The United States of America has failed
A failed empire is when your troops are warm and well fed in 1000 military bases around the world but your citizens are in food lines, facing eviction, have no healthcare, and freezing with no electricity because your decrepit infrastructure can't handle cold weather.@JoeBiden
— Garland Nixon (@GarlandNixon) February 19, 2021
Okay, but where’s the crime he committed that warranted the cops to knock down his door and throw a flash grenade in? This is something that should only be done if there are lives in danger not being afraid of what he might do some day.
FBI arrests BLM protester, claiming his social media posts show he is “on a path to radicalization”. A judge determined he is dangerous bc of these posts and held him with no bond. This is where we’re headed if we accept this domestic terrorism frame. https://t.co/yM1azZqpHG
— Thomas B. Harvey (@tbh4justice) February 15, 2021
Shortly after sunrise on Jan. 15, FBI agents descended with guns drawn on a squat, red-brick apartment complex here, broke open the door of one of the units and threw in a stun grenade, prompting the frightened property manager to call 911.
(Photo of the apartment wall and someone’s cane in article.)
Inside the apartment, furnished with little besides books and a sign declaring “THE REVOLUTION IS NOT A PARTY,” the agents found their target: a 33-year-old U.S. Army veteran and self-described “hardcore leftist” who had posted a flier on social media threatening to attack “armed racist mobs WITH EVERY CALIBER AVAILABLE.” A shotgun and handgun were found in his apartment, they said. ....
As a far-right extremist movement wages an assault on American government and institutions, experts say an unpredictable battle is brewing, fueling potentially legitimate threats of violence from the opposite fringe of the political spectrum.
“It is ratcheting up and then getting a response and a back-and-forth,” said Steven Chermak, a professor of criminal justice at Michigan State University. ....
When was the last time anyone from the left assaulted someone for their political views? One person who was said to be a Bernie supporter shot some republicans playing baseball, but no one proved that was why he did. Other than that it’s been people from the right that has done violence. McVeigh. the guy who killed 9 black parishioners that were praying. The Colorado movie shooter who killed 12 people and then was peacefully arrested after he calmly walked up to cops still holding his rifle. Rittenhouse killed 2 people and was arrested. But he is out on bail and the judge in his trial said it’s okay for him to disappear without law enforcement knowing where he is. I’m sure that there are plenty of more names I could list.
Utah is making laws against protesting at certain places as are other states and adding more crimes for people to commit even though there are plenty of laws already available for them to choose from. Congress is doing the same thing with the patriot act 2 even though law enforcement has all the laws in place to have done their jobs on the 6th, but they chose not to use them. Probably in order to get the 2nd act up.
Back to the article.
But high-profile right-wing attacks could be spurring far-left extremists to respond in kind, Chermak said. And cases like Baker’s can have a snowball effect, he said: Articles about Baker have been circulated online by members of the Proud Boys, a far-right group with a history of violence, who cite his arrest as evidence that left-wing activists are plotting against them.
Umm what?
“An important part of convincing people that there’s an issue and there’s truth to what you’re saying is to home in on an example or home in on a particular case, and then that case becomes representative of a larger problem,” Chermak said. “It’s something to hang your hat on.”
Okay is that the goal here? To make this obscene show of force on someone who has not broken any laws, but might one day possibly think of doing something? Is that what he’s saying?
Ding ding ding I think we have a winner.
Despite warnings of violent plots around Inauguration Day, only a smattering of right-wing protesters appeared at the nation’s statehouses. In Tallahassee, just five armed men wearing the garb of the boogaloo movement — a loose collection of anti-government groups that say the country is heading for civil war — showed up. Police and National Guard personnel mostly ignored them. (one person in two states showed up not a smattering of them -sd)
With no other significant law enforcement actions, Baker’s arrest stands as one of the most dramatic events of that period. He was charged with communicating a threat to kidnap or injure another person.
A yoga devotee and advocate for the homeless who helped out at an arts center, Baker decried both Biden and Trump. Baker, a socialist idealist who volunteered to fight against Islamic State forces in Syria, also had traveled to Seattle last summer to support protesters for racial justice who briefly claimed an abandoned police precinct and declared the area around it an autonomous zone. ....
Public defender Randolph Murrell argued in court filings and during a Jan. 21 hearing that Baker’s comments were “the product of the heated political dialogue of the day.” They were no different, he said, from online posts by Republican officials telling their followers to “prepare for war” or to “take up arms” in the run-up to Inauguration Day. Baker’s friends said he had a bombastic social media presence that he stepped up to match inflammatory right-wing rhetoric. (Or from Trump’s threatening to nuke North Korea. -sd)
Those close to Baker say they see a double standard in his being targeted.
“None of his statement was saying ‘On Inauguration Day, we’re going to go out and hunt down all the right-wingers,’” said Warren Stoddard, who fought alongside Baker in Syria. “He said, ‘We’re going to stop people from taking the Florida Capitol.’ And if no one went to the Florida Capitol, there’s nothing to stop.”
But the FBI agents who had been monitoring Baker’s social media posts since October described him as being on a “path toward radicalization.” They catalogued his Facebook musing about being “willing to do ANYTHING to ANYONE so I don’t end up homeless and hungry again.” They noted updates about “voting from the rooftops” and hoping “the right tries a coup on Nov. 3 cuz I’m so f------ down to slay enemies again.” A post on his page in December announced, “Trump still plans on a violent militant coup. If you don’t have guns you won’t survive.”
On Jan. 25, U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael J. Frank agreed that Baker posed a potential threat and ordered him held without bond, writing that the former soldier had “repeatedly endorsed violent means to advance the political beliefs that he espouses.”
Big snip here because it’s his history of serving in the military, his discharge and his fall from grace. I guess. We must know that he failed in the military and then his life kept falling apart because that’s what happens when you send people to fight people who are not their enemies, but fail he did according to the writer.
The decade that followed found Baker living on and off the streets. He became estranged from his family, his friends said, and found occasional work in private security, otherwise struggling to hold a job. He appears to have had one minor brush with law enforcement: a 2008 marijuana incident that prosecutors declined to pursue. .....
During those years, Baker began reading the books of anarchist philosopher Emma Goldman, political scientist Hannah Arendt and civil rights leaders Malcolm X and Angela Davis, his friends said. He drifted from the conservative ideology of his upbringing and embraced an anarchist worldview, advocating for bottom-up systems with decisions made by community consensus. Conflict with his family and firsthand experience with the shortcomings of public institutions pushed him to rely more on his surrounding community, said friend Jack Fox Keen.
Baker’s search for a radically different form of government eventually took him to Syria, where Kurdish groups were seeking to build a socialist democracy underpinned by feminism and environmental sustainability. Baker was drawn to the concept, and he joined the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, known as YPG, in their battle against Islamic State forces in 2017. (How many veterans come home from war and join right wing groups or the cops or private security forces where they can continue being around violence? -sd)
Yada yada yada...
“He wanted to be this great warrior,” said Stoddard, 26, who returned to the United States after being wounded. “At one point, he told me that he wished that he had gotten shot, like he was jealous of me being shot. Like that was some kind of medal that I got.” ....
More yada yada.
Back in the States, Baker became deeply involved in liberal politics. As protests exploded last summer over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, Baker traveled the country to join them.
Yada....
Baker was eager to offer his combat medical training in support of the demonstrators who claimed the area after police abandoned a local precinct. When shots were fired in the early hours of June 20, an incident that led to the death of a teenager and the eventual demise of the zone, Baker tried to help, Champagne said.....
But after the assault on the U.S. Capitol, friends said, Baker became deeply concerned that the Proud Boys, white supremacists and other groups would flood Tallahassee and that people would die. He told Matthews and Fox Keen to stay inside and called for “militant friends” to join him in his plan to “encircle” armed protesters and “trap them inside” the building.
The reason for the arrest
And he printed the fliers that would become one of the FBI’s main pieces of evidence against him.
“Armed racist mobs have planted the Confederate flag in the nation’s Capitol while announcing their plans to storm every American state Capitol on or around Inauguration Day,” the call to arms said. “We will fight back.”
How many people from the right said something like that and weren’t arrested for it? For weeks thousands of people said that they were going to Washington to stop the steal and told their friends to bring their guns and weren’t arrested? So free speech is being assaulted from many directions and now it looks like free thought is going the way of the dodos. We are watching the rise of the 4th Reich right in front of our eyes. I wonder how kind historians will be with us for watching as the government stripped us and our country of everything it was supposed to be way back then. Yes that includes it’s being the center of the business world, but the good parts too have been stripped.
AOC, Beto and others in congress did a fundraiser for people in Texas. It’s great that people care to help others, but...
What @AOC did, raising money for the people of Texas was a fine act. There's nothing bad about it and I'm not criticizing her. But it's sooo weird. An actual member of US gov is leading a Go Fund Me charity charge for a major natural disaster - that our gov should handle!
— John Blackman (@DefyMasters) February 19, 2021
Comments
The United States has NOT failed.
What you describe:
is the way it has ever been in America, at least in the living memory of those now living. Same goes for the bust of Daniel Baker. (Look up the MOVE bombing if you doubt me.)
You're failing to keep up your cynicism, snoop.
Take good, loving care of your puppy, soon to be a dog. The way all this shit is going, you'll need all the help you can be to each other!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
lol I can't win
I know right? I did say that I was trying NOT to be quite so cynical...trust me I think I am being whishy washy too as does Sam. "that is not what your said YESterday." I told you all she was smart.
1985 MOVE bombing. I do not recall hearing about this. But lots going on that year so great excuse looking back.
lol now a days that is the response for when anyone says that the law is done fairly to all.
Great story. Thanks! Goes well with Pluto talking about the history of drug experiments on troops. Weren't there a lot of experimenting on blacks sprinkled out through our history? Yeah future historians will look at us like we have looked at our forebears. With amazement on what happened. I do understand the Good Germans better now. How many watched in horror and helplessness at what was being done to others, but not to them. We have done the same throughout history...
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
We live in the time of 'Narratives over News'
Of course, lone actors are a particular danger to themselves and others. A problem of their own making, in a failed state.
Generally speaking, news has become a suspect foreign object to many Americans. It plops into their space, but they do not trust it. It could be true or it could be a lie. The story could have been written to manipulate their beliefs or to stack the deck against their interests. It could be there to set them up to be cheated. It could be a biased screed against a person that the authorities want to destroy. It could be a lying screed against another country that the authorities want to attack and harm. It may target a foreign country that is pulling ahead of the US, economically, or it could be a manufactured smear against a country that no longer accepts our oppression. Maybe it's a bleak view of a country that happens to possess resources that the US intends to seize.
The American people, with few exceptions, acquire all context from propaganda. They have never met Putin or visited the Uighurs in Xinjiang, China. But they have strong beliefs and fantasies about both that demand military action. They know what the Uighurs are experiencing right now and they know the evil that lives in Putin's heart. This is the context that propaganda has put inside their heads, and they have never considered a contrasting view. The People are completely without curiosity in such matters.
In the US, it is legal for corporate broadcasters to knowingly lie to the American people and to falsify the facts they hear. There is no watchdog and no accountability. Those regulations were revoked by politicians, who continue to regard lying to the People as a necessary convenience. The corporations that push mainstream news to the masses have no ethical mandate to present equal access to opposing views. There are no ethical objections to news presentations that offer a biased, one-sided version of actual events, while omitting opposing views and mitigating circumstances. Even when presenting a contentious issue that may significantly affect the lives of the people watching, the broadcasting news corporation has no legal or ethical obligation to present both sides. This, too, was revoked by appointed authorities decades ago — right around the time the American masses began to roll backwards, economically.
In the US, important news either goes unreported across the media, or it is pared down to an official "narrative."
Narratives are written to reflect the preferences of those who hold the broadcast license and operate the news desk to turn a profit. The Intelligence Community gives broadcasters a storyline that supports the strategic interests and national security of the United States. They highlight facts and quotes that belong in the official narrative, and redline reported facts that should be omitted or denied. The news corporations are fully aware which foreign enemies to accuse, if it comes to that. There is no accountability for news published in the US; all propaganda cites anonymous sources. This now defines "freedom of the press."
International matters are always delivered in the form of an official narrative. Narratives serve two purposes:
1. They bury or obscure the misdeeds of the US government and its military and other authorities.
2. They sabotage a designated enemy by accusing them of committing these same misdeeds, and blame them for any misfortunes that result.
Official narratives are continuously repeated across all news media in the US and in allied nations. Over time, the narrative may moves to a war-footing or it becomes a signal that calls for US aggression and sanctions. The US is always perceived as being under attack by sinister outside forces — or seen as the rescuers of unfortunate foreigners that they would happily bomb on any other day. All reported breeches of US security or cybersecurity breeches mentions evidence that points to a designated enemy of the US. The US government is always portrayed as doing what it must to protect the helpless American people — who pay-in-full for all this vigilance.
Superior people of influence, who speak and write truthfully must be ever vigilant in a failed state. They must maintain a low profile. There is no political action or civil mechanism that can return political power or justice to the American People. Thus, speaking and writing the truth leads to a dead end. The failed state will see the influence of a superior person as a threat and dispense with them.
Actually, I don't know what superior people are doing in the US at times like these. What are they waiting for? The American People have failed to produce a generation of sane, informed citizens who will rescue them. The huge proportion of religious folk in the US should serve as a warning sign. It indicates wide-spread sublimation and surrender among the populace, along with a lack of personal agency. What homegrown leadership there is, is largely obsessed with protecting the borders that imprison them, and limiting their interactions with the outside world.
[edit = typos + added clarity in paragraph six pertaining to the press.]
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
As always,
, you educate me with reality. You have no idea how much I appreciate your comments.
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Thank you so much.
I find it a challenge to post what I believe should be said these days. On one hand I believe people here already know the pattern of the system that has caught us. On the other hand, I feel an obligation to keep us moving together through the same reality. I believe it is important that conscious people, cognizant people who have escaped the bondage of denial stand and bear witness to the events coming down. We must speak the truth about the insanity that has gripped the minds of those in power, as this Empire collapses. We must understand how the People were betrayed down the centuries if we are to survive going forward.
I must return the compliment. I have great admiration for your remarkable wisdom. I'm glad you are moved to share it more often as it evolves. I greatly appreciate your message.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Is an open mind all that is needed
to see through propaganda?
No, but you would think that constantly seeing a one sided response would be noticeable after awhile and especially since the left says that is what FOX does.. Umm look at the log in your eye..
Bingo.
Look at the Sackler family, McKinsey and many doctors that said that Oxycontin was not addictive and then after being sued because it has always been that addictive they paid a small fine, kept the profits and their freedoms. Lots of Oxy users are dead, went thru horrible withdrawals when their doctors quit writing scripts for them or went on to use heroin which is cheaper for many. And more deadly. How long did this saga go on even as the death toll rose?
Excellent comment as usual. I echo RA. Thanks for your informative comments.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
I sense that you and Richard D. Wolff
would feel comfortable exchanging views.
Things in this town look much the same but the small genuine neighborhoods are vanishing and my feeling is that whatever fabric it is that holds things together is coming apart very fast.
I found Dmitry Orlov's Reinventing Collapse gave corroborations that helped me put much of what you mention on the map here, and always look forward to your posts.
This was so predictable
Every act of domestic terrorism, whether in a nod to both siderism, or just following procedure, ultimately shifts to surveillance and enforcement actions of the left. Always. It's the one thing dems and fascists agree on.
My wife and I are binge-rewatching
"House of Cards" again, and so many of the themes there are skin-crawlingly accurate with respect to what is going on right now... We'll rewatch the last episode tonight.
There needs to be a concerted effort to sever the concept of "learning about the issues" from "listening to campaign propaganda from my tribe's candidates once every four years". I have no idea how to accomplish that, as all of the MSM outlets have become perfectly happy with their roles as uncritical stenographers for one tribe or the other. It is a major issue, and perhaps *the* major issue.
Brawndo- it's what plants crave...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Nearly half a million dead
because, ya know, "we must save the economy".
Truly from our perspective, the US is a completely failed state.
We can't prepare for a pandemic, because it's not profitable to keep supplies lying around waiting for an emergency that might not come, but did.
We can't prepare for the impacts of Climate Change because it's not profitable to spend money on needed maintenance and upgrades because it reduces profits.
I wonder if Texas AG Paxton will sue the ERCOT for allowing price gouging on electricity during a declared emergency?
Welcome to the churn...
[video:https://youtu.be/G-rM5VyxVHk]
C99, my refuge from an insane world. #ForceTheVote
ameriKKKa has failed
it's a feature not a bug.
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/02/18/its-not-a-political-problem-its-...
It’s Not A Political Problem, It’s A Propaganda Problem: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix
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
“Truther” was coined to make truth-seeking an object of derision
Probably by the same CIA wordsmiths that popularized another great epistemological pollutant, the notion of “conspiracy theory.”
Andy Ngo
Could probably tell you something about that.
Aaron Danielson could, too - if he wasn't dead, shot and killed by a BLM activist.
There are other cases too numerous to mention for anyone willing to look.
That said, beware of those who would save us from thought crimes. But this is just an extension of what we got into by inventing hate crimes and terrorist crimes - because they are all based on thought or intent rather than the substantive crime itself.
For example, let's say you go onto a National Forest and shoot some signs full of hole because you just like to shoot holes in stuff. Vandalism, destruction of government property. But if you do it out of some disagreement with Forest Service policy then the same act somehow morphs into 'terrorism'...
We're a long way down the proverbial slippery slope for having let this sort of thinking and these sorts of laws become normalized over the last few decades.
Fair assessment
But then the guy who shot him is also dead after he was wasted on Trump's orders and murdered in broad daylight without due process, but then after Bush got away with dropping bombs on innocent people, Obama decided he could do it to 2 American citizens without due process and he got away with it so the precedent was set. Trump then sent goons into Yemen (?) and killed the guy's daughter and the son's sister again without any blowback whatsoever by the world and so why wouldn't he think he could get away with shooting someone on an American street in cold blood and in broad daylight in front of the world and gawd and get away with it? Oh, but he was impeached on a phone call and a speech. Yay. See no one is above the law.
Which just brought us to this:
See no one is above the law.
I am pointing that you seem to be seeing the issue from mostly the right without acknowledging that it is both sides doing violence, but that the real violence is coming from our government and lots of people are acting out cuz they are mad and angry as hell just as their government has been pushing them into feeling by their acts of neglect and betrayal and constant bombardment of propaganda. I am guilty of mostly focusing on the democrats because it is a given that republicans don't represent me. Dems haven't for years I know. But I won't stop trying to get them to if there is a way. In case you haven't read the except Joe did in the EBs from Azazello's link please read it. One sentence stands out. Paraphrasing:
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.