about friendly fire? Who, beyond truth and the citizenry at large, is the target? The phrase seems to have been invented by those who have followed Herr Goebbels' doctrine of attributing to the other what one is perpetrating oneself. We must be wary of the evil disinformation campaigns conducted against us by the other, cast as state actors of evil and autocratic bent.

How about returning to ordinary english; LIES. Also fallacies (back to that later perhaps).
Our government, both political parties and all political candidates, throughout history, as well as salespersons of every ilk regularly resort to lies. It is as simple as that. Everybody has to be on their guard and work at actively and continuously ferreting our all of the lies and misrepresentations. That will eliminate the need to be wary of disinformation campaigns.

One of the greatest disinformation campaigns in recent history is the foisting off of the idea that bad actors are working to create division(s) in, among and within the populace. Really. Really? When was this country ever without divisions? Didn't we fight a Civil War? Perhaps we could ask the Whigs about the matter. Unanimity is a false goal and the quest for it is delusional. Progress flows from dissent and disagreement. No doubt the would be and/or existing censors, arbiters of fact, truth and lies (disinformation) have their opinion of what we should be unanimous about, but, given that they are trying to lie us into it, we should presumptively reject it until proven beyond a reasonable doubt based on incontrovertible evidence and logic. Unanimity, on this or that small matter, will pop up unasked if the matter at issue is discovered to be unarguably true.

Should we accept, arguendo, that "corporates", as used by Mussolini, et. al., are "persons" then we can see that almost all public discourse these days takes the form of argumentum ad homimen, and cannot possibly be logically unassailable on that grounds alone. Governments, nations, social clubs and social media, everything under the sun is the target of the "genetic fallacy" in some form or another on an almost daily basis. It is what makes the world go round and keeps the news cycle churning. "Ooooh, Matt Taibbi sold out and became Musk's gofer." Regardless of the fact that said assertion is a lie, it would, were it true, still merit a big "so what" because it is an abbreviated form of the aforementioned fallacies. They are everywhere. While it is possible for the conclusion implied by a fallacious argument to be true, that truth or falsity is independent of that argument, and all such arguments should by rejected immediately as stupid and frivolous.

Non-information, also known as afactual statements are arguably as big a threat as lies and so-called disinformation. These are statements which cannot be proven to be false (or true for that matter). "The ghost of Cicero regularly visited George Washington and Dwight Eisenhower" is such a statement given what we think we know about time travel and other restraints upon reality. Technically the term applies only to things that are logically impossible of disproof but arguably, anybody who is empirically inclined can and probably should extent it to things that are also incapable of empirical proof. This creates yet another problem at the intersection of lies, politics, and evidence. Something locked in a sealed vault that cannot be opened until 500 years hence and which is guarded by armed troops to ensure that it will not, in fact, be opened, may or may not contain information relevant to some question that is, empirically inaccessible to any of us currently alive if our life spans aren't greatly extended. More to the point, how should we treat government sekrets, especially those under the control of the various spooks? This does get us into some never-never land where we cannot know what might be knowable (or not). I personally hold that anything actually or presumptive under the control of the spooks may be treated as unknowable and evidence of wrongdoing unless it is provably innocent, but, in that case, why is it concealed?

be well and have a good one

BREAKING: Facebook has changed its censorship of Seymour Hersh’s article, removing the black box and changing the warning from “False information” to “Partly false information.” @briebriejoy @robbysoave pic.twitter.com/cqibwhgVg0

— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) April 21, 2023

and remember all the names listed.

Thanks to all for making this place so special, fun, and sad at the same time.

I hope you all can go on and hold the line or this place alive, even if it seems hard these days to stay alive.

JtC needs encouragement, my guts tell me. And if it gets too tough, I suggest to get a nap.

You are all an outstanding group of people. I wouldn't want to miss any of you.

Be well and have several good ones.

They have a new crop of gullible, misinformed Americans on the plantation to fund their murderand mayhem around the world.

Perhaps these voices will be left on someone's hard drive for awhile in an obsolete format. Then thrown away in some landfill.

Spend your time pursuing your happiness today.