The Evening Blues - 4-29-22



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Wilson Pickett

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features soul singer Wilson Pickett. Enjoy!

Wilson Pickett - Land of a Thousand Dances

"Censorship is the last resort of desperate and unpopular regimes. It magically appears to make a crisis go away. It comforts the powerful with the narrative they want to hear, one fed back to them by courtiers in the media, government agencies, think tanks, and academia. The problem of Donald Trump is solved by censoring Donald Trump. The problem of left-wing critics, such as myself, is solved by censoring us. The result is a world of make-believe."

-- Chris Hedges


News and Opinion

PayPal Blocks Multiple Alternative Media Figures Critical Of US Empire Narratives

In what appears to be yet another escalation in Silicon Valley’s redoubled efforts to quash dissident voices since the beginning of the Ukraine war, PayPal has just blocked the accounts of multiple alternative media voices who’ve been speaking critically against official US empire narratives. These include journalist and speaker Caleb Maupin, and Mnar Adley and Alan MacLeod of MintPress News.

Just the other day MintPress published an excellent article by MacLeod titled “An Intellectual No-Fly Zone: Online Censorship of Ukraine Dissent Is Becoming the New Norm” documenting the many ways skepticism of the US government’s version of events in this war is being suppressed by Silicon Valley megacorporations, including financial censorship via the demonetization of YouTube videos that don’t regurgitate the imperial line on Ukraine.

Today, both MintPress and MacLeod have been banned from using the payment service that many online content creators have come to rely on to help crowdfund their work.

MintPress News happens to have published critical journalism about PayPal itself in the past, like the articles it published in 2018 by Whitney Webb documenting the way shady PayPal-linked billionaires Peter Thiel and Pierre Omidyar have advanced the interests of the US empire and facilitated imperial narrative control, or this one from 2016 on how the company blocks Palestinians from opening accounts while showing no such bias against illegal Israeli settlers.

I asked MintPress News Executive Director Mnar Adley for comment on PayPal’s move. Here is her response in full:

“Paypal banning myself and MintPress is blatant censorship of dissenting journalists & outlets. For the past decade MintPress has been unapologetically working as a watchdog journalism outlet to expose the profiteers of the permanent war state from the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Sudan to Apartheid Israel’s occupation of Palestine and Saudi Arabia’s genocidal war in Yemen to regime change operations in Syria, Ukraine and Venezuela where US weapons have flooded these nations to plunge them into devastating civil wars.

“In the era of a declining US empire, censorship has become the last resort of an unpopular regime and its forever wars to make the truth disappear and critical thinking all but dead. With the war in Ukraine raging on, we’ve entered war time and Big Tech giants, including Paypal, are working hand in hand with the New Cold War architects themselves to sanction dissenting journalists. If you read the board of any of these tech giants from Google, Twitter, Facebook and Paypal, they read like a rogues’ gallery of war mongers and their agenda is clear: To control the free flow of information and target the bank accounts of anyone who dares question the official narrative of the Pentagon or State Department.

“It is outrageous to be told that tech giants, which are run by those who directly profit from the New Cold war including the crisis in Ukraine, could limit any journalist’s ability to fund their work. Can you imagine if this was the norm in Russia, China or Iran? Our media would be screaming about free speech and first amendment rights. Yet, when we do it’s ok because it’s under the guise of fighting ‘Russian propaganda’.

“We’re living in an intellectual No-Fly Zone where online censorship of dissenting journalism has become the new norm. The US sanctions regime that is trying to starve Russia, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Cuba and Iran and over 25% of the world’s population is now targeting its own citizens with its maximum pressure campaign so we are forced to toe the official government line in order to survive as a journalist in alternative media today.

“No matter the war waged against us, we refuse to be backed into a corner and bullied by tech giants who have a deep relationship with weapons manufacturers like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin and who work hand in hand with NATO that profit off the blood of millions of people around the world. The only way forward is for people to unite on a broader front of non-partisanship and fund our own media because there are more of us than there are of them.”

PayPal has also banned Caleb Maupin, an American speaker and journalist whose work has already seen his personal Twitter account branded “Russia state-affiliated media” by the US state-affiliated platform.

“Why should something as basic as cash transactions be subject to political censorship?” said Maupin when asked for comment. “The economic war on independent countries is turning into a war on free speech. Writers and journalists must be able to eat.”

Indeed, a very effective way to silence unauthorized media voices is to make it difficult for them to earn a living making their voices heard. Speaking from experience I know for a fact I couldn’t put out a fraction of the content I put out if I was forced to work a 9-5 job in some office rather than having the freedom to put all my time and mental energy into this work thanks to the generous support of my readers. Cutting me off from that funding would be the same as censoring me directly, because there’s no way I could continue the kind of work I do.

We are at a profoundly dangerous and frightening point in human history. The US proxy war against Russia in Ukraine is escalating by the day and the drums of war are beating ever louder against China over the Solomon Islands and Taiwan. If you think censorship is bad now, wait until this global power grab really gets going.

Pentagon-Backed “Newsguard” Threatening YouTube’s Anti-War Voices

Biden, $33B for Ukraine. Ministry of Truth, USA. Poland exercises. Elensky UK citizen.

A few tens of billions here, a few tens of billions there, pretty soon you're talking about real money.

Biden asks Congress for $33bn Ukraine aid package

Joe Biden has called for a giant $33bn package of military and economic aid to Ukraine, more than doubling the level of US assistance to date, in an emphatic rejection of Russian threats of reprisals and escalation. ...

Biden asked Congress to give immediate approval for spending that would include over $20bn in military aid, involving everything from heavy artillery and armoured vehicles to greater intelligence sharing, cyber warfare tools and many more anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Biden also requested $8.5bn in economic aid to Kyiv and $3bn in humanitarian relief, as well as funds to help increase US production of food crops and strategic minerals to offset the impact of the war in Ukraine on global supplies.

The total of $33bn is more than twice the last supplemental request approved by Congress in March and dwarfs the entire defence budget of Ukraine and of many other countries. The US president said it was aimed at helping Ukraine repel the renewed Russian offensives in the east and south of the country, but also to transition to assuring the nation’s longer-term security needs. ...

It comes in the face of Russian warnings that increased western weapons supplies to Ukraine would endanger European security, that western intervention could bring instant Russian reprisals and raise the risk of nuclear conflict. Making the case for western aid, Biden argued that on the contrary, if Putin was not stopped in Ukraine he would continue to threaten global peace and stability.

'A Down Payment on World War III': Peace Advocates Blast Biden's Ask for More Ukraine Aid

Peace advocates reacted to Thursday's request by U.S. President Joe Biden for $33 billion in additional aid to Ukraine by warning against what they called a dangerous escalation and by accusing the administration of misplaced priorities.

Biden is asking Congress for additional funding for war-ravaged Ukraine, including more than $20 billion in "security and military assistance," $8.5 billion in economic aid, and $3 billion in "humanitarian assistance."

"It's not cheap. But caving to aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen," said Biden. "We either back the Ukrainian people as they defend their country, or we stand by as the Russians continue their atrocities and aggression in Ukraine every day."

The president's appeal for additional funds comes on top of the $4.6 billion in security assistance the U.S. has given Ukraine since January 2021, including $3.7 billion since Russian forces invaded the country in February.

Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the women-led peace group CodePink, called Biden's request "a down payment on World War III."

"Biden's call for an enormous $33 billion for Ukraine is over half the entire budget for the State Department and USAID," she tweeted, referring to the United States Agency for International Development. "We need diplomacy, not billions more in weapons!"

Benjamin also noted that the Biden administration—which refuses to unfreeze Afghanistan's central bank reserves—"won't fill the $2 billion shortfall in the urgent U.N. appeal for the desperately poor people of Afghanistan."

Jennifer Briney, host of the Congressional Dish podcast, tweeted: "How can the U.S. possibly maintain the already-pretty-clear-fiction that we aren't 'in' the Ukraine-Russia war if we inject $33 billion into it? How can this not lead to escalation?" ...

Others commented on what they implied are the administration's misplaced priorities amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, worsening economic inequality, and the climate emergency.


Russia increasing speed of attack in south-east, says Ukraine

Russia has stepped up the pace of its offensive in eastern and southern Ukraine, and is preventing the evacuation of wounded Ukrainian fighters from a steelworks in Mariupol because it wants to capture them, Ukrainian officials have said.

[In war, doesn't the triumphant army usually capture opponents? Just checking for a friend. -js]

“The enemy is increasing the pace of the offensive operation. The Russian occupiers are exerting intense fire in almost all directions,” Ukraine’s military command said of the situation on the main front in the east.

According to the officials, the focus of Russia’s main attack was near the towns of Slobozhanske and Donets, along a strategic frontline highway linking Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, with the Russian-occupied city of Izium.

Moldova facing ‘dangerous moment’ amid fears it could be drawn into Ukraine war

Moldova is facing “a very dangerous new moment”, the country’s deputy prime minister has said, as he warned that unnamed forces were seeking to stoke tensions after a series of explosions in the breakaway region of Transnistria this week. In a briefing with journalists, Nicu Popescu said his government had seen “a dangerous deterioration of the situation” in recent days, after grenade attacks on the “ministry of security” in the breakaway region of Transnistria on Monday. The attacks with rocket-propelled grenades represented “a very dangerous new moment in the history of our region,”, he said, adding that Moldova’s institutions had been put on high alert in response.

Fears are growing that Moldova and Transnistria could be drawn into the Ukraine conflict. The predominantly Russian-speaking region of Transnistria in eastern Moldova has been controlled by pro-Russia separatists since 1992 after a short war when Moscow intervened on the side of the rebels. Last week a senior Russian commander said gaining control over southern Ukraine would help Russia link up with Transnistria, which shares a 453km border with Ukraine. Then on Monday came a series of mysterious explosions targeting Transnistria’s “state security ministry”, a radio tower and military unit.

“Our analysis so far shows that there are tensions between different forces within the region interested in destabilising the situation and that makes the Transnistrian region vulnerable and creates risks for the Republic of Moldova,” said Popescu, who added that a majority of Moldovans, including those in Transnistria, wanted to stay out of the war.

Moldova’s government, which does not control Transnistria, was working through several hypotheses about the cause of the attacks, he said, adding that it could be a provocation or “the result of some tensions of some forces inside this region”. He added: “We cannot point exactly the finger or put the blame, but what we see is that indeed there are some forces inside the region that work towards the destabilisation of the situation inside this region.”

This is an excellent article worth a full read. Here's a taste:

The Possible Dire Consequences of NATO & Ukrainian Escalation

So, UK foreign secretary Trus has said that the war in Ukraine must continue till Russia is forced out of the Ukraine entirely, including Crimea. Meanwhile, the UK is shipping weapons to Ukraine capable of striking Russian cities. As a moral matter, of course, the Ukraine has the right to strike Russia, same as so many countries have the right to assassinate American leaders and bomb American weddings in which “high value targets” might be involved. ...

Now, if Ukraine hits Russian cities, however fair that is, what will happen to Russian public and elite opinion? Imagine Iraq somehow managed to hit New York with real damage in the 2000s (if you want a scenario: perhaps they smuggled bombs into the harbor on cargo ships.) How would Americans have reacted? That’s how Russians will react. Add in some atrocity propaganda (and there are plenty of videos of Ukrainian soldiers doing horrible things, they aren’t saints) and Putin will easily have all the backing he needs to go to total non-nuclear war. In fact, even if he doesn’t want to, it would be difficult to avoid. ...

This idea that NATO has that it can safely fight Russia to the last Ukrainian, without any chance of war-spillover is insane. Likewise, China CANNOT afford to let Russia be broken up. If it is, then China can almost trivially be blockaded and forced into subjugation. They need Russian oil, gas, coal, minerals and food and without them they cannot survive a confrontation with the West. It is literally impossible. ...

This is an existential issue for China and Russia. If they lose to America, their leaders are overthrown. Russia will be dismembered (this is what multiple NATO leaders have said they want), and China will be relegated to permanent 2nd tier status at best. Many of the leaders will die, and many of those will die ugly. ...

Meanwhile, the US’s ability to control foreign countries outside of Europe is dropping fast. Three of the four Gulf States (creations of the UK and kept in existence by the US) refused to side with NATO in the UN. Saudi Arabia has basically told the US to fuck itself. The Solomon Islands signed a military pact with China which spawned threats from Australia and the US of military action if a base is built because apparently the right to make military alliances and do what you want in your own territory is available only to would be American allies. India has not gone along with sanctions and Malaysia is wavering.

US hegemony is breaking. Western hegemony is breaking. As alarmed and scared as Chinese and Russian elites are, American and Western elites are furious: absolutely livid that anyone dare challenge them, or that the days of their hegemony may soon be over. Right now, calculating that the costs of wars to stay in charge will not primarily be born by them, they are willing to escalate recklessly.

Time for President Manchin to swing into action:

Democrats announce plans to ‘go after’ big oil in effort to bring down prices

The Biden administration is to propose legislation that would allow US federal and state agencies to “go after” oil companies on wholesale and retail sales practices, lambasting the industry over price gouging and profiteering.

As American voters express increasing concerns about the high prices of a wide range of consumer goods, including energy and food, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said passing legislation to bring down retail gasoline prices “is at the very top of our list”.

Neither Schumer nor House speaker Nancy Pelosi would say when such legislation will be voted upon, or how much money it could end up saving consumers if enacted into law.

“Big oil has profiteered and exploited the marketplace,” Pelosi told reporters, noting companies’ strong corporate profits over the past year. “They are hoarding the windfall while keeping prices high at the pump,” she added.

New York THREATENS Amazon Subsidies over Union Busting

Schadenfreude alert!

Amazon sees first loss since 2015 as shares tumble 10%

Amazon announced its first loss since 2015 on Thursday as sales slowed, costs rose and its investment in electric vehicle company Rivian wiped out profits. The news sent Amazon’s shares tumbling by 10% in after hours trading.

The tech giant’s revenues grew at a sluggish 7% in the first quarter to $116.4bn. For the same quarter last year, Amazon’s sales increased 44% to $108.5bn. It lost $3.8bn for the quarter compared with a profit of $8.1bn during the same period a year ago.

The company warned there may be more losses ahead. For the current quarter, Amazon expects operating income between a loss of $1bn and a gain of $3bn, compared with $7.7bn in second quarter of 2021. ...

As Covid-19 vaccination rates increase and hospitalizations fall, shoppers are switching back to bricks and mortar. In-store shopping rose 11.2% in March while online fell 3.3%, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, a monthly transactions report.

Watchdog Finds Medicare Advantage Plans Deny Necessary Care

A government watchdog revealed Thursday that Medicare Advantage plans—which are offered by private companies but required to follow rules set by the government healthcare program—deny medically necessary care to tens of thousands of enrollees each year.

The revelation came in a report released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG), which examined a random sample of 250 prior authorization denials and 250 payment denials issued by 15 of the largest Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAOs) during the first week of June in 2019.

Government investigators found that 13% of the 12,273 prior authorization denials met Medicare coverage rules. "In other words," the report explains, "these services likely would have been approved for these beneficiaries under original Medicare (also known as Medicare fee-for-service)."

"These denials can delay or prevent beneficiary access to medically necessary care; lead beneficiaries to pay out of pocket for services that are covered by Medicare; or create an administrative burden for beneficiaries or their providers who choose to appeal the denial," the report continues. "These denials may be particularly harmful for beneficiaries who cannot afford to pay for services directly and for critically ill beneficiaries who may suffer negative health consequences from delayed or denied care."

Examples featured in the report include denying a follow-up MRI by claiming a patient's lesion was too small as well as a request for a walker from a 76-year-old with post-polio syndrome.

The report points out that "for 3% of prior authorization denials, MAOs initially denied requests that met Medicare coverage rules, and later reversed these denials within three months and approved the requests."

MSNBC Host Unwittingly Reveals Truth About Twitter Censorship

Elon Musk says Twitter must be ‘neutral’ as wave of leftwing users quit

Elon Musk said Twitter must be “politically neutral” in a comment posted last night after a wave of account deletions by left-leaning users on the social media network.

In the days since Musk’s $44bn (£34.5bn) acquisition offer was accepted by Twitter’s board, hundreds of thousands of users have closed their accounts on the site, the company confirmed, leading to a dip in follower numbers for left-leaning politicians and celebrities such as Barack and Michelle Obama, Taylor Swift and Jeremy Corbyn.

Meanwhile, rightwing influencers such as the far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, Boris Johnson and Ted Cruz have all had large gains as new users sign up for the service.

In the latest of a series of tweets about the platform Musk hopes to take into private ownership, the world’s wealthiest person suggested he would not seek to politicise Twitter.

“For Twitter to deserve public trust it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and the far left equally,” he tweeted yesterday evening.

Wash Post Smears Free Speech Advocates As “Racist”

“The Wobblies”: Iconic Film on the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) Is Rereleased for May Day



the evening greens


Sixteen states sue US Postal Service over gas-powered truck purchase

California and 15 other states that want the US Postal Service to buy more electric delivery vehicles are suing to halt purchases of thousands of gas-powered trucks as the agency modernizes its mail delivery fleet.

Three separate lawsuits, filed by 16 states and environmental groups Thursday in New York and California, ask judges to order a more thorough environmental review before the Postal Service moves forward with the next-generation delivery vehicle program.

Plaintiffs contend that buying fossil fuel-powered delivery vehicles will cause environmental harm for decades to come. “Louis DeJoy’s gas-guzzling fleet guarantees decades of pollution with every postcard and package,” said Scott Hochberg, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, referring to the postmaster general.

One lawsuit was filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Earthjustice, CleanAirNow KC and Sierra Club in San Francisco. Attorneys general from 16 states and the District of Columbia filed another suit in the same venue. Another was filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council and United Auto Workers in New York. All three of them target the environmental review underpinning of the Postal Service’s planned purchase of up to 165,000 next-generation delivery vehicles over the next decade.

Global warming risks most cataclysmic extinction of marine life in 250m years

Global heating is causing such a drastic change to the world’s oceans that it risks a mass extinction event of marine species that rivals anything that’s happened in the Earth’s history over tens of millions of years, new research has warned. Accelerating climate change is causing a “profound” impact upon ocean ecosystems that is “driving extinction risk higher and marine biological richness lower than has been seen in Earth’s history for the past tens of millions of years”, according to the study.

The world’s seawater is steadily climbing in temperature due to the extra heat produced from the burning of fossil fuels, while oxygen levels in the ocean are plunging and the water is acidifying from the soaking up of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This means the oceans are overheated, increasingly gasping for breath – the volume of ocean waters completely depleted of oxygen has quadrupled since the 1960s – and becoming more hostile to life. Aquatic creatures such as clams, mussels and shrimp are unable to properly form shells due to the acidification of seawater.

All of this means the planet could slip into a “mass extinction rivaling those in Earth’s past”, states the new research, published in Science. The pressures of rising heat and loss of oxygen are, researchers said, uncomfortably reminiscent of the mass extinction event that occurred at the end of the Permian period about 250m years ago. This cataclysm, known as the “great dying”, led to the demise of up to 96% of the planet’s marine animals.

“Even if the magnitude of species loss is not the same level as this, the mechanism of the species loss would be the same,” said Justin Penn, a climate scientist at Princeton University who co-authored the new research. “The future of life in the oceans rests strongly on what we decide to do with greenhouse gases today. There are two vastly different oceans we could be seeing, one devoid of a lot of life we see today, depending on what we see with CO2 emissions moving forward.”

“We Created the Pandemicene”: Ed Yong on How the Climate Crisis Could Spark the Next Pandemic

‘Potentially devastating’: Climate crisis may fuel future pandemics

There will be at least 15,000 instances of viruses leaping between species over the next 50 years, with the climate crisis helping fuel a “potentially devastating” spread of disease that will imperil animals and people and risk further pandemics, researchers have warned.

As the planet heats up, many animal species will be forced to move into new areas to find suitable conditions. They will bring their parasites and pathogens with them, causing them to spread between species that haven’t interacted before. This will heighten the risk of what is called “zoonotic spillover”, where viruses transfer from animals to people, potentially triggering another pandemic of the magnitude of Covid-19.

“As the world changes, the face of disease will change too,” said Gregory Albery, an expert in disease ecology at Georgetown University and co-author of the paper, published in Nature. “This work provides more incontrovertible evidence that the coming decades will not only be hotter, but sicker.

“We have demonstrated a novel and potentially devastating mechanism for disease emergence that could threaten the health of animals in the future and will likely have ramifications for us, too.” Albery said that climate change is “shaking ecosystems to their core” and causing interactions between species that are already likely to be spreading viruses. He said that even drastic action to address global heating now won’t be enough to halt the risk of spillover events.

“This is happening, it’s not preventable even in the best case climate change scenarios and we need to put measures in place to build health infrastructure to protect animal and human populations,” he said.

The GOP’s NEW WAR On Fossil Fuel Divestment: David Sirota


Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

Obama Wants Censorship

Russia vows “lightning” response to NATO as war threatens to spill beyond Ukraine

More Blasts Reported in Russian Provinces Bordering Ukraine

Russia Says It Destroyed US, European Weapons in Ukraine Missile Strikes

Online Censorship of Ukraine Dissent Is Becoming the New Norm

The US Corporate Media Must Start Asking Tougher Questions About Ukraine

Marine Le Pen’s party has high hopes for French parliament elections

New Report Details Fracking's 'Widespread and Severe Harm' to Health and Climate

'We Don't Trust Enbridge': Indigenous Women Push Biden to Block Line 5 Expansion

The GOP’s New War On Divestment

Rogan Reacts LIVE ON AIR To Elon Musk Buying Twitter

EU Companies Agree to Gas for Roubles, Putin Warns West, Russia Claims Ukraine Defences Cracking


A Little Night Music

Wilson Pickett - It's Too Late

Wilson Pickett - She's Looking Good

Wilson Pickett - I Found a Love, Pts 1 & 2

Wilson Pickett - 634-5789

Wilson Pickett - Ninety Nine And A Half Won't Do

Wilson Pickett - I've Come A Long Way

Wilson Pickett - Barefootin'

Wilson Pickett - Hey Joe

Wilson Pickett - Everybody Needs Somebody to Love

Wilson Pickett - In the Midnight Hour


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14 users have voted.

Comments

dystopian's picture

Hey Joe! Hope all are doing well! Too busy working here to get by much, and still in a computer gray zone hopping on a laptop, I think the technical term is discombobulated, though not sure how to spell it, oh there, spell check does. I was going to ask Brandon but I didn't have a week.

Just wait until those inactive microbes thaw in the arctic... that will take care of everything.

Thanks for keeping us informed, and especially the great soundscape. Wilson Pickett was great!

Have good ones all!

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9 users have voted.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

joe shikspack's picture

@dystopian

sorry to hear that your computer is still on the fritz, good luck getting it going again.

heh, i'd start a lottery on what will finally take humanity out, but by the time we have a conclusive determination, well, it would be too late for the winner to enjoy it. Smile

have a great weekend!

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7 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

Fck things up for us. Keeping the NBA from going on strike which would have had lots of support from we little people to rolling out the censorship guns. Gack just thinking back to the night Obama won makes me nauseated! His biggest legacy tho is that Donald Trump followed his presidency! It was a big F-U Obama that has gotta sting.

Obama’s angst is proof that getting rid of RT and Sputnik won’t be enough for him and the ruling class he still works for. Biden is in trouble, with low approval ratings, and the non-stop effort to give legitimacy to U.S. actions in Ukraine are proof that Obama has cause for concern.

Shitlibs are totally on board with the Biden censorship because it’s being sold as Russian disinformation and anti COVID stuff which Obama threw in too.

as Russian disinformation don’t you know? Good lord I don’t know what it’s going to take to wake them the hell up or if they are so far gone that they even can. Remember folks…censorship is good because it will never affect them. Oh wait. I seem to remember a few bitching about YouTube pulling their videos because they were full of hate. Whaaa!

But if you’re feeling down and need a good laugh you can read this take on Russia and your lol will be overflowing.

It’s amazing how fast this hand basket is moving now ain’t it? One day we’re just riding smoothly and the next we biked off a cliff.

Alex Berenson's lawsuit against Twitter has been given the go ahead.

This:

Our time is done. We sold our patrimony to the Chinese from the 90s thru the 10s, so that our elites could break our working class and get richer than if they had to pay 1st world wages and costs. That’s the truth. Our elites thought they were international elites, not national elites, and they were wrong. The Chinese knew they were a national elite, and, in effect, bribed our elites to give away the most important sources of their real power: having the largest industry, and having a huge tech lead.

Where did they think that was going to lead eventually. You hollow out your manufacturing base and rely on your enemy for essentials just seems very boneheaded.

Well happy Friday and thanks for all the fish.

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9 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

heh, i guess all we have to do is wait for trump to win the presiduncy again and obama and all of the shitlibs will spontaneously combust.

glad to hear that berenson's lawsuit is going forward. there are some questions about what twitter is (a private company exempt from the requirements of free speech? controller of the public square with obligations?) that need to be answered and appear likely to be probed due to his suit.

glad you liked ian welsh's article, i thought it was really well written.

always happy to toss out the fish, have a great weekend!

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9 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

Twitter and other social media should be used as the town square like everyone and their dawgs have been saying, but just like almost everything else they have been privatized. How much are we paying Musk to take our astronauts to the space station now that most of NASA has been privatized and they got all the research at fire sale prices? Oil and gas should also be public services…I could go on. But I do not like the world we living in or heading towards. I want off this zip line!

Guess I’ll pack up the dawg and head for the hills. Or the sand. Soon.

Any chance a lawsuit against the government might succeed as they are restricting our 1st amendment? Or have the supremes been totally captured? Because that’s what this is. Oh yeah silly me. They didn’t have any problems with gutting the rest of the constitution.

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7 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

you and sam have a great trip and please remember to dispense regular scritches. Smile

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4 users have voted.
Pluto's Republic's picture

@snoopydawg

...and commodities and services that should be utilities. They should never be monopolies.

There is so much that belongs to the People, including the broadcast spectrum. Revenues from these things belongs to the People, as well. That is just not going to happen in the US. These are genocide lands. No one is going to look back and renegotiate the terms of the original plan.

Oil and gas should also be public services…I could go on. But I do not like the world we living in or heading towards. I want off this zip line!

.
It may look counter-intuitive, but the fact is, as much as 96 percent of all the oil pumped in the world today is nationalized. Technically, that means it is owned by the people, the citizens. And the oil companies that pump oil out of the ground are mostly National Oil Companies (also owned by the people). We may not recognize the names of the NOCs, but they are among the largest companies in the world. Everyone who works in oil extraction in those countries gets a salary. Technically, the oil profits go to the people.

Western oil companies are privately owned, of course. Sometimes they hire themselves out to pump oil from nationally owned wells. They are paid a fee for that.

In a perfect oil-rich nation where the oil is nationalized, like Norway for example, oil profits fund social security for the people and and fund many other services used by the people. However, drivers in Norway pay a steep price for gasoline. Three or four times what we pay in the US. But those gasoline profits are also plowed back into government services.

In Venezuela, which also has nationalized oil, up until recently, gasoline sold for 17 cents a gallon. So the people got an upfront benefit at the pump. The profits from oil that Venezuela sold to other nations were used to fund the government and government services. But now the US sanctions Venezuela so they cannot sell their oil and get the revenues they need to keep their country going.

The reason the US calls Venezuela part of the Axis of Evil, and the reason the US attacks their economy through sanctions, is because the US wants Venezuela to privatize its oil, so US corporations can own it and pump all the oil they want to sell in the commodity markets. Maybe the corporate owners will pay Venezuela a share of the profits. Or maybe they will cheat Venezuela out of their share by concocting some fake charge, like human rights violations. Like what has happened in so many South American countries that did business with the US.

Opportunities for Predatory capitalism are still available in international trade.

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9 users have voted.

____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
snoopydawg's picture

@Pluto's Republic

They should never have been made monopolies. Once upon a time they weren’t. There are very few that aren’t now. I really don’t like what this country has become.

Hospitals should never have been sold to hedge funds. I remember how it was working for the hospital when it was run by the nuns and immediately saw the difference when they sold it. Went from a happy family environment to a business where each department fended for themselves.

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ggersh's picture

the new head of the "Ministry of Truth"

you can't make this shit up

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-bidens-new-russia-hoaxer-disin...

Stay safe everyone and thanks for the EB's Joe!

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

joe shikspack's picture

@ggersh

wow! just wow. heh, at least she can sing, i guess.

this was a great thread:

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Lookout's picture

@joe shikspack
Now we know who to trust...a bias bullshitter...oh boy.

dumb, dumb, dittle eye, dumb, dumb, dumb. You can't make it up. Alex calls it clown world.

Well, all is good on the homestead. So on we go. At least we can hope for the best.

Thanks for the news and music! Have a great weekend everyone.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

joe shikspack's picture

@Lookout

clownworld kinda works, at least in the sense that some kids are scared by clowns. are they the smart ones?

glad to hear that everything is going well on the homestead, at least the turnips are not threatening to form an unpleasant form of governance. Smile

have a great weekend!

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Pluto's Republic's picture

The Deep Snakes of DC emerged from the same incubator that produced the Nazi geniuses of WWII, who were smuggled into the US witness protection program after the war ended. They share the same obsessions, the same enemies, the same strategies, and the same moral void.

In DC, the Deep Snakes slither from think tank to pharmaceutical company to hedge fund to National Security appointment — and back again. Only twice have I seen them emerge fully from their hidey holes to take control of the nation through the President's office. Both times they carved a trail of destruction and horror that permanently undermined the legitimacy of the United States, all while the sane world watched in revulsion.

The opportunity for a Deep Snake coup occurs when the American people vote in a shameful Presidential election where one or both (2020) of the candidates are mentally incapacitated. (There was also a partial take-over during the Trump Presidency (2016), causing a confusion of musical chairs in the Cabinet, which was comical to watch.) Trump relied on the Deep Snake talent pool for his staff appointments, only to discover that the Deep Snakes were rigid ideologues, who were each haunted by an imaginary Stalin-like boogyman. This obsession impaired their thinking skills, and they couldn't hide their contempt for Trump's lack of panic over the communist menace.

The incapacitated Presidents who lost control of their Office were Reagan and Biden. Brothers in dementia. Looking though my historical notes, I found a description of some of the deranged anti-communist strategies the Deep Snakes forced on the befuddled Reagan. As always, their strategies blew up like a Fidel Castro cigar:

Reagan and other senior U.S. officials (Deep Snakes) secretly and illegally sold arms to officials in Iran, which was subject to a an arms embargo at the time, in exchange for American hostages. Some funds from the illegal arms sales also went to fund anti-Communist rebels in Nicaragua — something Congress had already prohibited the administration from doing. When the deals went public, it became an enormous political scandal. Several of the Deep Snakes were forced to resign and retreat to the think tank circuit.

Meanwhile, the Deep Snakes set up a proxy war in Afghanistan with the Soviet Union by training, arming, equipping, and funding Islamist mujahidin fighters on the Russian border. The Reagan administration funneled billions of dollars, along with top-secret intelligence and sophisticated weaponry to these fighters prevail against the Soviet communists. This funding and intelligence supported the emergence of the Talbian and Osama Bin Laden — a prominent mujahidin commander. The Deep Snakes pushed Reagan to continue the proxy war even after the Soviets were willing to retreat. The Deep Snakes anti-communist obsession played a direct role in Bin Laden’s ascendancy.

.
Just swap out Afghanistan for Ukraine, replace mujahidin with AZOV, and call the commies Russians instead of Soviets, and enjoy the re-runs.

Of course Russia hasn't had a communist economic system for the past 30 years, but we're dealing with psychotic ideologues here, and that's how they roll.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
joe shikspack's picture

@Pluto's Republic

it might also be argued that bush the younger's administration was taken over by the deep snakes early on when cheney appointed himself presidential minder. it seems to me that much of what happened on shrubya's watch was well beyond the capacity and understanding of shrubya who was happy to play president and strut around on the world stage acting like the asshole that he is.

just a thought.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@joe shikspack

,,, I began to realize I should include all the administrations where the Deep Snakes made significant advances. I touched on Donald Trump, whose administration was a Pac Man version of the Deep Snakes trying to get a foothold. But the early Bush years must be considered. I suspect the Deep Snakes were involved in 9/11, which makes his entire first term a Deep Snakes administration. It didn't have that anti-communist flair, but the Russians were at rock bottom getting asset-stripped by the Western capitalists — where the Deep Snakes like them to be. So they were free to destabilize the Middle East without super-power interference. This was on their To Do List for global dominance.

Enjoyed the news tonight. Ian Welsh reached the right conclusions, but like most Westerners, he should avoid discussing the motives and intensions of Russia or China. His projections expose his default imperialism.

Really liked the Medicare piece. I was wondering about the intense push of Medicare Advantage, which is now continuing year round. I was wondering about all the perks they were offering, and how they were going to royally screw the people who sign up for it. I do think there is some new rip-off coming because Medicare Advantage has traditionally denied vital health care to subscribers.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
joe shikspack's picture

@Pluto's Republic

earlier this week, i put up another piece about medicare advantage. it seems that they are being, erm, over-reimbursed by the government for the services that they actually provide. they've been representing their patient load as being significantly more unhealthy than they actually are in order to get larger government funding.

it's a shame that music city mollie is no longer around, she could give us both an earful about medicare advantage with lots of detail. i hope that she and mr. m are happy down in uruguay.

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snoopydawg's picture

@Pluto's Republic

It’s why they got to charge more money for Covid treatments. Testing and diagnosis, but the real profits kicked in when people were put on remdisiver and ventilators. There was no set costs and some states charged much more than others did. I’ve forgotten how high, but it was quite a lot. I’m about 16 months till I can sign up for Medicare. I better still have a choice or I’ma gonna raise bloody hell.

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snoopydawg's picture

@Pluto's Republic

on our importing the German Nazis after the war. You once asked how that worked out for us.

"..Conflating German NSDAP Nazis with current western globalists does absolutely nothing to challenge the elites who have captured our governments in the west..."
Here again is the quotation from "Nazi Billionaires" by journalist and historian David de Jong.

"On Monday, February 20, 1933, at 6 p.m., about two dozen of Nazi Germany’s wealthiest and most influential businessmen arrived, on foot or by chauffeured car, to attend a meeting at the official residence of the Reichstag president, Hermann Göring, in the heart of Berlin’s government and business district. The attendees included Günther Quandt, a textile producer turned arms-and-battery tycoon; Friedrich Flick, a steel magnate; Baron August von Finck, a Bavarian finance mogul; Kurt Schmitt, CEO of the insurance behemoth Allianz; executives from the chemicals conglomerate IG Farben and the potash giant Wintershall; and Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, chairman-through-marriage of the Krupp steel empire.

"The purpose of that meeting was not to sell big business on anti-semitism, Hitler’s plans for world conquest, or the Holocaust. Hitler’s regime as we now know it was not up for for debate. The purpose of the meeting was to raise money with which to end German democracy.

“Private enterprise cannot be maintained in the age of democracy,” the forty-three-year-old chancellor said. “It is conceivable only if the people have a sound idea of authority and personality. Everything positive, good and valuable, which has been achieved in the world in the field of economics and culture, is solely attributable to the importance of personality.”

"What Hitler and his movement needed was money with which to win the election of March 5 1933. It was to be a decisive vote.

“the last election,” according to Hitler. One way or another, democracy would fall. Germany’s new chancellor intended to dissolve it entirely and replace it with a dictatorship. “Regardless of the outcome,” he warned, “there would be no retreat . . . There are only two possibilities, either to crowd back the opponent on constitutional grounds . . . or a struggle will be conducted with other weapons, which may demand greater sacrifices.” If the election didn’t bring Hitler’s party into control, a civil war between the right and the left would certainly erupt, he intimated. Hitler waxed poetic: “I hope the German people recognize the greatness of the hour. It shall decide the next ten or probably even hundred years.”

What Hitler, Goering and Schacht had in mind was a fund equivalent to $20 million in today’s money with which to win the election and end Germany democracy. They had no problem raising the funds.

The day after the meeting, February 21, 1933, thirty-five-year-old Joseph Goebbels, who led the Nazi propaganda machine from Berlin as the capital’s Gauleiter (regional leader), wrote in his diary: “Göring brings the joyful news that 3 million is available for the election. Great thing! I immediately alert the whole propaganda department. And one hour later, the machines rattle. Now we will turn on an election campaign . . . Today the work is fun. The money is there.” Goebbels had started this very diary entry the day before, describing the depressed mood at his Berlin headquarters because of the lack of funds. What a difference twenty-four hours could make.

"If the choice was between consolidating Hitler’s or continuing the Weimar Republic, by 1933 the German business community knew which way it would swing.

"This had not always been their choice. In the 1920s they had learned to live with the Weimar Republic and its Western-facing foreign policy. But after ten years of what they regarded as intolerable instability, with the Communist Party surging, the economy in deep crisis and little prospect of a return to the international economic order of the 1920s, they made their choice...."

The entire piece at Chartbook is worth reading. But it merely confirms what historians, particularly socialist historians have long known. And what socialists and communists were saying at the time- many of them being killed in Concentration Camps for doing so- which is that Fascism, as both Hitler and Mussolini were very honest in saying, is primarily aimed at the suppression of democracy and democratic impulses (Trade Unions for example) in order to protect Private Property, the foundation of the class system, imperialism and capitalism.

Nemesis @46 turns this reality on its head whilst admitting " there is a vicious streak of bad faith residing at the bar."

"Conflating German NSDAP Nazis with current western globalists does absolutely nothing to challenge the elites who have captured our governments in the west..."

The contrary is true. The elites to which Nemesis refers are precisely the political descendants of the Nazis. Their project is exactly the same as Hitler's, which was 'to capture government' in order to achieve full spectrum dominance of the globe. The Nazis were globalists who saw Russia as the major obstacle to the achievement of their objective. They had no doubt that they could reach a modus vivendi with the rulers of the UK and they almost did. They enrolled every ruling class in Europe- in an era in which Europe ruled most of the world- into their project.

The current political situation is almost precisely analagous with that in 1939, except that the strength of all working class and democratic institutions is enormously diminished.

My guess is that Nemesis and those who think with him are misled by their conflation of anti-semitism with Nazism. Why, with the example of Israeli fascism staring them in the face, they cannot bring themselves to understand that Hitler's hatred of Jews was, in the long term, of little political significance. He hated homosexuals too. But we can see that the global elite fascists currently attacking Russia are perfectly able to ally themselves with gays or Jews, black people or Asians, because their real enemies are, as they always were, democrats and socialists.It is equality that they fear. They are composed of every race and religious persuasion, every pigment and every sexual disposition. (My bold)

And just in case anyone doubts this take a look at Biden's cabinet. Or Bojo's. Or Trudeau's. All of them as diverse as you please but chock full of fascists.

Unlike Nemesis I am not accusing him of bad faith but of misunderstanding historical facts which, although they have been staring the world in the face since the 1930s, are far too explosive in their implications for the people who rule the world, including the education systems and the Media, to stomach.

It is they who deny, for example, that Zelensky, clearly a fascist can be a Nazi because he is Jewish. They say the same of Israel. But fascism is not about identity politics it is about power in a class society. In the end it is about enslaving the great bulk of humanity in the interests of an elite.

Posted by: bevin | Apr 29 2022 19:47 utc | 85

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/04/ukraine-doubling-down.html#more

Russian xenophobia has been rampant since HerHeinous cooked up Russia gate and its one reason why people are behind Ukraine in their conflict with Russia. No matter how many times people explain the reason why Russia invaded when they did, people refuse to believe that Russia did it in self defense. Shitlibs absolutely despise Putin and Russians for putting up with him and see them as less than human.

We’ve now learned that Ukraine was getting ready to attack the Donbas and it’s also why Biden was so sure that Russia was building up its military at the border and why they would go into Ukraine. Russia either had to watch people in the Donbas get slaughtered and have lots of Nazis on its border or put a stop to something that had been set in motion decades ago and especially after the Ukraine coup.

There are a few comments in this thread that leads up to this one if anyone is interested. Also b posts to an interview on Sheer post that’s worth a read. One thing Brennan says is there’s a psychopathy (I think that’s the word he used) for the people who are okay with supporting the Nazis because they are the lesser evil between them and Russians. It’s what I got out of it anyway and I think bevin's comment ties it together.

Either that or the drugs are affecting me more than I realize. Smile

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snoopydawg's picture

@snoopydawg

Scheer interview

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joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

looks like an interesting analysis.

i guess if you put it together with orwell's insight that war is used to burn off excess production/profit that might otherwise be put to the task of raising the conditions of the masses and allowing them the means and the leisure time to educate themselves, you've really got something there.

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lotlizard's picture

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202204/1260624.shtml

https://www.globaltimes.cn/special-coverage/Pakistan-Blast-Timeline.html

Now exactly who is it that regards Chinese as subhuman and “fair game,” and is backing those Balochistan separatists, I wonder…?

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joe shikspack's picture

@lotlizard

you gotta wonder if there isn't some 24 hour jihadi supermarket that the cia spooks frequent in order to hire head choppers.

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enhydra lutris's picture

MiniTruth is upon us, what now. Throwing oneself upon the gearss and levers won't go very far given that the vast majority of the populace will acquiesce in the creation, operation and determinations of this evil creation. But, what else is there? Huelga!

Ukraine's misgovernment in exile will faceplant big time without the token symbolism of their actual presence out in the wheat fields if you ask me. I mean, who would really throw themselves into the breach in support of this crew.

be well and have a good one

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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 --

joe shikspack's picture

@enhydra lutris

i suppose that once minitruth gets its claws into the news stream, i will become a psychic and make up the news as it strikes me.

heh, my spidey sense tells me that zelensky's public support in ukraine will disappear shortly after the war ends. of course, a government in exile only needs external support, so i'm sure that zelensky will be able to move to his condo in florida and collect wads of cash from an assortment of u.s. agencies.

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is going to be the free speech savior? Musk is a huckster, but perhaps a bit smarter than most or at least smart enough to know that censorship has always been a feature of mass communications. And the American masses respond more predictably when they can't see the censorship. People who rely on Facebook, Twitter, etc. for information are as poorly served as those that rely on TV, including cable, news, and MSM print news. Slap a "don't look at this sticker" on anything used to make people more and not less curious. Has that changed? I don't quite get Greenwald's outrage over the censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story by various "social media" platforms because the NYPost report was easily accessible. Also easily dismissed as it wasn't a fully developed story, and still isn't because that requires the resources of real journalists digging into all the hints in the emails.

That real censorship took place years earlier with the under/unreported US participation in the Maiden coup and subsequent events. Nuland and Pyatt were featured, but not Obama and Joe Biden. How many knew that Biden got Ukraine in his portfolio? Absent that information made it difficult to properly interpret Hunter Biden's 2013 deal in Ukraine. Still it should have been a subject for investigative inquiry, but apparently didn't interest anyone. IOW Joe and Hunter Biden's activities in Ukraine should have been fully developed public knowledge before Hunter's laptop surfaced in 2020 and should have been one more black mark on Biden that made him an unacceptable presidential candidate. (Although all the other black marks should have been sufficient to reject him before the 2020 election cycle began.)

What is more confounding (and very scary) to me than the ham-fisted "social media" censorship is how ignorant and stupid, formally educated and experienced people have become. From the Michael Brenner interview:

Yes, it came only partially as a surprise. I’ve been writing these commentaries and distributing them to a personal list of roughly 5,000 for more than a decade. Some of those persons are abroad, most are in the U.S.; they’re all educated people who’ve been involved one way or another with international affairs, including quite a number who have had experience in and around government or journalism or the world of punditry.

What happened on this occasion was that I had expressed highly skeptical views about what I believe is the fictional storyline and account of what has been happening in Ukraine, back over the past year and most pointedly in regard to the acute crisis that has arisen with the Russian invasion and attack on Ukraine. I received not only an unusually large number of critical replies, but it was the nature of them that was deeply dismaying.

One, many—most of them came from people whom I did know, whom I knew as level-headed, sober minds, engaged and well informed on foreign policy issues and international matters generally. Second, they were highly personalized, and I had rarely been the object of that sort of criticism or attack—sort of ad hominem remarks questioning my patriotism; had I been paid by, you know, by Putin; my motivations, my sanity, et cetera, et cetera.

Third was the extremity of the content of these hostile messages. And the last characteristic, which really stunned me, was that these people bought into—hook, line and sinker—every aspect of the sort of fictional story that has been propagated by the administration, accepted and swallowed whole by the media and our political-intellectual class, which includes many academics and the entire galaxy of Washington think tanks.

And that’s a reinforced impression that had been growing for some time, that this was not just—that to be a critic and a skeptic was not just to engage in a dialogue [unclear], but to place one’s views and one’s thoughts and send them into a void, in effect. A void, because the discourse as it has crystalized is not only uniform in a way, but it is in so many respects senseless, lacking any kind of inner logic, whether you agree with the premises and the formally stated objectives or not.

In effect, this was an intellectual and political nihilism. And one cannot make any contribution to endeavor to correct that simply by conventional means. So I felt for the first time that I was no part of this world, and of course this is also a reflection of trends and attitudes that have become rather pervasive in the country at large, sort of over time. And so beyond simply sort of disagreeing with what the consensus is, I had become totally alienated [unclear] and decided there was no point to it, to going on distributing these things, even though I continue to follow events, think about them, and send some shorter commentaries to close friends. That’s essentially it, Robert.

Unlike me, Robert Sheer is a pacifist:

So let’s get to the basic, what you feel is the distortion of this situation. I mean, you know, clearly Russia’s action in invading Ukraine should be condemned, at least in my point of view; that’s why I consider myself an advocate for peace. And clearly, this is one that empowered the hawks to then, you know, push for more extreme measures, and we’re in this frightening situation.

The situation in Ukraine is exactly what has always prevented me from being a pacifist. Even as I doubt that could personally use violence in self-defense, I'm not about to condemn those that do when it's a clear and present danger. Particularly when they have exhausted all other possible means to resolve a conflict. In this instance, Sheer is left floundering for a peaceful solution when none existed. Doesn't even seem to acknowledge his go to answer - negotiation - is a door that Russia has kept open but has been closed and locked by US/NATO/UK.

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@Marie
particularly those who think of themselves as “intelligent”. There is a pervasive belief that intelligence protects one from being misled. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is that “intelligence” is easily turned to the service of protecting “conventional wisdoms” (aka the status quo), if it is not accompanied by skepticism and curiosity.

One of my particularly brilliant minded friends, who has edited law reference books for decades, demonstrated this peculiar trait during Shrub’s run up to the invasion of Iraq. The news was flooded with stories of Iraqui travesties in Kuwait; babies removed from incubators to die, beheadings and unspeakable torture. There were also relentless headlines about threats of Iraqui WMD of all sorts. My brilliant friend bought every bit of this stovepiped avalanche of pre war propaganda, even as UN arms inspector Scott Ritter asserted the absolute lack of evidence of either chemical or biological WMD and questions had arisen about the reliability of the source of the baby incubator accusation. When I suggested to him that circumspection about all of these inflammatory accusations was appropriate, his resulting rant ended with a full throated “NUKE THE FUCKERS!!!”

I was gobsmacked.

This friend of mine is still my friend and still much more intelligent than me, but I doubt that today he even remembers his memorable exhortation. I am also sure that if I were to remind him of it that he would deny ever having ever said such a thing.

Intelligence can quickly become the servant serpent of rationalization.

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Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

snoopydawg's picture

@Marie

In an interview with someone talking about how people keep themselves deluded to the facts of the special military operation there’s Scheer himself being deluded to the fact that Russia acted in self defense.

But look at what the cat found.

Congress had already written the land lease bill in January so that Ukraine could defend itself a month before Russia declared its military operation.

It’s going to interesting to see who is in the underground bunkers in Mariupol when they either surrender or are exhumed after it’s all over. Im seeing lots of ink being spilled to tug on the heart strings to insist that Biden does something for those civilians who in there with them. Gee how many times did Russia say that they were willing to let them come up and they would be treated according to the Geneva convention?

Is anyone else reading the sit reps from the saker? Good stuff as were many of the comments in MoA yesterday. Recommend reading Linda Wood’s comment at #100.

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@snoopydawg
Sheer opposes all wars and condemns all aggressors. As such, he doesn't give any weight to defensive aggression even as in the Ukraine situation he recognizes it. Why I'm not a pacifist is that I've always acknowledged that there could be a war that I'd view as legitimate; ie intractable conflict, all facts in evidence, death and destruction already existing and/or guaranteed with no war of aggression, all other options exhausted. IOW, war is the last option and the bar is very high. In the US, war has become the first option and the bar is low. Primarily because the destruction is on other countries and we don't pay for our wars.

Can't find the referenced Linda Wood comment.

On the AzovSteelPlant there's little information to go on at this point. So far Russia has declined to level it and have to assume that they have good reasons for that decision. If there are hostages there, the UkieNazis will feed themselves first and won't waste ammo or food on the hostages. Looks like a waiting game of some indefinite period of time.

Yes, I do read MOA (generally don't get through all the comments). Saker intermittently.

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snoopydawg's picture

@Marie

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Apr 29 2022 17:23 utc | 46

"Conflating German NSDAP Nazis with current western Globalists... "

There is difficulty in resolving the fact that U.S. corporations who built Hitler and produced German re-armament, and who financed, fueled and armed Germany for the duration of WWII, were the same corporations who armed the Soviet Union in WWII. This difficulty was simplified by Averell Harriman, who was simultaneously a U.S., Nazi, and Soviet industrialist.

He said the problem was the Soviet workforce. He said they were tough as nails, they had been through war, famine, revolution, and civil war, and they had been through Bolshevik schools, and therefor they believed they owned the means of production.

Harriman explained how this was unworkable, as he had to negotiate with this one big union at every point in the development of railroads and mines.

It is my understanding that men like Harriman built Hitler for the purpose of replacing the Soviet system with slave labor. Granted Harriman and others worked with Stalin, but the labor movement was still a force to be reckoned with in Russia and in the West.

This is essentially the conflict between our overlords and Putin. Putin is pro-labor compared to Yeltsin, and I believe this is the core problem in Ukraine. Industrial workers in Eastern Ukraine want to be paid for their work and likely favor Putin's policies forcing industrial oligarchs to pay wages and taxes.

This conflict endures because labor can be oppressed by extremes of violence.

Posted by: Linda Wood | Apr 29 2022 20:54 utc | 101

It was 100 last night. I usually only read half the comments there because of the time I allow for my browsing schedule, but I found last night’s very informative and kept going. I usually find more great information in comments that add to the main discussion.

Sputnik is reporting that 25 civilians have the Azovstal Steelworks.

A group of 25 civilians was evacuated from the territory of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, where the remaining Ukrainian forces have been hiding since the takeover of the port city by the Russian troops, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Saturday.

According to the correspondent, the evacuees included 19 adults and six children.

Russia finally decided to go in when they found out that Ukraine had plans to attack the Donbas and of course they knew that was with America’s permission. I browsed kos and Summer’s propagandized reports on the situation and feel bad that so many people are being misinformed. Both of them use the mainstream media so of course it’s bogus. Russia’s military is falling apart because the troops are poorly trained. They have lost 20,000 troops are Ukraine has them bogged down and it’s why Russia is taking so long to accomplish their goals. Saker wrote yesterday that Russia is waiting the Ukraine troops out because they will run out of supplies eventually and they just don’t see any gain in killing them. More troops are surrendering daily and being treated under international law.

Zelensky is having the time of his life while his citizens are left dealing with things on their own. Ukraine is arresting people who they say were working with Russia. Trying to stay alive comes with consequences apparently. I can’t find that story now.

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@snoopydawg
Agree somewhat. Pre-WWII, Harriman had significant investments in Germany (seized in 1942), but after incurring losses in the USSR in the twenties, doesn't appear to have had much in the USSR. As a rabid anti-communist and more banker than industrialist wouldn't put too much weight on his assessments. However, he must have been excellent at diplomacy/negotiations (a skill set that seems to have died out in the private sector business world - as well as the US State Dept.)

Sounds like good news from the Azovstal plant. We have to wait for more information and developments.

Do people not know how to learn and therefore willing accept being misinformed? The internet for all its faults and shortcomings, does make it much easier to research current and historical issues and knowing how to learn means having developed the skill to sort bad info/claims and bad sources from the reliably true. The latter also references books with more detailed and solid information that a student should avail themselves of. The truth about Ukraine and the Russian SMO isn't actually hidden if one bothers to look for it. (Nor is it particularly complex.)

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snoopydawg's picture

@Marie

Do people not know how to learn and therefore willing accept being misinformed?

I don’t know just what it was that got people to quit using their critical thinking skills, but did notice a change after Obama became president and then of course democrats and their media pushed Orange Man bad, Orange man is a Russian puppet, Putin owns both Trump and the republicans, 8 republicans went to Russia one 4th of July while ignoring that most country members go to Israel almost yearly. Israel’s hold over the government is far beyond anything Putin and Russia could even dream of. But Orange man bad and his supporters are Nazis whilst ignoring the true Nazis that we’ve been propping up for decades.

And now they are ridiculing republicans for saying that Biden has created a ministry of truth and cheering for it cuz Orange Man Bad and Russia Russia. Censorship is good when our side does it.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

intellectual honesty isn't all that intelligent. What's that saying -- fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, shame on me. Totally agree that “intelligence” is easily turned to the service of protecting “conventional wisdoms” (aka the status quo), if it is not accompanied by skepticism and curiosity. I might add "measured" to the skepticism and curiosity and guided by knowable facts and not opinions and fact-free allegations/claims. Why I add measured is that it's all to easy for skepticism to devolve into paranoia and curiosity to devolve into irrationality or acceptance of alternative views that are as fact-free as the approved narrative and generally voiced by quite nutty people.

To be factually correct, the baby incubator war propaganda was the Gulf War. On its face it was a ludicrous claim. However, familiarity with past US war propaganda - demonizing the enemy - made it that much easier to reject. The dehumanization of an enemy toolbox is rather limited. Torture, rape, babies, etc. Behaviors that aren't absent in wars. but are mostly revealed after the fact and not in the heat of battle. I opposed GHWB's Gulf War primarily because Iraq-Kuwait conflicts are none of our business. Plus as it was then known, Saddam-Iraq was the monster the US had created to foment the Iran-Iraq War that was devastating to both countries. In addition, this wasn't the first time GHWB had propped up a foreign leader to later take down as an enemy.

On Shrub's Iraq war, one didn't even need Scott Ritter's valuable reports to conclude the Saddam didn't have diddly-squat. The Iran-Iraq and Gulf Wars had decimated Iraq's military and the latter had been followed by over a decade of sanctions and a no-fly zone with frequent bombardments. Saddam's and Iraq's caginess on this was about not being seen as toothless by its unfriendly neighbors - primarily Israel and Iran. But American egocentrism and paranoia turned Iraq into a clear and present danger to US. Swallowed by a bunch of bozos willing to add $5 trillion to the national debt for nothing but death and destruction. I loathe these people, including every member of Congress that voted for that war. So very few of whom have apologized to anyone for having been an ignorant dummy or suffered by being held accountable. (An exception might to HRC -- it did prevent her from getting the nomination in '08 and perhaps it was karma that resulted in her losing to Donald Fing Trump.)

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