Open Thread - 07-24-26 - One More Time to Live
It's happening, all around the world. People have had enough and they're standing against authority. You wont hear much about it in the main stream media, but it's happening none the less. People are waking up about out of control governments that ignore its constituencies and focuses on its own continuity.
Long gone are the ideals of governmental subservience to the people, in its place we have self serving lackeys whose only concern is how to better the world in their favor by compromising their souls and furthering their careers by selling out to the monied class, with reelection as their singular goal.
People are fed up and taking to the streets in protest.
The Old Guard
The Old Guard uses armed conflict to further the agenda of control.
A glaring example of the Old Guard in action is the current Iran conflict.
The stated goal and the rationale is to stop Iran from developing a nuclear arsenal.
We all know that's bullshit.
Is it worth it to literally destroy the world economy by limiting 20 to 30 percent of the world's oil from the Middle East just to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons?
I think that we would concur that only a psychopath would agree with that, right?
In my humble opinion it's a pretext for a last ditch effort to preserve the dollar as the world's currency and for the US to maintain its hegemony.
It's much like a game of Last Man Standing played on a Risk game board.
Are we gambling that we can bring the rest of the world to its knees by limiting the oil and fertilizers from the Mid East causing economic turmoil and potential global famine? Do our leaders believe that, yes, we will have a great downturn here in the US, but because of our oil and food production that we can outlast the other major players in world politics, namely China and Russia, with the belief that when it's all said and done, the petrol dollar and US hegemony will be preserved?
We have Iran destroying the oil fields in the Mid East. We have Ukraine attacking the oil infrastructure in Russia. Famines are projected for the future due to the lack of sufficient fertilizer getting out of the Mid East. And yet, the insanity is on going.
The world may be in ruins, but we'll be the last man standing, ruling over the ashes. So go the minds of the neocons in control of the White House.
The New Guard
The New Guard are the technocrats that want to use digital technology to further the agenda.
They are the Elon Musks, the Peter Thiels, the Mark Zuckerburgs, the Jeff Bezos, the Sam Altmans of the world. They haven't been shy about telling us what their agenda is.
It's what's best for society, so goes the narrative.
Let's listen to Larry Ellison's (Oracle's co-founder and Chief Technology Officer) vision of the future. He makes it clear what the intentions of himself and the Tech Bros are all about:
1:42
Our future, according to Ellison, is to be quiet and compliant. And with the implementation of AI, a digital identity and a Stable Coin (a backdoor CBDC) digital currency you will toe the line or be shut off from society.
The New Guard is currently working with the Old Guard but, I think they may have plans of their own. As the Old Guard dies off they may believe that the future is their's for the taking when it comes to political consolidation of the left and the right in the confluence of power and control. The Old Guard views the New Guard as expediently useful to solidify control of the masses, but the personal political ideations of the two groups are disparate and leads one to consider the old axiom: Politics makes strange bedfellows.
They are strange but, ultimately, are they really bedfellows? Are the tech bros opportunistic grifters or do they have an agenda of their own?
Either way the agenda is about control.
The Third Guard
The Third Guard are the Watchers. They are us. They are the people of the world that are finding their legs to stand up and to prevent the Old Guard's gunboat diplomacy, and the technology driven New Guard from becoming the Old Guard by using AI surveillance to rule over us. You see this everywhere, people get it, they understand and are rejecting the forever wars and surveillance state being built around us. They are cutting down Flock cameras and protesting the huge data centers that are springing up everywhere.
The human spirit longs to be free. The Old and New guard see that and are rushing to implement control systems before the movement swells beyond their control.
Hope Tries to Spring Eternal
Our training begins at birth. Parents teach, in most cases anyway, right from wrong, hot from cold, eat this and not that, among others, you get the idea. Then comes the societal training, the education system that pumps out unthinking automatons that if trained correctly will do what they're told when they're told, pay their taxes, vote for the Potemkin politicians that are served up, and will shut up and eat their shit sandwiches like a good NPC.
We are also taught to look outside ourselves for completion. We are taught that if you're lacking in this or that, then buying this product will improve your life, you must act a certain way or you're living outside of the norms of this society, get a good education or you wont succeed in life, and whatever you do, don't think critically.
Have you noticed how the concept of hope is being beaten down in modern society. Why is that?
It's really very simple. They want us hopeless and helpless.
If you have no hope it leaves you open to the feeling of helplessness. Helplessness hyper-activates fear. Fear leads to conformity. We, as a society are being taught learned-hopelessness. It makes for a compliant populace, easily managed, easily controlled.
The feelings of helplessness are heightened by physical and mental abuse, both on personal and societal levels. If your around my age (I'm 72) then you'll remember the shock of JFK having his brains blown out on national television. That was mental abuse on the societal level. The week of national mourning, the funeral, the burial, the subsequent investigation, the gaslighting, the Zapruder film, over and over. The feeling of helplessness that if that can be done to the sitting US President then it could happen to any one of us.
It was a hyper PTSD inducing event that changed politics and the American psyche. The assassination was a political event, the aftermath was training.
Fast forward to September 11, 2001. We needed a reminder for the next and new phase of societal training. Different motus operandi, different actors, same message. A message to remind the folks that remember JFK about how hopeless and helpless they are, and an introduction to that feeling of hopelessness and helplessness for those too young to remember. It was on such a horrific level it was hard to fathom the enormity of it all.
There have been many lessor events that have occurred since the since November 1964, but it is those two highlighted above that has hardwired many if not most Americans into PTSD driven conformity.
The Great Awakening
But here's where critical thinking comes into play.
We must not comply.
We are in one of those times in history, a time of of great upheaval. As stated above, we're witnessing an epic conflict between the Old Guard, and a New Guard, with with rumblings from a nascent Third Guard.
The Old Guard wont go easily, the new guard is currently working with the old guard but they may see the future as theirs. And it is We the People, writ large, that must stand up to right this ship.
The Old Guard and the New Guard are fighting to keep control, that is the impetus for the learned-helplessness training. They can see the trajectory of the Great Awakening. They are trying to curtail the consequences of losing power.
That is the reason for the constant wailing of, "We are fucked" and "There is no hope" comments on boards across the web-o-sphere. It's my opinion that those comments are being made by those caught up in the learned-helplessness training and/or they are paid operatives.
My hope is that the Great Awakening is, inevitable. You can see it in the youth. They are rejecting the old ways. The global zeitgeist is evolving and the power mongers are tap dancing to stop it.
You can call me a dreamer if you like, that's OK. Dreams that become reality can change the world.
Folks, please watch this video, it fits perfectly with this piece.
6:33
Comments
Good morning Free Rangers...
I wrote this in separate parts and then tried to patch it all together, kind like life itself these days.
Things get crazier by the day. Scratch that, by the hour. Scratch that again, by the minute. Wouldn't you agree?
I find myself ambling along, hoping for the best, but waiting for the next shoe to drop.
But I try not to worry about it too much because the grass under my feet is still green and that sunset is beautiful.
Really well said
I think you are right about where we are today. I am in the hopeless camp, because I can't see a way to fight back. We all seem to be shoved into our own corrals made for one. I had hoped way back when Limbaugh and Fox started the youngers would react as we did, spot the phonies and sell outs and reject them. Didn't happen, and we're in what... third generation where this garbage is normal? I had thought that a way to fight back would be to stop buying their stuff. I don't think that would work, corporations have already pushed us in that direction, and the things we need, food, medicine, education are already expensive and consuming our income. Doesn't matter, if they lose in the short run, congress will bail them out. It has to be our young people to figure out how to turn this around. There has to be something I can't see. It's their world now, and they know it sucks.
I hear you, brother...
I struggle with the same feelings, but I fight it, I try not to give in to those feelings. We're being programmed to give up.
You put your finger on it:
We may not see it in our lifetimes, but the youth have to stand up, and with our help if we're still around.
I truly believe that the human spirit will not be extinguished, there are many examples down through history to back that up.
That is where there is hope.
I was in a group being treated for depression and the young folk
in it basically told me, hey, take it easy, you‘re Bilbo [Baggins, from The Lord of the Rings] here, you already lived and fought your part of the quest. Enjoy the life you have left in Rivendell and write your memoirs, right? You have to let go of the Ring, leave it to Frodo, we’re the young ones, it‘s up to us now.”
Hi JtC, this is a good analysis from a fresh perspective.
France just passed a bill through its parliament which will prevent under 15 year olds from accessing social media starting with the beginning of school in September. Of course we will all now be asked to prove how old we are to access the internet. Gag me.
They, tptb, are rushing to implement as much control as they can get because things are getting well and truly out of control. Many large protests are occurring around Europe but most are not seen unless a cell phone video makes it onto a YT short.
The dry and hot weather continues with several hors catagories next week. It's called Canicule when it's bad. There is a fire map which I just found that displays the best up to date information on current fires:
French fire map
We have stayed in that region from Arcachon to Lacanau Ocean. It is full of planted monoculture pine trees. They are burning at a ferocious rate. In our area, more and more replantings of timbered trees are of mixed species. A much healthier and more forest-like way to grow trees. They also leave a lot of the tree debris mounded in long rows next to the young seedlings and gradually sinking back into the ground.
The area of Cap Ferret is a summer resort area with lots of cabins and small villages and a few larger towns. There are paper plants and other industrial mills and plants throughout the area as well.
We really liked Arcachon and stayed twice right in town center. But then the wind direction changed and we were blasted with paper plant stink. Right on the shores of the Atlantic and across from the quaint peninsula of Cap Ferret.
We persevere in DIY installing a Mitsubishi mini split for our master. The biggest hurdle is the 40 cm stone wall which needs a 10 cm round hole for power, condensate line and copper tubing for refrigerant.
We are going to pick enough corn to eat for the first time and it is good if sparce.
We are supposed to get a surge of thunderstorms tomorrow which should bring much needed rain and temporary temp lowering.
Thanks for the thoughtful essay.
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.
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Good morning Dawn...
What's happening is terrible for our brothers and sisters in Europe. The European Union has turned out to be a centralized vessel of authoritarian abuse. It's obvious to me that there's a hidden hand with its thumb on the backs of Europeans. But I've seen the pictures and videos of the huge protests. There is hope.
The West is being dismantled. Why? I have my theories but none of them are good.
You and your husband are doing yourselves good by immersing in the here and now, sticking close to nature and making the best in a bad situation.
That, in my humble opinion, is what I refer to as human spirit.
Thank you, my dear.
A very good essay to begin this day
.
Pretty well sums up the pickle we find ourselves in.
Complacency is not a viable strategy if change is the goal.
Awareness of the forces set against us is a start. Then the
hard work is revealed in its scope. Resistance is not futile.
Thanks for the Moody's song.
Zionism is a social disease
Good morning, Cap...
No, resistance is not futile, it is necessary. And to complete the meme, we will not be willingly assimilated.
The harder they push, the more resistance is generated. They try to hide it, but that pesky two edged sword, the internet, allows us to peek at the reality on the streets.
Their push to clamp down reveals their fear. The harder they push, the more their fear is on display.
This shit is coming to a head, you can feel it everywhere.
All I ask is to be left alone and don't push me into a corner.
Good morning Johnny, really liked the column. Also, whatever
case, one more life to savor. After all:
You are here.
Nobody gets out of here alive, in the long run we all move on
In the meantime, we are what we do and it is what we make it
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Great...
philosophical sentiments, mi hermano.
Love the video.
Those that fucked it up are now telling us they can unfuck it, but we all know that they'll just fuck it up worse. Because that's what the fuckers do.
Fuck them.
Peace, brother.
Toward the beginning
you have:
Alastair Crooke says a little bit of the quiet part out loud here:
I hope my transcripting is good here
"and the prospects facing them are quite dark because you know this is also going to end you know the petrodollar economy that has brought us all these sort of gleaming high skyscraper buildings in the Gulf States that whole architecture has to go, will go."
Well, that's vague and general. Has to go, will go. So what actually happens? What happens to the owners of the Gulf States architectures? They become Americans. Their communities will be comprised of all of the great number of connections they've made in the US back when they had wealth in Doha or Manama or Dubai. They can't give up on the idea of the US because they would lose their investment portfolios in the US if they did so. Maybe some remnant will be left behind, to be picked up by Chinese investors.
The political class in DC? They don't care. They don't, first off, believe in anything. Or rather, they believe in money, that emptiest and most fungible of incarnations of what the philosopher Karl Marx called "value." That word "value" is important; it means "that which money can buy." Bookmark it. At any rate, billionaires are paying your Congress and mine to think what they do, and they can invest in any sides of the slices of toast that are buttered. The Iranians appear to the podcast commentators as the last ones standing because, to all appearances, they actually believe in something. This notion of appearing to believe in something is, by the same token, why Trump imagines "the Left" to be such a threat.
Netanyahu and Trump appear to be ready to try to cancel elections to stay in power indefinitely. I wonder if that will compromise their statuses as front men for the oligarchy. It doesn't look like their health problems have compromised the status of either man. The rest of us should be saying "okay, general strike time, any time now, any time now guys."
"What they are trying to to is prop up the deteriorating conditions of capitalism with fraud and, if that doesn't work, with violence.." -- Indrajit Samarajiva
Good afternoon Cass...
great analysis. The world is being reimagined before our eyes. I think that once things are said and done the world will be broken up into major regions, as Orwell predicted.
The petrol dollar is already falling out of favor, gold is being used for much of the oil commerce between the BRICS nations.
I also think Alastair Crooke is correct, it will go the way of the shattered oil rigs.
If Trump tries to make himself king, then I can definitely see your very last sentence come to fruition.
Thanks for your insights, I'm always glad to read them.
You may have noted --
-- that the Yves Smith of today is a bit more frightened than usual at the situation...
"What they are trying to to is prop up the deteriorating conditions of capitalism with fraud and, if that doesn't work, with violence.." -- Indrajit Samarajiva
Interesting essay by Tim S.
My latest, on Substack: "Jim Woolsey, the apotheosis of national security capitalism, is dead." https://timshorrock.substack.com/p/jim-woolsey-the-apotheosis-of-national
So I guess the theme is meet the new guard, same as the old guard. My impression is the new guard, can provide additional and more effective means of surveillance, oppression and warfare, in a futile attempt to keep the oligarchy on top. JS's last link referring to the three speeches was like something for a dystopian dictatorship run amok. SM's comment about abnormal appearances of leftists was beyond parody.
Some the rumors I heard this morning in Korean media. EU intends to remove all Huawei 华为 components from telecommunications, power, data center and industrial infrastructure. A South Korean professor estimates it will cost approximately 40 billion dollars, and further burden EU economies. He also believes this is an element in NATO preparation for war with Russia by 2030.
Huawei ban to cost the EU up to €40 billion, says industry
Clearly, there is an air of unreality about this, but history shows European states find themselves lurching toward major wars and the world wars before as a result of great power politics. European elites are irresponsible and not acting in the interest of their peoples. Further, some of the greatest proponents of war with Russia are the states smaller and less powerful, which are literally not likely to survive such a conflict. The NATO 3 prospects aren't much better. Are they in a position to defeat Russia if they directly engage it? Doubtful. They are not prepared for such a war. Would it go nuclear, perhaps. In other words, bad idea for Europe, and bad idea for South Korea to get involved. Therefore, the professor is opposed to the so-called NATO plus IP 4, that is AU, NZ, Japan, and SK. Make Russia an enemy? Why? It's not in our interest. The commentary noted that the average public observer was not paying enough attention concerning the drift toward a wider war that their government needed to avoid. His suggestion was pay more attention!
Further, the analyst questions the commitment of many NATO countries under Article 5, including the US. He pointed out the possibility of allowing an expanded war in Europe, as happened during WWII, and then waiting until both sides had destroyed or weakened themselves beyond recovery, and then the prospect of the US at that point, "taking over" or promoting its own interests in the final resolution of the conflict. That's what the South Koreans need to watch out for as well...
After I read your essay JtC, I thought of MLK right away, "I have a dream," in particular.
己所不欲，勿施于人。
Keeping the oligarchy on top
.
seems to be the concurrent theme.Their goals and
the needs of the rest of us are at loggerheads. Losing
hope is what they crave for us. Resisting may be our only
chance of maintaining personal dignity.
Zionism is a social disease
Coinkydink?
I'm virtually reminded every day of the repeated international and domestic screw ups, incompetence, losses and failures. The western theme seems to be shoot your mouth off, mess up everything possible, break every conceivable law, agreement, or principle and then lie nonstop to try to conceal the inevitable failures.
Then I get this email from a social media link, reminding me of an old Chinese proverb. This is an explanation of the proverb I had to look up, because I wasn't sure of the actual origin-
己所不欲，勿施于人。
In the US
.
poverty is hushed. Wealth is promoted by the symbols of holdings.
Beemers, big houses and the like. Us poors do not care to bring attention to
our lack of status or means. Sometimes, it is what you don't see that matters.
Zionism is a social disease
Well maybe.
Here in Oregon the unhoused display their status in plain view of everyone.
"What they are trying to to is prop up the deteriorating conditions of capitalism with fraud and, if that doesn't work, with violence.." -- Indrajit Samarajiva
It should be noted
that they typically don’t have one hell of a lot of choice in the matter.
It’s like the ones who freeze to death every winter, around these parts. Not many are making a bold political statement by doing so- at least, so far…
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Heh, Article 5 was written in and for a different time and
place. Nato member x is quietly minding its own business and evil non-menmber, for whatever reason launches a classic attack, tanks roll, troops march, bombers take wing and all that.
However, for ages now there have been rules as to what neutrals may and may not do. Per those rules mose European states are party to the conflict in Ukraine. They are not neutrals nor are they innocent bystanders. Why should Spain, for example, honor Article 5 if the Rus finally say Basta! and take out some Brit factories that make some of the military equipment that they provide to Ukraine?
And what, pray tell, should we do about thedefinitions of things like war and such. Isn't the EU plus the US, Canada, Australia and others constantly comitting acts of war via their assorted sanctions packages. Having committed themselves to ongoing continuous economic warfare of the Rus can any of those states whine "Ma, he hit me first?" Turkiye, for sure is entitled to sit back and calmly watch an attack on just about and European country by the Rus.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
The commentator was making a technical point
...about the loose language in Article 5, not really requiring that the NATO agreement required them to go to war if another member state was attacked. The article invokes Art 51 of the UN Charter, which as far as I can tell from reading it, and some scholarly content on its relative ineffectiveness, is mostly observed by countries actually in breach. There have been many unilateral and a few multilateral "reports" under Art. 51 ostensibly to justify various attacks, and aggressions as "self defense," under the Charter, so all these nations claim they acted because of UN failure to act.
I also read Putin's speech in Feb 2022, submitted as the Art 51 report in support of the Feb 22 invasion, for lack of a better term. Putin invoked the general threat of Nato expansion which he described as a "red line," and also specifically "genocide" in the Donbass by the Ukraine government, nazi like forces, etc., which presented an unacceptable threat on Russia's immediate border. It's an interesting read. Frankly, I think the Russian leadership is quite competent, but I wish they would have laid out in greater detail, the immediate threats to the Russian ethnic population inside Ukraine, and on its borders, which he specifically identified as Russian citizens in part.
I think the commentator's argument I was citing above was addressing the weakness and unenforceability of Article 5's language which actually does leave NATO members on their own as to whether they would choose to participate in a collective defense or not. Article 51 of the charter, upon which Art 5 rests, also leaves a great deal of wiggle room to get out of this "obligation" if you will. It may be that as a practical matter it is weaker than ever for political and historical reasons. The commentators point was even on its face, it didn't really impose a commitment the way it was written.
己所不欲，勿施于人。
I hope
this post doesn't put me in the group of ,
"those caught up in the learned-helplessness training and/or they are paid operatives."
I sure don't feel like I fit either of those categories. But at the same time I can't find much reason to believe that we'll survive the onslaught that envelops us all.
I have to admit that my hope for positive change is at or very near zero. That's not a sentiment that I arrived at quickly or easily. I sure as hell don't want to feel this way and for damn sure I haven't given up and will continue to fight in whatever way I'm able to. But at the same time I can't ignore what's right in front of me.
FFS, we can't even stop the horror show in Palestine that has already killed somewhere in the neighborhood of 75,000 people. Most of those were non-combatants. Mothers, fathers, grandpas, gramma's, teenagers, school age children, even babies, entire families. Tens of thousands more have life long disabling injuries. And it's still happening today, it will still be happening tomorrow.
Our insanity is on full display today as we pour billions of dollars down the drain in Iran. I wonder how many more thousands of people will have to die before america's bloodlust is satisfied? And the rest of the world watches with a wary eye, even condemnations from here and there, yet seems utterly helpless to end it even as the world's economy is threatened. But at least we can count on Americans raising hell about it, if the price of gas gets too high that is.
We may or not have an election in a few months, personally I doubt it but it's still a possibility. If we do manage somehow to have a fair election hopefully the results will neuter the tangerine psychopath that rules us. But unbelievably even that is questionable. Billions of dollars will be spent to ensure that he and his lackeys in congress stay in the drivers seat. If they pull it off, I'd say that'll be the coup de gras. stick a fork in us, we'll be done.
My wife and I raised our youngest granchild. She graduated high school this year. As near as I can tell, her generation is pretty well informed, much more than most of were at that age. But I get the impression that they, many of them anyway, are just resigned to surviving in an unjust world. Though none have said as much to me, I think they may blame us older folks for the situation we face today. I can't say I could blame them. None of this happened in a vacuum.
There are so many horrible atrocities going on all around the world that it's literally impossible to keep abreast of them all. Forever war is a very real component of our lives. I see no signs that this will change anytime soon, It's been that way for thousands of years. The only difference is we are much better at killing people than ever before.
In the meantime we are burning down the very planet we call home. And that's a fact that can no longer be denied by anyone with eyes. heh, yeah, some still do. But it couldn't be more obvious. Massive forest fires rage everywhere that there's a forest to burn. Epic floods, droughts, hurricanes, glaciers melting away right before our eyes, sea levels rising, rivers and lakes drying up, aquifers being drained of water that took thousands of years to fill, extinction rates not seen since the days of the dinosaurs. Ocean warming silently killing coral reefs which support the whole damn food chain. The warning signs are EVERYWHERE, and ignored.
Have I lost all hope? Not quite all, still a very small sliver of hope in there, just can't let go of it completely even though common sense, all my senses actually, tell me otherwise. I'll keep doing what I can, though admittedly that is damn little these days and I'll keep hoping for,.. for what? ; a miracle I guess, though I don't really believe in those either. Maybe we'll just get lucky.
All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth. John Lennon
Your comments
are a profound statement of hope, I think, because to begin finding a way out of this mess we have to admit where we are, and you've said it beautifully.
@Linda Wood Thank you Linda.
Thank you Linda.
All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth. John Lennon
Oh dude.
The question begged here is "who is we?" Since I am in no mood to accuse, I'm going to leave it open and avoid using the term "we" to make arguments below.
1. The US government perpetrated the genocide because that is where the funding and weapons came from. No amount of finger-pointing at Israel will remove its culpability.
2. The figures they give for how many were killed are all vast underestimates. Not only do they not count those whose corpses lie rotting under rubble, they don't count those whose human bodies have gone past the limits of starvation and are thus technically alive but who are essentially lost.
3. The game was up, the game being that which was played by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez here, when the Democrats all became genocide apologists in the hundred-or-so days of Kamala Harris' candidacy. And when I mean "up," I mean that at that point the Two-Party System became obvious to all as beyond redemption. The Simpsons warned the US public in 1996:
The saving grace is that with each Iranian bombing of a US installation in western Asia the regime grows a bit weaker, just as it grows weaker with Ukraine's defeats in the Donbas. But the real end is with the complete devaluation of the US dollar, which unfortunately means my dollar and your dollar too.
"What they are trying to to is prop up the deteriorating conditions of capitalism with fraud and, if that doesn't work, with violence.." -- Indrajit Samarajiva
@Cassiodorus
WTF
I either completely mis-understood your point or you're accusing me of disagreeing with or disputing the things you said. Don't know where the hell you got that from, but if that's what you're saying, it's an incredibly bad guess and just plain stinks. Good grief.
All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth. John Lennon
@burnt out
and by we I mean We, the people of the world. Thought that was obvious.
All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth. John Lennon
"I disagree"
without identifying the point or points of disagreement.
That's what I've got so far.
"What they are trying to to is prop up the deteriorating conditions of capitalism with fraud and, if that doesn't work, with violence.." -- Indrajit Samarajiva
@Cassiodorus No time to get
No time to get bashful now Cass. I'd like to know which part (or parts) of my comment you disagree with. Seriously I'm interested in finding out whatever it is you're trying to say. Thanks.
All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth. John Lennon
Did I say I disagreed with you?
If so, I don't recall it.
"What they are trying to to is prop up the deteriorating conditions of capitalism with fraud and, if that doesn't work, with violence.." -- Indrajit Samarajiva
have a nice day
All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth. John Lennon
Accuse?
We/ I do not understand what you are saying. Obviously, his one use of 'we" in context meant the global population. Further usage of "we" in context was Americans.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Hey, man...
that was eloquent. You should think about writing again. Seriously.
It's an all hands on deck situation right now, and we could use an extra hand. Now is not the time to sit idly by.
Think about it.
PS: I remember your photography. You still doing it?
Thanks old friend!
Thanks for the kind words JtC. They are much appreciated. And I haven't said so lately but thanks so much for giving us this place to discuss things and sometimes just to vent the anger we all feel.
I still have my camera equipment but rarely drag it out anymore. My wife still shoots but she's slowed down some too.
We're growin old together.
I know I spend far too much as a lurker and not nearly enough time contributing to the conversation here. Guilty as charged. I should do more. In my defense I've done a little better lately. Everything is so damn depressing it's hard to even read about it all, let alone write about it. And nobody likes a debbie downer anyway. But I'll try to do better.
All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth. John Lennon
Debbie Downers
are way more likely to be truth tellers than not.
Say what ya wanna say.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Thank you
I appreciate that.
All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth. John Lennon
Odds are against but
.
Sometimes an outside chance is all we get.
Zionism is a social disease
Hope isn't something to be proud of, have Faith
I have always viewed hope as just another bad thing let out of Pandora's Box. I decided I won't hope but I will have faith. I don't hope for the future, I have faith that the future will be better. Do we act on hope? No, we act on faith. What is faith? What does it mean to have faith? Define the principles you live by and act accordingly? I can't really answer that but it appears to be more logical than hope. Thus, hopelessness may not be an issue as much as a lack of faith, of principles to live by.
I do not have any particular hope
for positive change in my life time, but I do have absolute faith that history repeats itself.
Interesting comment, friend. Nice to see you.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Hmmmmm...
that's compelling.
Hope is a wish. Faith is complete trust, unquestioned.
That's an interesting dichotomy.
I'll have to chew on that one for a while.
Thanks, brother.
Folks...
it's 1:30 PM Central time. I have to head out to the hospital to have my chemo port flushed. I hope to have it removed soon, it bothers me, but it has to be flushed regularly to prevent blood from clotting and plugging it.
I'll be back in a couple of hours or so and I'll catch up with the comments then.
Peace out.
Good luck with the procedure, Johnny.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Be proactive in whatever dimension you are able...
I grow food. I discuss our situation with friends and neighbors, and share opinions. One might argue government is the problem not the solution, so build relationships with those you can.
It may seem hopeless, but it may be the economy will bring it all to a head. Sure looks like it will.
Wishing us all the best as we muddle through the collapse of empire. This isn't the first, nor (probably) the last time that happens.
Thanks for the thought provoking OT!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”