblower you make an example of you prevent a thousand others. The prevention however tend to result in the formation of another and typically it is about 1000 times stronger”
    ~
    If that alternative sentiment above keeps getting escalated, how do you think this will all end? Therefore, at some point a whistleblower will emerge who can’t be silenced. In fact, not kidding, I’ve heard a bunch of folks whistling lately. Pretty soon it is gonna turn into some sweet music of justified retribution is what I’d like to think, but I’m sure there are other options.
    ~
    Ken

  27. Caitlin Johnstone wrote:
    > It’s About The System, Not The Individuals . . .
    > Focusing on individuals instead of the system creates the illusion that if you replaced the individuals you could fix the problems with the system. The individuals are symptoms of the disease.
    .
    “Which leads to the question, why would [Obama] do all these things? Why would he be afraid for example, to take the drones away from the CIA? Well, I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s afraid. Number one, he’s afraid of what happened to Martin Luther King Jr.
    “And I know from a good friend who was there when it happened, that at a small dinner with progressive supporters – after these progressive supporters were banging on Obama before the election, Why don’t you do the things we thought you stood for? Obama turned sharply and said, “Don’t you remember what happened to Martin Luther King Jr.?” That’s a quote, and that’s a very revealing quote.
    — Ray McGovern, former CIA officer and chair of National Intelligence Estimates, on President Obama, 2013
    .
    “And don’t kid yourself, you do have a military–industrial complex — they do like war. . . . I say, ‘I want to bring our troops back home,’ the place went crazy. They want to keep — you have people here in Washington — They never want to leave. I say, ‘You know what I’ll do? I’ll leave a couple of hundred soldiers behind,’ but if it was up to them they’d bring thousands of soldiers in. Someday people will explain it — but you do have — you do have a group. And they call it the Military–Industrial Complex, they never want to leave they always want to fight.”
    — President Trump after ISIS’ defeat, May 2019
    .
    Another one who is in the know:
    .
    Putin: US Presidents Are Not Very Powerful, Bureaucracy Prevents Real Changes In Washington Politics

    1. It’s a JOB, for just one more CORPORATION (as even Debbie Wasserman Schultz sneered, under oath). Why would Obama be frightened, to play his assigned role; to silence Blacks, “leftists,” other “minorities,” liberal boomers (even us nerds?) He’d folks believing, he’d save us from 1099 serfdom, FIRE & PhARMA Sectors, Hillary’s forever-wars & using fracking to unleash the run-away AGW Kraken, Theocratic/ racist autocracy, and set militarized OathKeeper death-squad cops? Mission Accomplished: autonomous drones were the only value-added product our MICIMAC could still effectively sell overseas?

    2. Best I can tell, Putin is a good man. I’ve done some research, but mainly relied upon the test of time.
      ~
      His wisdom seems to be mocked in the West and I suggest the West look the other way, or possibly take a new view on this because wisdom resonates. Sometimes slow, sometimes fast and sometimes the velocity changes on the fly. On the testicle of a fly. On the bit of dust on the testicle upon which resides a tad of bacteria from which it is within some fungi and so and so forth upside down back-ways forwards and then back again. I’ve recognized the wisdom for many years. Why do others have such trouble with making a fair judgement on things?
      ~
      Lately, justice as been befouled just like them Israeli shoulders defecated 20 years ago or thereabouts in the place meant to help kids learn about how to survive when you are suffering. They defecated all over the place and actually placed their own fecal matter into the copy machine.
      ~
      Now that sends a message doesn’t it?
      ~
      BK

  28. Also, I must say, it with sadness I read today that the dignified Mr. Craig Murray his having “ his unruly ass hauled of to prison today.
    ~
    Just add another they are trying to silence, but honestly, how many prison cells are there now?
    ~
    Keeping escalating and pretty soon this shoot is gonna be through the roof.
    ~
    After that I reckon, cause you know now don’t ya – they gonna keep escalating – let the chips fall where they may. The rest of us peasants who are still alive will clean up the fucking pointless mess that ought not been created in the effing 1st place for Christ’s sake.
    ~
    Dear Mr. Murray – may your time in prison be one that leads to much inspiration. For both you, your family, and those many of us who really care about your welfare. You have so much wisdom and this is getting out of control how they think they can stop communication.
    ~
    Best,
    Ken

    1. I don’t think I typed “shoot” above. I typed “shit”.
      ~
      Still – same difference.
      ~
      Stay healthy Craig, make friends if you can, don’t do so unnecessarily, and you don’t need me to tell you this, but for others who might suffer a similar fate – present yourself in the most dignified way you can.
      ~
      Maybe after 8 months, despite being imprisoned unjustly, you will come out of prison a better man. With more conviction. If they don’t treat you will in prison, please get work out on that because there is going to be hell to pay if you suffer any harm. Some of us are fedup enough to take this to the next level.
      ~
      Peace is easy,
      BK

  29. Wow, that’s what I call hitting the nail on the head !

  30. Good One.
    I’ve liked it twice already.
    Now let me go back and finish reading it, but I knew from the beginning
    that I liked it.
    So I did twice.
    poem of the day, BK, 73121 934 e . s. t. o…..u …….

    1. Date correction: 7″3″021 934…….blah, blah, blah.
      BK

  31. People LOVE being hoodwinked. It saves us all the effort of having to make preposterous shit up, ourselves; and maintenaning DENIAL, until whistleblowers, journalists and unindoctrinated little kids are all silenced, droned or lacked away? When “everything we believe is a lie” happened over a generation ago, so It’s all some folks are comfortable with. Little shots of soothing dopamine, SCREAMED at us from 72″ 4K OLED screens, 24/7/365 (with Google SEOing any nascent reality down their memory hole). CommonDreams just kicked a few dozen of us off, for linking to PropR’Not websites’ contradictory articles (then, aggregating the cited articles). It’s basically all a cartel, pushing soothing naturally occurring endorphins, instead of opioids? We simply cannot HANDLE the TRUTH!

    1. So sad, but so true. Most people WANT the comforting lies.

      Common Dreams has also gone full blown “anti vax” hysterical censorship. That warning message on the top of every screen is chilling.

      1. Hiya, kid. Missed you MUCH! I’d managed to get some of the Israeli, BMJ, University of Penn, NEJM & Roosevelt studies in, right before the axe. Here, in NYC; with a fighting chance, due largely to sero-prevalence, fair numbers with mRNA vaccines AND working folks simply IGNORING MSCNNDisney and wearing REAL masks indoors, we’d watched DNC™ LLC mandate Cuomo’s feeding (now indentured, chronically ill, uppity essentials) constituents into COVID 3.0 to see how many more homes, jobs, retirement savings, cars FIRE & PhARMA can harvest from younger, FAR more desperate victims? Biden, de Blasio our soon-to-be murdering mayor (from the privatized school, eviction app, green-washed fracked gas and NYPD Sector will be handed Catastrophe Capitalism’s cookbook!

        https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2021/07/links-7-24-2021.html#comment-3578367

        https://mobile.twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1420986490071523328

  32. “[R]igging the system so people need to work longer hours in order to survive is [a] form of theft at mass scale” – think Amazon’s system regarding anyone below management. And, imagine being one of their “self-employed” (contract) drivers – with a camera on you, monitoring every second. Would that seem inhuman? If you are not one of them with a clipboard, overseeing, they simply and literally don’t give a shit. Get it. Or, get out.
    https://seaclearly.com/2009/08/11/blessed-are-the-meek-or-to-hell-with-the-poor

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