The Weekly Watch

The Fading Facade of a Functioning System

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We've known for years we don't live in a democracy, at least since the 2014 Princeton Study,

a multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organised groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence.

In English: the wealthy few move policy, while the average American has little power, or basically the US is an oligarchy...surprise. None the less, people still attempt to work within a system which is dysfunctional, delusional, and really doesn't even exist. Let's look in more detail below the fold...

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What put me on this train of thought about our nonfunctional system was this interesting conversation with Max Blumenthal and Code Pink folks who are all fighting the good fight... (20 min)

I admire Medea and her longstanding efforts to stop US warmongering, but I couldn't help but find her mistaken in their failure to work with antiwar Republicans because they were only antiwar cause it is Biden's war, and they disagree with them on many other issues. To my mind we have to discard party loyalty and go for policy by policy allies. However even then I don't see a chance for progress in this compromised system.

Using division is the technique after all. It was the theme of the "dark Brandon" speech in Philly complete with Orwellian doublespeak "Unity through division". Brett and Heather called it a "V for Vendetta speech" (free 2 hour movie at link). They thought it looked like the movie set.
(16 min)

Russell asks ...

As it’s revealed that Democrats have spent $53 million to boost “far-right” GOP candidates – what’s with all the rhetoric about the dangers of MAGA extremists and Donald Trump?

in a piece he calls: You've Gotta Be F*cking Kidding Me (12 min)

I found Matt Taibbi's take on our injustice system to fit right into the dysfunction theme. A DOJ run amok and drunk on its own power, inventing its own law, targeting select enemies.

His newest article on taint teams sheds light on a dark new phenomenon. The FBI has given itself the power to raid lawyers, take all of their documents, and then give itself permission to use the stolen documents in unrelated cases. It’s an easy way to skip getting a search warrant, and gives the government unprecedented power to bury its enemies. Matt explains the ominous story in detail.

I thought Chris was going to focus on the tech community in his piece this week on A.I., but in this case he was talking about our leaders arrogance and ignorance (AI)

Isn't it interesting how all the west (except Sweden) used the same pandemic playbook? In retrospect, arrogance and ignorance are pretty descriptive.

We've all heard of the fog of war, but what we have these days is a thick blanket of propaganda.
Chris and Patrick Lawrence discuss the difficulties of being a war correspondent. (36 min)

The Chris Hedges Report: Ukraine and the crisis of media censorship

Throughout the Ukraine war, Western news outlets have mindlessly parroted the opinions of a ruling elite and overseen a public discourse that is often unhinged from the real world. Patrick Lawrence was a correspondent and columnist for nearly 30 years for the Far Eastern Economic Review, the International Herald Tribune and The New Yorker. He is the author of Somebody Else's Century: East and West in a Post-Western World and Time No Longer: America After the American Century.

Caity lays it out well too in an article from last Feb:

The Ukraine invasion ... is showing us once again that when it comes to Russia you really can just completely ignore all the so-called “experts” in the mainstream media. Just dismiss 100 percent of everything they say, because any random schmoe’s best guess would be better than theirs.

Looking to the mainstream media for truth is like looking to a prostitute for love. That’s not what they’re there for. That’s not their job. If you believed these predictions, the correct thing to do as they fail to come true is not to engage in a bunch of mental gymnastics justifying it, but to drastically revise your worldview and your media consumption habits which caused you to believe this crap in the first place.

Scott Ritter has been making the rounds this week discussing his view of the SMO (special military operation) in Ukraine.
Aaron and Max discuss the situation with him in a long ranging conversation (2 hours)
Scott Ritter on Ukraine's counter-offensive, Russia's next move
Scott and Richard Medhurst also had a lengthy conversation this week
Ukraine Counteroffensive with Scott Ritter and Richard Medhurst

Peace is the last thing the west wants in Ukraine.
Lee Camp: How the US & UK Stopped Peace Deal in Ukraine (7 min)

Lee Camp proves that NATO and the U.S. want their proxy war in Ukraine to be fought to the last Ukrainian. A new report shows that Russia and Ukraine had negotiated a peace deal in April. However, as Camp explains, NATO wasn't ready for peace so they intervened to stop it. Now, after months of grueling conflict, Ukrainian forces have suffered catastrophic losses and their friends in NATO are pushing them to face worse.

Why? Power and profit that's why...
US & EU Plans To Plunder Ukraine (7.5 min)
..the most powerful people in the world have been planning to plunder the Ukrainian economy since at least 2017. The West's favorite form of diplomacy is to use conditional loans to dismantle struggling governments and sell their assets to the rich.

Ukraine has been an attempted step toward restoring western hegemony and degrading Russia's power. It is a colossal failure, backfiring on so many levels. Not only the economic sanctions come home, but the re-orientation of most of the world allying against US domination, as evidenced in this week's SCO meeting.

Thucydides Trap sprung. Conflict and regime change operations incoming

The Duran does a good job explaining the new fair world order.
Alex also had a nice discussion of the SCO as he walks the coast of Cyprus.

Caity goes so far as to say
:
It’s the critics of Western empire who actually embody values such as truth, free speech, equality, accountability for the powerful and adversarial journalism.

As a parting shot to the illusions of our system I want to feature Dr. Paul Marik and his new revelations about diet. This little discussed scam is killing far more than wars.
Dr. Paul Marik leads an eye-opening presentation on the contradictions, conflicts and untruths marketed by big pharma and big food that have resulted in dual epidemics of obesity and diabetes in the United States. Joined by Dr. Joesph Varon and Betsy Ashton, the panel takes on processed food, cholesterol and insulin pharmaceuticals and how intermittent fasting can help reverse insulin resistance and fatty liver disease.

His discoveries confirm my conclusions of healthy diet and lifestyle.

melting mask.jpg

So in conclusion, is the mask of western democracy really melting away to reveal the ugly reality of western oligarchy and its lust for power and money? I think for some it is. As the sanctions continue to backfire, and the NATO proxy war(s) fails, more people will come to realize the multilayered deceptions at play....from the pandemic lockdowns, to farmer protests, to Julian's continued torture, to proxy wars costing lives and resources, it seems to me more and more people will become aware of the false narrative of American democracy. It is all about seeing through the illusion...

Screenshot 2022-09-18 at 07-21-47 What You See in This Famous Optical Illusion Could Reveal How Old You Are.png

I look forward to your comments, observations, and stories in the comments below.

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Lookout's picture

This Sunday from 2 pm to 4:30 pm EDT, DC Action for Assange and Consortium News are holding a special screening of Juan Passarelli‘s documentary The War on Journalism at the Cleveland Park Library in Washington D.C. The event will be lived-streamed on this page by CN Live! Joining Passarelli in discussion of the film and Five Myths About Assange, will be Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg; the New York Times general counsel during that case, James Goodale; C.I.A. whistleblower John Kiriakou and journalists Stefania Maurizi, Cathy Vogan and Chip Gibbons. CN Editor-in-Chief Joe Lauria will moderate.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVT7_WFoU04]

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14 users have voted.

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

@Lookout and the great folks usually here.

I was found passed out cold on the bathroom floor more than a week ago and have some brain damage.

Whenever it is possible, I will read and catch up with all I've missed.

Bye for now, Vicki

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NYCVG

ggersh's picture

@NYCVG

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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

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4 users have voted.

NYCVG

@NYCVG So sorry to hear this. I hope you get your great brain back to work soon!
A joke is in order, so maybe that knocked some sense in you? hehe...
Seriously, you are lucky. It was a fall that killed my Dad. Glad you had someone handy to find you and get you help.
Take it easy, chica!

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8 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

@on the cusp Longtime neighbors! The Gardeners.

They have taken over all my plantings because they understand what is going on .

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NYCVG

@NYCVG just the best! And gardeners, to boot!
We all need a network of support. I am so damn fortunate that I have a huge network of close friends who are ready to help if I need it, and, importantly, vice versa.
Seems my pals and clients suffering strokes are suffering fairly minor ones. They retain use of hands, legs, etc...Not sure what is causing this stroke wave, but whatever caused yours did not kick your ass. You kicked it's ass.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Trying to come up with the right word for our present state..

dystopia
disconsolate
ecotopia
dissidence
despotic
pandemonium
despondence
desolation
gloom
doom
dispirit
dismal
disperate
revocation
antiutopia
apocalypse
maddest
apathy
corporatism
wasteland
nihilism
noir
grotesque
dank
paranoia
desperate
dysgenic
deficient
fatalistic
defective
fascism
totalitarian
abjection
degradation
repressive
rejection
illiberal
daunting
foreboding
stratocracy
slavocracy
dictatorial

Try fitting those into a sentence Wink

Enjoy your day and thanks for the watch!

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Lookout's picture

@QMS

That's quite the list of descriptors...sadly they are pretty accurate.

We as individuals need to make our list more along the lines of:
cooperative
friendly
peaceful
productive
sustainable
kind
harmonious
natural
cyclic
ecological
sharing
considerate
polite
encouraging
educational
mindful
meaningful
...
and so on.

I no longer believe I can change the world, my goal is to find contentment in walking my own path toward a positive personal future.

Here's hoping your path is peaceful and productive as well!

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15 users have voted.

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

@Lookout I will settle for staying upright and knowing where I am.

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6 users have voted.

NYCVG

@QMS Great opening post.

Great idea about naming our current regime, as well.

My nomination for the name is Yes But.
There is a Yes BUT for every objection to the crap

Yes but Crime, Immigration, and Hillary! for the wingnuts,

Yes but abortion, insurrection and Trump! for the 'realistic' progressives

Yes but Third Party for the earnest lefties.

A flavor of rationalizing delusion for every sub group,

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I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.

Lookout's picture

@fire with fire

The UK already has a "yes minister"
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGscoaUWW2M]

... but I like your idea of a minister of "yes but"

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

Study finds 37% greater veteran suicide rate than reported by VA

If the eight states represented a national rate, study authors said, approximately 24 veterans die each day by suicide, as determined by a coroner or medical examiner, compared to the VA’s average of 17.7 veteran suicides per day.

In addition, some 20 former service members die each day by self-Injury mortality — listed as accidents or an undetermined cause of death. More than 80% of those were overdose deaths, Lorraine said.

So about 44 vets die every day on average.

https://www.stripes.com/veterans/2022-09-17/veteran-suicide-rate-study-7...

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Lookout's picture

@QMS

I forget who suggested that we (the US) are becoming Ukraine - corrupt, nazi like, war mongering, etc.

We are excellent at projecting our failures as those of others. The veteran suicides are a case in point. As we export death and violence the more it comes back home to us. What a waste.

Hope you have a good Sunday. I need to water a bit, and I'm planning on getting some finish on one of the decks today.

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15 users have voted.

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

@QMS family law cases when a vet wishes to hire me. I had a vet request that I dismiss his divorce. I begged him to simply leave it as an open case in the event the attempt to reconcile failed. He insisted I dismiss it. Sure enough, he filed for divorce within a few months, was too ashamed to re-hire me.
Another one won temporary custody of his very young kids. Within a month, he told me he wished to terminate his parental rights! I withdrew from the case. His mom is going for custody. She told me that the family has completely disowned him.
Another couple of guys flipped out, became violent, were arrested, and were so threatening to me that I not only withdrew from their cases, I reported their threats to the cops. I have spent days at my office with a gun readily at hand.
Seems military service, if it doesn't kill you on the field of battle, kills you later.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Lookout's picture

@on the cusp
what we project. Looks like our Dogma caught our Karma.

Sorry about the sad cases.

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

@Lookout into the mix. I am just too damn old to have a shootout with a client with PTSD. I hate to do it, but after the initial interviews, I decline their cases.
Back in my first decade of practice, I discounted my fees for VN vets.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Lookout's picture

@on the cusp

...or dead. I'm glad you are using good judgement on the cases you accept.

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

@Lookout to your reply to on the cusp

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NYCVG

Pluto's Republic's picture

@QMS

...than the one I have verified over the years. For the past decade the number held steady at between 20 and 24 suicides per day, of previously deployed US soldiers. Most of them died within a few years of discharge, which puts them squarely into the War on Terror.

Perhaps a second group of veterans, with different circumstances, are also counted and added to the first group.

While a predictable percentage of the deployed soldiers in the first group will kill themselves sometime after discharge, the larger majority of them hav re-entered US society in ways that work for them. They were all recruited by private military contractors as they were discharged. Every police force in the nation were given generous incentives to hire returning soldiers. A fair number of them work in law enforcement throughout the nation. US police have a high rate of suicide, and there is probably quite a bit of overlap.

The returning soldiers who are most successful reentering US civilian life are those who have developed strong levels of cognitive dissonance. In the novel, 1984, cognitive dissonance was a type of thinking that was prized by the Party. Persons with well developed cognitive dissonance were could to hold in their minds two conflicting thoughts, and believe that both of them were true. DoubleSpeak became the language of cognitive dissonance. In the morning Oceanana could be at war with one rival — and in the afternoon, Oceanana could abruptly be at war with a completely different rival, instead. Good Party members accepted the conflicting change without thought or question.

We've seen these changes in the Lab Rat Maze at Daily Kos, where Democrats admire Neocons and war criminals, cheer for war, and surrender legal rights without thought. Those who think slowly may get snagged by conflicts in statements or policies. They lack the fluidity of cognitive dissonance. If they try to point out the conflict, their days are numbered.

Hypocrites can hold two opposite concepts in their minds, and believe that both are true. They are very hard to deal with because they don't know that they are lying. This type of cognitive dissonance has become a standard in law enforcement and the US justice system.

I think there really will be a reckoning in this nation, and it's probably a good idea to avoid it.. Those with most of their lives still ahead of them, might want to look elsewhere and invest themselves in a more promising utopia. Those who have built a good life for themselves here should fully enjoy their accomplishments, for as long as they can.

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____________________

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

@Pluto's Republic

Someone here has the sig line "we are all Winston Smith"

I think there really will be a reckoning in this nation. Those with most of their lives ahead of them, should look elsewhere and invest in a more promising utopia. Those who have built a good life for themselves should enjoy what they have accomplished.

Will there be a reckoning? Will our karma run over our dogma? We can hope.

Always nice to "see" you and learn from your insights.

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11 users have voted.

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

@Pluto's Republic

A large enough majority of the damaged vets may decide it is time to
dissociate their roles as being the empire's enforcers? Have heard of
other instances (in other nations) where the armed brigades changed
their loyalties toward the downtrodden. Probably just wishful thinking,
but when confronted by an out-of-control cop, I try that angle.

Thanks for your thoughtful reply.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@QMS

...were born from the situation you describe. Those military rebels carry the blood and culture of the indigenous people inside themselves, so identifying with the downtrodden and exploited population comes naturally.

In the US, our militia 'rebels' mainly come from European migrant riffraf, predominantly German — nothing indigenous about them. They consider themselves to be the victims of brown people, who want to vote and want their share of the nation's resources that were usurped and privatized by leaders of the Colonial invaders.

Earth's future will dawn in the Global South. The meek shall inherit.

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____________________

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

@QMS Thanks so much for the informative news stories and comments. I'll just stick to one case of NY Times activism.

New South Korean President Tries to Make His Mark on Foreign Policy

By Choe Sang-Hun NY Times
Sept. 18, 2022
Updated 8:12 a.m. ET

SEOUL — Four months into his new administration, President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea has found hi​mself in trouble.

His national approval rating has plummeted, his governing People Power Party does not control Parliament and five of his cabinet-level appointees have been forced to step down amid accusations of nepotism, sexual harassment and other ethical lapses.

Yet despite myriad domestic challenges, Mr. Yoon is hoping to boost his popularity at home and raise his profile on the world stage by pursuing a new foreign policy agenda, one that would deepen his country’s alliance with Washington in everything from missile defense to global supply chains while seeking to avoid antagonizing China or provoking North Korea into war.

In an interview with The New York Times on Wednesday, the South Korean president said it had become necessary — even inevitable — for Seoul to expand its security cooperation with Washington and Tokyo as North Korea intensified its nuclear threat.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/18/world/asia/south-korea-yoon-china-us....

The NY Times and the US trying to bolster the former corrupt prosecutor-general, who is the most unpopular new president in Korea's modern history. Don't kid yourself about Yoon's national defense credentials, he has disrupted command and control and military preparedness in South Korea by arbitrarily moving the presidential office out of the Blue House, to the former MND building on Yongsan. He has caused the Joint Chiefs not only to move their offices, but also their living arrangements. The security arrangements for the new Presidential office are inadequate, so are the arrangements for the president's new official residence in the former Foreign Minister's official residence, traffic and security arrangements are disrupted on the ground and in the air, and the presidential security force is disorganized.

While disrupting the national command structure and wasting an estimated billion dollars on unnecessary movements and renovations, there is nepotism and corruption in the assignment of contracts. Meanwhile Yoon is in the process of attacking political rivals with investigations, prosecutions and hundreds of warrants. 64 percent of South Koreans disapprove of his governance. The former president is far more popular and respected than the red baiting Yoon. Yoon's trademark politically motivated prosecutions are known as "revenge politics" while his compromises of the justice system and National Police Agency protect the corrupt members of his family and personal cronies who are now above the law. His authoritarian government is transitioning under his leadership to a police state at this point. Most South Koreans recognize it for what it is, while English language media try to hide the truth.

Yoon couldn't bring "prosperity" to his own country, with his austerity budget proposals, he's been cutting subsidies to adversely affected businesses, employment programs, the defense department, etc. His promise of prosperity for North Korea as part of some denuclearization package is hollow. He's a Milton Friedman, "every man for himself" ideologue. Even conservative South Korean newspapers like DongA and Joongang are criticizing the way his administration was completely unprepared for the US IRA and Chips4 legislation which damage South Korea's trade position.

Yoon is simply lying when he says he didn't meet Pelosi because it would offend China. THAAD does very little to nothing to protect South Korea from the new shorter ranged North Korean missiles which threaten virtually all of South Korea. Even conservative military analysts acknowledged this when the THAAD issue first provoked a dispute with China, in which, South Korea lost at least 13 billion dollars of foreign exhange.

The idea that this incompetent fool, who failed the bar exam eight times, and has zero foreign policy credentials is going to address the UN speaks to the rising level of corruption in South Korea.

Contrary to Yoon's assertions about the former president, it is his world tour media promotion that is the political show, distracting attention away from his domestic unpopularity and misgovernance.

Yoon has publicly criticized the Bamboo Spear Song:

This mountain village, soar together!
Let's become a flower. The flower
nurtured by falling tears and broken feet
let's become noktu flowers

This mountain valley all together take flight!
Lets become a bird. A bird
To north and south it cries,
Let's become the flying blue bird

This field alight together
Let's become a fire. A fire
burning plains lighting the darkness
Let's become the field afire

Let's do that, it's time for that
One more time, this village
Let's become a rebellion
Green pine green bamboo fixed in our heart
Let's become the bamboo spear

( 죽창가 / 김남주 시, 김경주 곡 )

The poem by Kim Nam-ju won a literary award in 1989. At some earlier point it was set to music by Kim Kyeong-ju, and sung by college students during the uprising against the Chun Du-hwan dictatorship. A song with similar imagery actually arose during the Tonghak rebellion period. Yoon has publicly expressed admiration for the dictator Chun. His campaign handlers forced him to apologize for his political gaffe during the campaign, the first of many to follow.

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語必忠信 行必正直

Lookout's picture

@soryang

that the US is manipulating things in S. Korea? Deep state would never interfere. In fact they are way too busy causing earthquakes in Taiwan.

Humor (weak as it is) is a way to cope.

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

soryang's picture

@Lookout ...in the US State Department lexicon concerning South Korea. They are we need our ally to be in "lock step," or our ally is in lockstep with our policies. Or, there can be "no daylight" between our position and that of our ally, South Korea. Third, as applied to the Moon administration's initiatives with North Korea, "don't get out ahead of us." The assumption made in all cases that it is the US that sets policy, and South Korea that follows. One time, I heard one US "diplomat" say if you're coming to Washington to discuss initiatives with North Korea, don't bother, or words to that effect. Another time I heard Ambassador Harris snipe, "step by step negotiations, I don't even know what that is." One time Harris implied former President Moon was a communist sympathizer, while Moon was in office, in a private meeting with members of the National Assembly. So one can only imagine what goes on behind the scenes.

I compare this to the Japanese protectorate period, after the 1905 Treaty of Eulsa, where the Chosun dynasty ministers surrendered the prerogatives of governance to the Japanese Imperial Government. Nominally, they were still in charge of their domestic affairs, but not really.

During the Moon administration's overtures to North Korea, the so called US special envoy to North Korea, spent most of his time, as the South Korean control officer, telling South Korea what they could and could not do, with North Korea, and implicitly threatening them with sanctions if they did not comply. It's not just a coincidence that the new US ambassador, Goldberg is a sanctions enforcer.

In my opinion VOA Korea and other US media are both interfering in South Korean domestic affairs and foreign policy by shaping domestic and international perception in favor of US and Japanese strategic interests at the expense of South Korean sovereignty. No one could convince me that US diplomats, generals, admirals, reporters, or the so called US experts in the think tanks know better than the South Korean people themselves how to deal with North Korea, China or Japan.

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語必忠信 行必正直

Lookout's picture

@soryang

But the way things are going, it may be like marching cats. Hey, we can hope.

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

soryang's picture

@Lookout ...for the weekend after the country's biggest holiday. I think this demonstration in Gwangwhamun in central Seoul is just the beginning. When the Saturday demonstrations get more than five times this size, and traffic is brought to a standstill, the Yoon government will probably fall. The demonstrators are enumerating the president's excesses in light of their economic hardships, and demanding he resign. They are enumerating his wife's academic fraud, plagiarism, and illegal stock manipulation and calling for the special prosecutor's appointment and her arrest.

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語必忠信 行必正直

Lookout's picture

@soryang

Perhaps new leadership is in their future. Let's hope it is an improvement.

Thanks for your insights.

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

@soryang @soryang

I do recall N & S Korea making overtures a few years ago. Thought, hey! this is great!
Never knew what became of it, but
your background puts it into perspective.

Thanks Soryang!

PS - I think you meant to reply to Lookout, but that's OK

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@soryang

...to Korea's pivotal role in US geopolitics. We do not know enough about this in the US. Lately, in reading about the US intention to permanently damage China's economy via a manufactured war with Taiwan — Korea seems to play an ever expanding strategic role as the US military foothold in Asia. This, of course, puts Korea in the line of fire. Americans simply assume that Korea needs American presence — or China would have owned them long ago. They believe Korea exists as a nation only because of the US. Korea must do anything the US demands to remain an ally and, thus, avoid crippling US sanctions and loss of sovereignty.

The West knows little about the long continuous history of the East. The American mind is unmoored from history beyond the brief, intellectually insignificant, US war-culture period, which has existed for less than 300 years. After that, there is nothing. But for most Americans, that 300 years is their whole world. Every motive and threat that they project upon a rival nation comes from their own regressive national experience. Essentially, they are habitually at war with themselves, although the US goal of stealing and controlling the wealth of all other nations is very much active in the world today. This US goal began intensifying during Obama's second term, and it is now the top priority of the US government (under oligarch rule).

US leaders and their advisors, especially in matters of foreign policy, are psychopaths, in the clinical sense. I don't know if this is true of leaders in Korea and in other Asian nations. I know the Chinese have deliberately and systematically reigned in this pathology, at least at the national level. I wonder if other nations are aware of what they are dealing with when they "have discussions" with the United States.

Thank you for your illuminating comments.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

If a million people each gave a politician a dollar it would be "so what, you only gave me a dollar." If Jeff Bezos gave them a million dollars they would do anything for him.

CEOs and religious organizations can bundle funds and expressly say what they want for it. We accept this premise that there is a dollar value assigned to everything because of living under capitalism all our lives. Every action, social, personal, medical or otherwise becomes a monetary choice, a transaction.

In the end we are just a mass to be exploited, that somehow American propaganda is better than Russian propaganda or religious propaganda.

Maybe we should all give $5 to an organization so we can buy a politician to represent us.

Oh, wait......

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Lookout's picture

@Snode

At least your voice will be heard and (I add) appreciated!

It is clear you understand the system is broken and isn't working for the people (like you and me)...but it does work for some like Bezos, Musk, and Gates. My circular thinking keeps leading me back to side stepping the broken system as much as possible. I mean there's no real escape. You got to have gas and such every now and then...and TPTB hold those cards...but I can minimize my dependence on them and get just a whiff of freedom every now and then when I harvest something from the garden or almost even better, forage something like SOE's wild mushrooms from the woods. If I was up against it, I could shoot deer and turkey, but I like watching them more - at least given current conditions. Guess this ramble is just trying to say we have to focus on what we as individuals, perhaps within local community (depending on the community), can do for ourselves cause the system is broken and depending on our government to be of help are wasted wishes.

Makes me remember the Reagan (raygun- line making fun of FDR's social programs) - "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you." Today you can hardly get a hold of a government worker to help you.

So thanks for the comment, made me rant a bit and that usually is cleaning. Hope all is well in your world!

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

snoopydawg's picture

going along with it.

Why is Germany committing suicide?

Is it to emasculate Europe completely so as to make Europe completely dependent on the US for both energy and technology? The rest of the world is moving towards BRI and BRICS. The only block left to harvest aka rape and pillage for the Americans is Europe (plus Japan and South Korea).

As yes unprovoked….

The newspaper claimed that it obtained a classified document signed by the RAND Corporation, titled ‘Weakening Germany, strengthening the US’. The paper, which was allegedly produced in January, outlined a scenario for how the US could help its struggling economy by draining resources from its European allies.

The purported plot involved goading Russia into attacking Ukraine, which would force the EU to impose sanctions on Russia and decouple their economies from Russian energy.

Aaron Mate says that this RAND expose is fake, but he doesn’t say why it is. There’s a link to the report inside the essay.

We’ve heard that NATO was created to keep America #1
Keep Germany down
Keep Russia out

But it doesn’t make sense that Germany is assisting its suicide. From what I understand it was Germany that requested nordstream 2, but canceled it on our order.

Meanwhile the UN has downgraded America’s living standards again and our life expectancy has dropped by 3 years.

Too many people are hung up on the daily Covid deaths whilst overlooking for decades the daily death toll of people who had no access to health care. I think it’s 68,000 a year of preventable deaths, but congress would rather make war than keep people alive. Don’t forget to vote in the midterms folks so that the people who have been screwing us can get voted back in to continue doing so.

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Lookout's picture

@snoopydawg

...destroying Germany that the US wanted. The constant NordStream objections are very telling too.

We are witnessing the dissolution of the EU in my view. The US delusion is that the resulting states will all become vassals. We'll see.

I've heard from several sources the Rand report is fake....including iearlgrey
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUznpZxO6kA]

Hope you and Sam are doing well. Very mild and pleasant here, but dry again next week.
All the best!

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

@Lookout

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snoopydawg's picture

@snoopydawg

https://www.voltairenet.org/article217976.html

Seems like the current plans have been made LONG AGO and they haven’t been deviated from yet. The people who actually run the country are never voted on. And remember that Trump exposed how every new Secretary of State meets with the previous ones to make sure that they are advancing the plan. I think a general tax strike is in order…

More details in this essay.

https://www.voltairenet.org/article215855.html

I’ve forgotten to visit this site and I’m kicking myself for it. It has some of the best insights on the maneuvers of the world and who’s behind it.

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Lookout's picture

@snoopydawg

Seems like the current plans have been made LONG AGO and they haven’t been deviated from yet.

TPTB play the long game it seems.

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@snoopydawg good tip when I can concentrate again

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snoopydawg's picture

@NYCVG

Good luck and please keep us informed.

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@snoopydawg I'll show up when I can.

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@snoopydawg I'll show up when I can.

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CB's picture

@snoopydawg
for several historical reasons which I won't go into here. I always take his "sowing doubt" remarks with a considerable "pinch of salt". I have caught him doing that too many times when there was no doubt!

The following is another take on the RAND corporation report. The question is not HOW Germany is being dismantled. We have all seen the undeniable results. The question is WHY?

WHY Is Germany Committing Suicide? The Same Reasons WHY the EU/UK is Being Deindustrialized!
...
Why is Germany committing harakiri (or seppuku)?

Because the Americans ordered them to do so!
...
Both articles give a fascinating explanation of HOW Germany is committing suicide. Green Agenda 2030. The Great Reset. Etc.

I emailed Engdahl about the following statement that he wrote in his article and asked him, “What is the real reason for the complete deindustrialization of Germany? Besides the Green Energy or Great Reset bullshit.”:

It is not because politicians like Scholz or German Green Economy Minister Robert Habeck, nor EU Commission Green Energy Vice President Frans Timmermans are stupid or clueless. Corrupt and dishonest, maybe yes. They know exactly what they are doing. They are reading a script. It is all part of the EU plan to deindustrialize one of the most energy-efficient industrial concentrations on the planet. This is the UN Green Agenda 2030 otherwise known as Klaus Schwab’s Great Reset. [Bolded emphasis is mine.]
...
Well, today (September 17, 2022) I contacted the two Swedish authors of Nya Dagbladet and asked them to provide me with the RAND document. Markus Andersson, one of the authors and chief editor, quickly replied and voila here is the “fake” RAND document:

https://nyadagbladet.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/rand-corporation-ukra...

You better save a copy of this PDF on your hard drive and pass it on to all your friends, especially those sheeple living in Germany, before the RAND people scream bloody murder and disappear this very important “fake” document!

Very soon now, the RAND people will call it a “forgery”.

The RAND report is titled, “Executive Summary: Weakening Germany, strengthening the U.S.”
...

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snoopydawg's picture

@CB

I understand why Germany and other countries are being targeted. My question is WHY is Germany going along with the plan to self destruct? In what way does it make sense for them to help build nordstream 2 only to cancel it just as it was going online and when they had no back up plans for energy.

As to whether the Rand report is valid or not doesn’t matter to me because the outline of the plan has been verified by others. Michael Hudson for one has been detailing it since Russia crossed the border. Plus the 2 articles I linked talk about the same thing. There’s a link to the Rand report in the 1st link I posted. Pretty much all the experts are saying the same thing about why America is going balls to the wall with propping Ukraine up with weapons and mercenaries to fight Russia.

Is Sargent Schulz on board with the WEF plan? Or is he either getting paid or blackmailed? Remember that Epstein’s racket was worldwide. Speaking of Epstein, you might get a bigger punishment for statutory rape if you say mean things to the person who committed it than that person himself. It’s a big fcking club ain’t it?

Here’s another essay talking about it.

https://redpill78.substack.com/p/newly-leaked-report-from-rand-corporation

It appears that RAND has predicted that the United States economy is on the brink of collapse. Rising debt and uncontrolled printing of cash as a result of the economic downturn brought on by the plandemic, has brought the United States to a precarious position. They predict the continued deterioration of the economy will likely lead to the defeat of the Democrat party in both Congress and the Senate, opening the door to an impeachment of Joe Biden in the next session of Congress.

My 1st link goes into more detail on the US economy collapsing and remember back in late 2019 news was that there was going to be a retail apocalypse and possibly a major market crash. But then the fed started pumping money into the stock market which postponed the crash. Now they have stopped doing it and IMO Powell is making things drastically worse for workers with his stupid interest rate increases.

Maybe you have time to look at one of the links?

But whether the one Aaron saw was fake or not there are many legitimate links to the real one.

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@snoopydawg

probably happen.

The consequences for these geopolitical moves will be expectedly catastrophic for Germany. Without Russian gas, industry will be forced into shutdown in order to avoid mass die offs of German citizens, leading to shortages in basic products, breakdown in logistic chains and “eventually, a domino effect. A complete standstill at the largest in the chemical, metallurgical, and machine-building, plants is likely, while they have virtually no spare capacity to reduce energy consumption.”

RAND predicts losses to Germany in the hundreds of billions of Euros, causing a collapse in the economy, reduction in the GDP and eventually, total collapse of the EU economy as well. All European currencies will become toxic and far less desirable than the Dollar, leading to an inevitable strengthening of the US economy and a repositioning of the US as the most favored nation. Of course, China also stands to benefit from the economic conditions in Europe as well.

Link again

He includes photos of the report in case no one can follow links or want to. I just can’t believe that EU countries can’t see what the game plan is for them and if they do why they just said okay we’ll implode our economy so America’s can survive.

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Vanda Salvini
Sep 7

Late in 2019, I think December, there was a financial crisis that fairly went unnoticed. The stock market dropped and their was a crisis in the 'repo' market. This happened because the US federal reserve started to (finally after 2008) raise rates and quantitatively tighten. The financial system, which has been in a bad state even before the GFC of 2008, could not handle even small interest rate hikes and so the crisis.

There was a need to reverse course, drop rates and resume QE but not a good reason. What to do, what to do... Then came Covid! Money printing galore, rates to zero, wealth transfer in high gear.

I'm not a financial expert but I've heard enough people talk about this. I think it fits, certainly allowed the stock market to continue booming for a while. Unfortunately, printing money has consequences

.

The essay is on how the PCR test should never have been used and especially at the high rates they were because they were false positives and mislead people about asymptotic people could spread the infection. No kid who wasn’t sick infected and killed grandma. But good gawd what a guilt trip to put on little kids!

Ashmedai
Sep 7

This is so clearly articulated!! It's very refreshing to see a masterpiece like this that elegantly, clearly and decisively presents an unrebuttable case for a specific proposition, especially one so fundamental to the pandemic policy voodoo adventurism.

The list of studies that are fatally compromised by their incorporation of the flawed assumption of infectiousness from PCR positive results at a higher CT that can be plausibly presumed to represent infectious/active infection was a really nice touch.

Thanks for taking the time to write this up Smile

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CB's picture

@snoopydawg
Klaus Martin Schwab's "Great Reset".

The Fourth Industry Revolution is not energy intensive. It can be powered by energy sources such as solar and wind mills. 'Dirty' items such as the mining and production of steel, copper, aluminum and other materials will be done by selected third world countries. With the reduction of population to a maximum of around 1 billion, the majority of these plants will have to be shut down.

The greatest hidden and dangerous problem is how to speed up depopulation. Birth control by medical means such as abortion and birth control pills plus normalization of transgender and homosexual lifestyles (AKA as Wokeness) all contribute to reducing population growth. Wars, pestilence and hunger are also important contributing factors that have historically reduced significant populations directly. I believe that 2030 is the date the PTB have set to achieve zero population growth instead of the current 2050.

You can see with the following that Germany won't need major power sources such as nuclear and carbon based once the Fourth Industrial Revolution takes place.

What is the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

Advanced digital production technologies are changing manufacturing and carry implications for the future of industrial development.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is a term coined in 2016 by Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF). It is characterized by the convergence and complementarity of emerging technology domains, including nanotechnology, biotechnology, new materials and advanced digital production (ADP) technologies. The latter includes 3D printing, human-machine interfaces (HMIs) and artificial intelligence, and is already transforming the global industrial landscape.1 Incorporating ADP technologies into industrial production processes has given rise to the concept of Industry 4.0, also known as the Smart Factory – one that learns as it works, continuously adapting and optimizing its own processes accordingly.
...

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Lookout's picture

@CB
..and I've featured that excellent clip in the WW recently.

And the cartoon is right too. TPTB enjoy our pain. That speaks volumes.

Thanks for the visit!

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more to come.

This doesn't even include what NATO allies have contibuted.

Fact sheet on US security assistance to Ukraine

https://media.defense.gov/2022/Sep/16/2003078831/-1/-1/1/UKRAINE%20FACT%...

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Lookout's picture

@humphrey

and drive that endless profit from war! Just think for a moment what those moneys could do to help people here...or wherever. What fools.

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@Lookout

This has yet to have been verified.

ASB military.

Iranian cargo planes continue to land in Moscow. In the last week alone, four cargo flights from Iranian airlines associated with weapon deliveries landed in Russia.

Roughly — about 150 Shahed 136 drones fit on 1 of the cargo planes in question.

This means Iran is able to supply about 750 Shahed-136 units a week via cargo airplanes. Of course, that’s what we know of. There are many other ways of delivering these systems we might not be aware of.

It’s also safe to assume that they are being made in Iran, with Russian Armed Forces signage on them (Geran-2)

Russia should have about 3,000 to 5,000 pieces on hand by now.

First photos leaked of the aftermath of Russia’s new Iranian Kamikaze drones used on Ukrainian (NATO) howitzers.

All it takes is one hit, this makes Ukraine’s artillery deficiency even worse. After Russian counter battery radars detect where the projectiles are coming from, it’s a matter of 15 minutes to turn the howitzers/MLRS into scrap. The range of the Shahed-136 allows it to be launched even from the territory of Russia & deliver pinpoint hits nearly 2 thousand KM away, even on the move.

These drones are notoriously hard to intercept for American Air Defence Systems. The Shahed-136 is small in dimensions and flies low. They’ve completely failed to detect the Shahed 136 in Saudi Arabia as it attacked oil sites where American Air Defence Systems were deployed. They also flew directly over American warships with Aegis systems without being detected, according to Iranian claims

Therefore Ukraine developing countermeasures for these systems is highly, highly unlikely — if not impossible.

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Lookout's picture

@humphrey

I'm not going to sell Russia short, though I might sell the US/NATO aggression short. Time will tell.

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@Lookout looks like the US is heck bent to get itself into a major shooting war w Russia a/o China, more likely Russia. Maybe esp if things don't go well in UKR. TPTB in DC won't easily accept Russia defeating our proxy military forces in UKR. The trendline seems that we would then stir up more trouble in the Balkans or in Finland/Sweden w Nato military provocations, any way we can to keep Ru greatly annoyed and feeling existentially threatened.

We continue to be badly in need of a strong, vocal and visible peace movement, but Code Pink remains small and progressive leaders are nowhere to be found in challenging the status quo.

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Lookout's picture

@wokkamile

We continue to be badly in need of a strong, vocal and visible peace movement, but Code Pink remains small and progressive leaders are nowhere to be found in challenging the status quo.

Don't forget about Armenia and Albania. ... not to mention China/Taiwan....or Serbia/ Kosovo. Can you say CIA ? Stirring up shit is our stock and trade.

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@wokkamile

We continue to be badly in need of a strong, vocal and visible peace movement, but Code Pink remains small and progressive leaders are nowhere to be found in challenging the status quo.

you should consider supporting or at least cooperating with those conservatives who *are* challenging the status quo.

Latest from Dr. Ron Paul:

(Blue Republic),

For over six months, the U.S. and Western Europe have tried to wage war on Russia without actually going directly to war.

Much of this has been in the form of military aid and assistance to Ukraine (at least $54 BILLION from the United States already – which makes the $7.4 BILLION spent in the first five years fighting the Taliban seem like a drop in the bucket), but another major component of this war has been economic sanctions on Russia, which the Biden administration described as “crippling.”

Six months on, the effects have become clear: not only have the sanctions failed to “cripple” Russia, they’ve crippled the West.

As I explain in my latest column below, the effect of sanctions on Russia has been truly catastrophic on the rest of Europe. They face energy shortages and economic collapse.

This is plainly unsustainable, but in the face of this failure, our leaders only seem more determined to keep doubling down.

The cause of Ukraine, it appears, matters more to them than their own countries’ best interests.

And unless we hold our globalist leaders accountable, the situation will worsen, and what we’re seeing happen in Europe today may become the situation in America tomorrow.

Check out my column below, and if you can, support Campaign for Liberty with a contribution so we can continue to hold politicians in Washington accountable, or join our Patriot Club as a sustaining supporter.

For Liberty,

Ron Paul

Europe Commits Suicide-by-Sanctions

A Swiss billboard is making the rounds on social media depicting a young woman on the telephone. The caption reads, "Does the neighbor heat the apartment to over 19 degrees (66F)? Please inform us." While the Swiss government has dismissed the poster as a fake, the penalties Swiss citizens face for daring to warm their homes are very real. According to the Swiss newspaper Blick, those who violate the 66 degree heating limit could face as many as three years in prison!

Prison time for heating your home? In the “free” world? How is it possible in 2022, when Switzerland and the rest of the political west have achieved the greatest economic success in history, that the European continent faces a winter like something out of the dark ages?

Sanctions.

While long promoted – often by those opposed to war – as a less destructive alternative to war, sanctions are in reality acts of war. And as we know with interventionism and war, the result is often unintended consequences and even blowback.

European sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine earlier this year will likely go down in history as a prime example of how sanctions can result in unintended consequences. While seeking to punish Russia by cutting off gas and oil imports, European Union politicians forgot that Europe is completely dependent on Russian energy supplies and that the only people to suffer if those imports are shut down are the Europeans themselves.

The Russians simply pivoted to the south and east and found plenty of new buyers in China, India, and elsewhere. In fact, Russia’s state-run Gazprom energy company has reported that its profits have increased by 100 percent in the first half of this year.

Russia is getting rich while Europeans are facing a freezing winter and economic collapse. All because of the false belief that sanctions are a cost-free way to force other countries to do what you want them to do.

What happens when the people see dumb government policies making energy bills skyrocket as the economy grounds to a halt? They become desperate and take to the streets in protest.

This weekend thousands of Austrians took to the streets in a “Freedom Rally” to demand an end to sanctions and the opening of Nord Stream II, the gas pipeline on the verge of opening earlier this year. Last week an estimated 100,000 Czechs took to the streets of Prague to protest NATO and EU policy. In France, the “Yellow Vests” are back in the streets protesting the destruction of their economy in the name of “defeating” Russia in Ukraine. In Germany, Serbia, and elsewhere, protests are gearing up.

Even the Washington Post was forced to admit that sanctions on Russia are not having the intended effect. In an article yesterday, the paper worries that sanctions are inflicting “collateral damage in Russia and beyond, potentially even hurting the very countries that impose them. Some even worried that the sanctions intended to deter and weaken Putin could end up emboldening and strengthening him.”

This is all predictable. Sanctions kill. Sometimes they kill innocents in the country targeted for destruction and sometimes they kill innocents in the country imposing them. The solution, as always, is non-intervention. No sanctions, no "color revolutions," no meddling. It's really that simple.

(I do differ from Paul's take in one respect - am not convinced that the destruction of European economy and society is by mistake or incompetence (not to underrate the possibility) - but rather, as with the US that the destruction is by design, and the conditions for what we are seeing play out now have been engineered under most people's radar and a long time in preparation.)

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@Blue Republic

It's possible that Ron Paul would have been a better President for the People that those Presidents who defeated him. Not that he would have been allowed to win the election.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

@Pluto's Republic

than Ron Paul. Well, actually we *did* do much worse.

Republican establishment pulled out the stops to prevent his nomination, even to extending to preventing him from addressing the Republican convention even though he had won the requisite number of states that should should have made it automatic.

A familiar enough scenario to Tulsi or Bernie supporters. At least Paul didn't (IIRC) sink to endorsing Romney.

Standing instructions to both wings of the uni-party appear to be that no-one not fully corporate/Deep State vetted will be nominated. Trump not only managing to get nominated but going on to win in 2016 obviously did not go over well with these folks.

Now that Trump has a better idea what he's up against and has a concrete plan for dealing with them should he regain office they're even more desperate to make sure he doesn't.

Ron Paul at UC Berkeley 04/05/12

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0hJMDUdjEs]

'What If?' speech 02/12/09

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1wOeMYsBzY]

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@Blue Republic those cons aren't really challenging the status quo, they're just opposing Biden to curry favor with their base. If it were DJT in office doing the same wrt UKR, 98% of those same cons would be marching in lockstep behind the war drums as they red bait any dissenting voices.

I am generally in accord with the attitude and reasoning of Medea Benjamin in the video helpfully posted above by Lookout -- of course on an individual, favorable antiwar vote, their support is welcome, but don't count on me to misread that vote as one of principle, or send them a fat check, or give them my vote for el presidente, until they stop being crazy extremists on a host of other important issues.

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Lookout's picture

@wokkamile

...is on my side. Perhaps Medea is correct about MTG (my nearby local rep) as only opposing the war because it is Biden's war. I'll take every ally I can find regardless of their objective.

I'm no longer deluded that the dims offer anything real for working people.

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

@Lookout individual vote, we might applaud them with some nice comments in a post. But apart from that, what is being meant by "support" of these otherwise awful, hypocritical pols (RP being a little more principled or consistent)? Campaign contributions or vote? Sorry, I'm not that far along in the forgiveness area of spiritual growth to take that step, and, meanwhile, more work needs to be done in lobbying the libs and progs who should be casting antiwar votes who are already on board on the other issues.

And while FP is very imp and half of the equation at least, domestic policy still matters a lot to many -- particularly in the areas of protecting democracy and the right to vote, civil rights, church-state separation, Roe, action on climate change, M4A, CJ and no one above the law, taxation fairness. On just about all the latter issues, probably all the cons mentioned above take a reactionary or extremist RW position. A fairly long list of vital issues, and for many of us not something that can easily be waived away.

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@wokkamile

on board with it because they were out to undermine Biden?

Oh, wait - this was 2017...

Posted by Linda Wood - comment to Alligator Ed's essay (12/15/2019)

https://caucus99percent.com/content/why-bernie-should-not-be-president

But I want to add to your list of reasons NOT to vote for Bernie. In 2017, Congresswoman Gabbard introduced H.R.608, the Stop Arming Terrorists Act. There were 14 Cosponsors in the House.

When Senator Rand Paul introduced the companion bill in the Senate, there were NO cosponsors, not Bernie Sanders, not Kamala Harris, not one.

https://gabbard.house.gov/news/press-releases/gabbards-stop-arming-terro...

Gabbard's Stop Arming Terrorists Act Introduced in Senate
March 10, 2017 Press Release

Washington, DC—Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s Stop Arming Terrorists Act has been introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senator Rand Paul. The bipartisan legislation (H.R.608 and S.532) would prohibit any Federal agency from using taxpayer dollars to provide weapons, cash, intelligence, or any support to al-Qaeda, ISIS and other terrorist groups, and it will prohibit the government from funneling money and weapons through other countries who are directly or indirectly supporting terrorists.

…The bill achieves this by:

Making it illegal for any U.S. Federal government funds to be used to provide assistance covered in this bill to terrorists. The assistance covered includes weapons, munitions, weapons platforms, intelligence, logistics, training, and cash.

Making it illegal for the U.S. government to provide assistance covered in the bill to any nation that has given or continues to give such assistance to terrorists.

Requiring the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to determine the individual and groups that should be considered terrorists, for the purposes of this bill, by determining: (a) the individuals and groups that are associated with, affiliated with, adherents to or cooperating with al-Qaeda, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, or ISIS; (b) the countries that are providing assistance covered in this bill to those individuals or groups.

Requiring the DNI to review and update the list of countries and groups to which assistance is prohibited every six months, in consultation with the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services Committees, as well as the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Requiring the DNI to brief Congress on the determinations.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/608/cosponsors?q...

H.R.608 - Stop Arming Terrorists Act
115th Congress (2017-2018)

Cosponsor Date Cosponsored
Rep. Welch, Peter [D-VT-At Large]* 01/23/2017
Rep. Massie, Thomas [R-KY-4]* 01/23/2017
Rep. Lee, Barbara [D-CA-13]* 01/23/2017
Rep. Jones, Walter B., Jr. [R-NC-3]* 01/23/2017
Rep. Garrett, Thomas A., Jr. [R-VA-5]* 01/23/2017
Rep. Yoho, Ted S. [R-FL-3]* 01/23/2017
Rep. Gosar, Paul A. [R-AZ-4] 02/07/2017
Rep. Perry, Scott [R-PA-4] 02/28/2017
Rep. Conyers, John, Jr. [D-MI-13] 03/06/2017
Rep. Rohrabacher, Dana [R-CA-48] 03/29/2017
Rep. Khanna, Ro [D-CA-17] 04/26/2017
Rep. Rush, Bobby L. [D-IL-1] 04/27/2017
Rep. Duncan, Jeff [R-SC-3] 05/22/2017
Rep. DeFazio, Peter A. [D-OR-4] 06/22/2017

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/532?q=%7B%22sea...

S.532 - Stop Arming Terrorists Act
115th Congress (2017-2018)

(Cosponsors 0)

You're right, of course, that there are plenty of corrupt/hypocritical/suspect R's (and D's) out there - doesn't mean we shouldn't respect the principled ones.

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Lookout's picture

@Blue Republic

Forget party support and look to policy issues. Both Paul's are pretty good on non-interventionist foreign policy, and I can support them on those issues. Ron has a long history of anti-intervention.

When did these purity requirements come about? So I don't agree with all their libertarian domestic policy...so what? I can support the anti-war policy.

Thanks for including a Paul perspective.

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

@humphrey and so on

US cannot see or sense very low flying Russian and Chinese hyypersonic aircraft.

The Pentagon said so months ago and I believe this.

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Lookout's picture

I used to play this one with friends up the valley. Have not seen them since the pandemic. Sure is weird how everything has changed.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH14EyiSlas]

Toni and I had some downtime before our show in Stockholm, Sweden at Debasser Strand, so we sat down and recorded this cover of When You Say Nothing At All -- originally by Keith Whitley and also performed by Alison Krauss. This was one of my childhood favorites growing up, so I'm glad we got a chance to do this tune in this beautiful setting.

I'll sign out with that, and wish you all a good week as we leave summer and greet fall!

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