Listen to a reading of this article:
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I feel like we haven’t been talking enough about the fact that US government agencies were just caught intimately collaborating with massive online platforms to censor content in the name of regulating the “cognitive infrastructure” of society. The only way you could be okay with the US government appointing itself this authority would be if you believed the US government is an honest and beneficent entity that works toward the benefit of the common man. Which would of course be an unacceptable thing for a grown adult to believe.
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It’s still astonishing that we live in a world where our rulers will openly imprison a journalist for telling the truth and then self-righteously bloviate about the need to stop authoritarian regimes from persecuting journalists.
Look at this scumbag:
No member of the press should be threatened, harassed, attacked, arrested, or killed for doing their job. On the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, we vow to continue protecting and promoting the rights of a free press and the safety of journalists. https://t.co/qXYyVoVlbM
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) November 2, 2022
Look at him. Can you believe this piece of shit? The gall. The absolute gall.
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There is no such thing as unbiased journalism. If someone tells you they are unbiased they are either knowingly lying, or they are so lacking in self-awareness that you should not listen to them anyway.
The divide is not between biased journalists and unbiased journalists, it’s between journalists who are honest and transparent about their biases and journalists who are not. There are no unbiased journalists. There are no unbiased people. You’re either honest about this or you’re not.
Of course journalists should try to be as fair and honest as they can. It’s just the epitome of childlike naivety to believe that western mainstream journalists do this.
Reporters who support the mainstream worldview are just as biased as reporters from Russian or Chinese state media; they espouse a peculiar perspective and concrete interests and agendas. The problem is the mainstream worldview is so normalized it looks like impartial reality, so you’ll get mainstream western journalists speaking disdainfully of Julian Assange or The Grayzone or whoever because those people have biases and agendas, as though they themselves have no biases or agendas and are nothing other than impartial arbiters of absolute reality.
Which is plainly ridiculous. The worldview which facilitates the abuses of oligarchy and empire and the status quo politics which serves as their vehicle is anything but impartial. It’s not even sane. But because it’s been normalized by propaganda it looks like baseline reality.
The only reason the mainstream worldview is mainstream is because the world’s most powerful people have poured a tremendous amount of money into making it mainstream. That’s the one and only reason. It’s not the moderate perspective, it’s just the most funded and marketed perspective.
All journalists have biases, and all journalists have agendas. It’s just that most of them have the mundane agenda of becoming esteemed and well-known, and the easiest way to do that is to espouse the mainstream worldview where the tide of propaganda can carry you to shore.
The easiest way to become rich and famous in news media is to promote the interests of the rich and powerful people who own and influence the news media. The easiest way to become reviled and marginalized is to attack those interests. Your values determine which path you choose.
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There’s no such thing as a Hollywood ending.
There’s no such thing as an objective journalist.
There’s no such thing as a moral billionaire.
There’s no such thing as a humanitarian intervention.
There’s no such thing as an honest war.
People should learn all this in grade school.
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You know you're living in an infantilized bootlicking paternalistic society when the prospect of not having a team of authority figures curating your information feed for you is seen as "dangerous". pic.twitter.com/5pZCXrn112
— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) November 5, 2022
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Who understands that narrative control is power? Empire managers. Plutocrats. Propagandists. Smearmeisters. Manipulators. Abusers. Cult leaders. Bullies.
Who does not understand that narrative control is power? Pretty much everyone else.
This is the source of most problems.
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Platforms censoring hate speech is not the same as platforms censoring political speech and speech which criticizes the agendas of the powerful. Censoring hate speech is done to benefit the platform’s profit margins; censoring political speech is done to benefit powerful government agencies. You can make slippery slope arguments, but they’re not equal, and they’re not similar.
You can argue with the reality that for-profit platforms will always censor the most repellent forms of speech in order to prevent their audiences from being driven from the platform, but that is reality. And it is very different from censoring on behalf of US alphabet agencies. If what you want is a platform where all legal forms of expression are allowed, then for-profit platforms are not a good vehicle for that. Perhaps you want a nationalized social media platform funded by taxpayers with robust speech protections built into its terms of use.
There’s a massive difference between a platform banning speech which makes that platform a gross place that nobody wants to hang out at and a platform banning the way people talk about a war or a virus because government agencies told them to. It’s unhelpful to conflate the two.
And the conflation goes both ways. People who just want to spew hate will pretend to care about fighting the power, and the powerful who want to censor the internet to suppress inconvenient speech will pretend to care about stopping hate. It’s important to be aware of these obfuscations.
There’s a night and day difference between people who oppose censorship because they don’t want the powerful controlling human speech and people who oppose censorship because they want to say ethnic slurs. They’re not the same. A good tool for making these distinctions is to examine whether the agenda punches down or punches up. If it seeks to suppress speech on behalf of the powerful or harm disempowered communities, it’s punching down.
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Nobody’s ever been able to answer this question: if Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine had nothing to do with western provocations, how come so many western experts spent years warning that the west’s actions would provoke Russia to invade Ukraine?
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Ukraine is a far more celebrated and aggressively defended centerpiece of hawkish American fanaticism than Israel ever was.
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Anyone who believes US policy on Ukraine will change under Republicans is a fucking moron. https://t.co/00O5F0w522
— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) November 4, 2022
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If you find yourself rushing to defend the foreign policy of the most militarily, economically and culturally dominant nation on earth, ask yourself why that is. Ask whom that impulse benefits. Ask how that impulse came upon you. Ask if it could have been put there by propaganda.
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It is false to claim that capitalism, competition and greed are “human nature”. I cite as my source for this claim the fact that I am human. The truth is that those who claim capitalism, competition and greed are “human nature” are not actually telling you anything about human nature. They are telling you about their own nature.
And it isn’t even really accurate to call it their “nature”; it’s just their conditioning. And we can all change our conditioning. The only people who deny this are those who haven’t sincerely tried to yet.
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One reason I publish poetry and share insights about philosophy and spirituality on top of my political and foreign policy commentary is because as the information ecosystem gets more polluted it’s not enough to tell people what you think, you’ve got to show them who you are. As more and more energy goes into distorting and manipulating public understanding of the world, it becomes more necessary to bare your soul to the furthest extent possible so people can decide on their own whether you’re the kind of person they want to pay attention to.
People are very distrusting in today’s environment, and rightly so; we swim in an ocean of lies. You can get around that distrust by manipulating people into thinking you’re trustworthy, or you can do it by taking transparency to the furthest extent possible and letting yourself be fully seen so that people can make up their own minds about you for themselves.
I can’t promise that I’ll always get everything right or that I’ll always be seeing things the most clearly, but I can promise to always be honest and to always be running on maximum transparency about who I am, where I’m coming from, and what my biases and agendas are.
__________________
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51 responses to “No Such Thing As An Objective Journalist: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix”
all the chickens are at rest
Shireen Abu Akleh.. Recall Anthony Blinkens non concern over her murder by the IDF when pressed by Abby Martin.
Confucius said that a picture is worth ten thousand words. Let alone a video. So here it is (below). And you’ve got to admire how Blinken has perfectly assimilated at least the second tenet of a good press conference :o)
Tenet nº1: before an invent, question: “Can’t you see that if someone presses that red button, most of the planet will be blown to smithereens?” Answer: “This is speculation. We have to wait for facts to pass judgement”.
Tenet nº2: during an event, question: “Can’t you see that this guy walking toward the red button is fixing to press it?” Answer: “We can’t answer this question right now because an investigation has been opened and the executive is barred by the Constitution from interfering in an ongoing investigation”.
Tenet nº3: hanging on to a life raft in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, question: “Now is it clear enough for you that this guy has pressed the button and blown most of the planet to smithereens?” Answer: “Well… life must go on. We’ve got more pressing things to think about right now if you ask me. So forgive and forget…”
Same everywhere. Gets boring too if you’re not careful. Abby clearly was…
https://www.actvism.org/en/opinions/abby-marton-blinken-shireen-abu-akleh/
A ‘journalistic test’?
Does the ‘journalist’ comment on or ignore the imprisonment and torture of J. Assange?
“Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and two medical experts visited Mr Assange in prison in May, 2019, concluding that his treatment constituted psychological torture, a form of torture aimed at destroying the personality of an individual. “
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7316471/
A good article. You will notice that the Russians are not trying to compete with the West in the propaganda war That’s largely a legacy of the USSR which ingrained in the average Russia the realization that “official” narratives have nothing to with facts.. So the Russians are skeptical. In their media they argue a lot. And they don’t like the kind of obvious lies that people in the West accept. Of course, they have their own cultural and religious biases. This orientation to reality is why they are winning.
https://julianmacfarlane.substack.com/p/russia-rollin-rollin-the-update
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Ex-CIA director Mike Pompeo: ‘We lied, we cheated, we stole.” Is this Pompeo’s brazen technique of manufacturing consent for lying, cheating, and stealing? They know that we know that they do this shit. It must have been strategically prescripted rhetoric designed to suggest that this behavior is ‘normal’ and ‘commonplace.’ He stated it unabashedly and nonchalantly. In this way, the ruling power seemingly hope to infuse the public with palatability for this villainous behavior. If this is the objective, it’s not fucking working (much of the world is expressing an aversion to US’ assumed exceptionalism).
Good to know there’s at least one website pointing out Blinken is a POS. That he isn’t hooted off the stage is all anyone needs to know about the state of American journalism. Calling them biased is undeservedly charitable. They’re power serving whores. And I’m not up on this hate speech thing but there are definitely things worth hating and if they’re worth hating they’re worth writing about. Maybe there’s a quote somewhere about that, perhaps by Clemens or Mencken. It may have been beneath HST.
Competition and greed aren’t human nature, they’re animal nature, maybe even plant nature.
And the good doctor got his literary start in my hometown and a google search pertaining thereto has unearthed his literary treatment thereof, “The Proud Highway”, which volume being unaccountably absent from the HST section of my library has now been bought on eBay. For $6.44. Including tax. Indeed.
Oh sure…MTG, we believe you and the Machiavellian’ politics that characterizes the (2) parties (Republicans and Democrats).
Greene: “Under Republicans, not another penny will go to Ukraine.” They’ll say anything to get and keep their party in power.
The politicians are owned by the corporate power structure. Any remnants of morality that they once had have been repressed by venality. They have committed malfeasance and treachery.
Excerpt: Republicans in the House of Representatives overwhelmingly joined Democrats in voting for an additional $40 billion in aid to Ukraine on Tuesday with only 57 conservatives opposing the move as Americans suffer at home under crushing inflation and oppressive leftist policies.
Critics slammed Republicans for supporting the bill given multiple crises that Americans are facing at home including a failing supply chain, soaring gas and food prices, shortages, the border, abortion, and other issues. The final vote was 368 to 57 with 149 Republicans voting in favor of the bill.
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2022/05/11/heres-a-list-of-republicans-who-voted-for-and-against-40b-aid-to-ukraine-dubbed-america-last-bill-1236596/
Machiavelli exposed the brutal truth about politics in a ‘tell-all’ treatise | National Geographic
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3719467-marjorie-taylor-greene-under-republicans-not-another-penny-will-go-to-ukraine/
Why do the perpetrators of these crimes, against journalists and other human beings, conclude that killings are necessary? Are they attempting to suppress information that highlights Israel’s apartheid state? Or maybe its to throw cover over US/Israeli collusion? No collusion? Well…what about this recent vote: US, Israel Only ‘No’ Votes (185-2) as UN Members Condemn Cuba Embargo for 30th Straight Year? If the US is willing, they must stop their own atrocities and pressure Israel to stop their crimes of hate and aggression (Palestinians…).
Shireen Abu Akleh and the journalists killed by Israeli forces
At least 45 journalists have been killed by Israeli forces since 2000 according to the Palestinian Ministry of Information.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/12/infographic-the-journalists-killed-by-israeli-forces-since-2000
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/11/03/us-israel-only-no-votes-un-members-condemn-cuba-embargo-30th-straight-year
I’m a reader. People used to be incensed because I didn’t own a TV. The COVID lockdown got me into ‘shows’, passing the time. I watched Joe Rogan and Jimmy Dore and others. I argued online with libertarians and various trolls. Caitlin posed a question about happiness and that is not happiness. Online is not happiness. ‘Shows’ are careers for those who like to be the center of attention, but time sucks for the non-paid. Comment sections and superchats are not community. I like Hedges and Patrick Lawrence, old school journos from days of foreign bureaus staffed by people educated to think and not to parrot. I like Caitlin because she seems grounded in thinking and writing and not show business and playing dumb on purpose and branding. People used to say that I wouldn’t know what was happening if I didn’t watch TV. I’d reply jokingly that if the Pope dies, I’ll hear about it. If you want to know what’s happening, read a poem by David Whyte or go outside and look up at the sky, then have a conversation with life. The online show business of news and politics and fake community is an illusory conversation.
Hi, Caitlin, and others!
I appreciate your insights, Caitlin … a lot — perspectives and wordings that I would NOT have thought of.
A few ‘points’, though, of my own
It has taken me a bit to appreciate the “childlike” attitudes of folks who are ‘taken in’ by the ever-present propaganda. Now I see that, much more. They do not LIKE ambiguity/uncertainty, complexity, and nuance (among other aspects) of being an ‘adult’ — they prefer the comfort of Big Brother telling them things will be ‘okay’, if they just have ‘faith’, and ‘go along with the program. Many of these folks (who LOOK like adults) are ‘overly trusting’ — a ‘fault’ in this society, but would be a ‘plus’ in an actually well-functioning one
An excellent list of ‘impossibilities’
Another ’term’ to throw in the mix, along with “imperialists” and “bullies” and “abusers”, is “mafioso”. The whole ‘project’ is to “take from others, and give to oneself” — totally ‘immoral’ (in any rational ethos)
Most humans, most of the time, are ‘caring’ and ‘cooperative’. Just look around at how we actually strongly tend to get along with one another, and how folks will gladly sacrifice for another’s welfare. However, there are SOME who are not like this, and they are the ones who influence the ‘narrative’/‘ideology’ the most. (Though, it seems that a few of these folks, known as “psychopaths” are actually ‘born that way’ — NO EMPATHY)
I can’t see how a “national platform” for a media would work, and remain independent. However, if the government each gave us a “voucher”, to support the ‘media of our choice’, then we humans could have some input/influence, and independent non-profit platforms would have a chance to exist
Thanks, Caitlin, and all
Psychopathy is a quirk of human personality which is
very destructive of benign social activity and whatever “progress” we may achieve
in our societies.
If you want some insight into psychopathy and its influence in our lives, look at the website theauthoritarians.com.
Robert Anthony “Bob” Altemeyer (born 6 June 1940) is a retired Professor of Psychology at the University of Manitoba. He produced a well-validated test and scale for “RWA” or right-wing authoritarianism. He did extensive research on authoritarianism, identifying the psychological makeup of authoritarian followers and authoritarian leaders. He has devised
a test which reliably identifies psychopaths and has performed many social experiments
with his grad students which clearly illustrate the destructive influence of psychopathic
authoritarian leaders and their unthinking followers in social situations.
His research is depressing, but should be better known. Maybe we can protect ourselves as a society from right wing psychopathic authoritarians, and maybe we can’t, but we should know what science tells us about them.
Good post, as usual…. One point, Israel has been a point of American fanaticism for 75 solid years with untold subsidies and military aid…. Israel is allowed to do WHATEVER It chooses to the surrounding regions waging massive pain & misery with its American/British supplied Weaponry….
Ukraine will be used-up, chewed-up, and spit-out by the west when the MIC is done sucking Taxpayer newly-printed money….. America/the West doesn’t care anymore about the people of Ukraine than it does the Palestinians….
Russia will win this War after $500 billion goes into the coffers of American Billionaires…
The notion of human ‘objectivity’ is a fascinating one. One of the ‘insights’ I garnered during my many years of post-secondary education was that there is no such animal. Subjective interpretation of observable phenomena haunts us in all our endeavours from journalism to science. In science, for example, I’ve seen the exact same ‘facts’ interpreted in diametrically-opposed ways by ‘experts’ in the same field of study. As I wrote to my university’s paper on the subject many decades ago when I was a graduate student: “…science is a socially-embedded activity in which research is pervasively influenced by the sociocultural milieu within which it operates. Various psychological and sociocultural factors serve to guide scientific research in predetermined directions. This belief debases the stereotypical view of science as a purely objective enterprise. In fact, some researchers have taken a more radical stand and argued that truth itself is just what a particular scientific community passes at a particular time; that facts are created and we make them fit into our predetermined categories; and that truth is merely the truth of those in power.” (https://olduvai.ca/?p=29956)
I have an inkling of who you are Caitlin and love you for it.
Corporations surpassed government control due to four decades of privatization, hostile takeovers, levered buyouts, mergers, etc., leading to monolithic monopolies. They are run in a totalitarian fashion. Governments are feckless compared to them. Wars are headed by the privatized sect of military mercenaries more than government recruits. I call it the Curse of the Corporate Model because a privatized world is a totalitarian world. It cannot be otherwise unless we revoke corporate charters (yeah right) or change the corporate capitalist model, also not gonna happen.
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The managerial revolution, aka Technocracy, had a two-year trial with this whole Covid debacle and the world learned quickly that there is no such thing as “the experts” since everything, even science can be politicized and weaponized. Much of what the Davos set wants to change, when put into action beyond theory, are proving to be unworkable. Lithium batteries are combusting at an alarming rate (not to mention replacing them in your car would cost $20K!!), digital currency is vulnerable to blackout scenarios and CRISPR technology is nowhere near ready for distribution, though that didn’t stop the illegal and horrific mass experimentation from taking place.
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The single crisis is the capitalist model, which at this stage cannot be anything but fascist, which is brutal immaturity. Humanity can be childlike, but being childish is exalting dysfunctionality, but is that the point?
They Rule Over Dysfunctional Ruin, But They Rule
https://strategic-culture.org/news/2022/10/31/they-rule-over-dysfunctional-ruin-but-they-rule/
If I may make a suggestion, instead of Curse of the Corporate Model, you could call it Curse of the Corporate Pattern or CCP. It would be an amusing provocation to the right-wing presstitutes who tirelessly tell us that everything authoritarian in the US comes from the CCP, aka Chinese Communist Party and is a consequence of Marxism, when a casual reading of Dickens convinces us that there’s nothing more authoritarian and intolerant than capitalism, whose natural bend is hegemony and monopoly. After all, it’s no one in the Chinese Communist Party who said “I hate competition” but John D. Rockefeller who used his wealth and political clout to have traditional medicine – which admittedly had a lot of quacks and snake-oil salesmen, starting with John D. Rockefeller’s own father – banned by law, so that he could impose what would become Big Pharma, with its own cohorts of quacks and snake-oil salesmen lately brought to light by the $camdemic in the name of $cience.
This comes from the CCP. Guess which one… :o)
True.! The lying happens in China and Russia also but the ones who tell the worst lies are those who shut down their opponents’ channels of communication. There is no government on the earth that is saintly but by openly being averse to the other’s version of the story, that in itself is a revelation that there is a travesty of justice which makes the opponent seem saintly.
All journalism is biased and only victors write history. Narratives are shadows of what actually happens.
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But respecting truth is an individual decision.
Hi Caitlin , There is a very good YouTube platform called Redacted , based in NY, USA… and they mention you a lot …. Congratulations !!!
I was worried about Clayton Morris yesterday. He was describing the government back door into Twitter. Social Media has back doors.
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Talking about government infiltration into social media could have consequences. Operational security can get nasty.
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https://youtu.be/8EtZDkZj8wk <– the episode
Clayton and Natali Morris do Redacted.
They do the show from Portugal now. Moved because NY/NJ was a bad place to raise their 3 kids. Don’t blame them.
Good one Caitlin – really good!
Free Julian Assange; All he did was convey the truth; He’s not an American’ citizen; Stop the premeditated attrition; Julian has suffered enough; Stop repressing and/or killing journalists; Stop suppressing free and open dialogue…
..this is the same as the Biblical killing of the prophets and yet we are expected to believe that the US is a Christian country. It isn’t. Yes, a small number are true Christians and a few others who still have integrity. In essence, the US fits the ‘S’ word that used to be the Iranian battle cry against it.
“True Christians” have an abundant record of fighting religious wars against one another and burning people at the stake for heresy once having them torn to shreds by wild beasts had gone out of fashion. As Gandhi put it, “I like your Christ but I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.”
Drop that bottle Ana and get your shit together please!
https://jason-stanley.com/book/how-fascism-works/
https://hartmannreport.com/p/its-critical-to-see-what-a-fascist/comments
It’s one of the most interesting things in history that people scared shitless by the perspective of seeing fascism take the US by storm out of the side of the aisle they hate with a passion fawn over Nazis in Ukraine and approve with both hands of financing them lavishly! Can’t stop progress! And they tell you to boot that one of the main characteristics of fascism is that it spreads divisiveness! Descartes said that “common sense is the most widely shared commodity in the world”. I don’t know where he got that from! Then again, he added “… for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it” :o)
Actually, I got misled by a translation in Google but here’s (for philosophy buffs) what Descartes really wrote, which is slightly different: “Common sense is the most widely shared commodity in the world for everyone thinks he has so much of it that even those who are most difficult to content are not in the habit of wanting more than they have”.
And why would they want more than they have since it is with the common sense they have that they judge… the common sense they have? :o)
Blinken… I’m asking you… Probably without blinkin’ too – which would be doubly deceptive :o)
PS: Gall at that level is in a class of its own called chutzpah.
A nationalized social media platform with robust protection for free speech isn’t possible with a government that is openly practicing censorship.
We have robust protections in the First Amendment. The problem we have is that the government no longer cares at all about the Constitution of the United States.
We need a new government.
People who believe MSM do not think for themselves. They are the same people who rushed to get vaccinated and who are now dying of cancer and myocarditis or unable to concieve. All of this was out there for anyone to see in alt news. Unfortunately people prefer others to do their thinking for them. They will also bethe first to be swept away by the economic tsunami approaching.
Nobody dies of myocarditis. All those millennials we’ve seen fall like flies in the news for months have died “unexpectedly of unknown causes.”
And we’ll never know the causes because we’ll never try to find out – which is definitely the best way. This is brought to you by Pfizer :o)
To some degree, we should understand and be sympathetic. The criminal propaganda tsunami must have been the worst the world has ever been subjected to. No amnesty must ever be considered for the modern Mengeles who engineered this worldwide criminality.
Modern Mengeles in cahoots with modern Goebbelses with a great help from a terrified and therefore merciless sheeple – among which we had the sadness to find Noam Chomsky, who should have known better. What could go wrong?
And now they call for amnesty. Here’s Neil Oliver’s take on it with the extra flavour of a lovely Scottish accent :o)
any updates from the lawfare front?
A New York State judge has ordered city officials, a couple of weeks ago, to reinstate and hand back pay to more than 1,000 employees who lost their job for refusing the COVID jab.
Chomsky and Mengele? You’re getting more senile by the day.
Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for being so obviously manipulative?
HOW DID THE UNITED STATES’ GOVERNMENT AFFORD $8 TRILLION DOLLARS FOR ITS WARS? ECONOMIC COSTS OF WAR:
Through Fiscal Year 2022, the United States federal government has spent and obligated $8 trillion dollars on the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and elsewhere. This figure includes: direct Congressional war appropriations; war-related increases to the Pentagon base budget; veterans care and disability; increases in the homeland security budget; interest payments on direct war borrowing; foreign assistance spending; and estimated future obligations for veterans’ care.
https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/economic
HOW ARE WE GOING TO PAY FOR IT?
In 1996, Bill Clinton’s announcement that he’d sign a bill ending “welfare as we know it” was not that. “This bill still cuts deeper than it should in nutritional assistance, mostly for working families with children.” Bill Clinton, et al., couldn’t afford a decent welfare plan. So how did the US’ government afford to pay $8 trillion for all of their illegal wars of aggression?
https://www.vox.com/2016/6/20/11789988/clintons-welfare-reform
Are you tired of all the lies about how the federal government (or maybe the federal government is just the donor class, CEOs of corporations, and the dynastic political class) can’t afford to pay for a real living wage or medicare4all? Well…consider the following and tell me how these popular programs cannot be afforded: when they can afford $8 trillion for their illegal wars of aggression?
HOW ARE WE GOING TO PAY FOR IT?
Even without a crisis, the question “How are we going to pay for it?” is typically unasked when it comes to the bloated military budget and the military-industrial complex, American imperialist wars, the drone program, the CIA, NSA, ICE, prisons and detention centers, both public and private, and other aspects of the coercive apparatus of the state. We also do not ask “How are we going to pay for it?” when it comes to the billions of corporate welfare dollars and other forms of “wealthfare” the US regularly doles out to the affluent. Likewise, when the Republicans cut taxes on the wealthy, when Trump runs trillion-dollar budget deficits, or when the Republicans balloon our national debt to over $23 trillion or about $70,000 in debt for each American. https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/04/08/how-are-we-going-pay-it
They are counting on constantly increasing revenue that will pay for it all at some time in the future. My ex used to do that.
You sound exactly like the economists who teach MMT.
“How’r ya gonna pay for it” is one of their biggest headaches. It’s also one of the biggest propaganda tricks that the politicians play on us.
Ana, how can you tolerate Catherine J. McCleskey sandwiching into your posts? I’d take it to the UN if I were you. They’ve got nothing to do right now except for not enforcing the resolutions they vote, so they’ll have plenty of time to look into this deliberate infringement on your spatial sovereignty.
Arguing against the fiscal bankruptcy of war is morally bankrupt.
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