As part of her ideological war to reclaim the GOP for neocons, the now-deposed House leader falsely denied her role in a tale designed to block withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Trump's lasting legacy will be how he changed some of the old thinking in the Republican Party, specifically about endless wars. It is not Liz Cheney's Party anymore, and all of us are better off.
Likewise, the ineffective police response to rioting coupled with police enforcement of lockdowns has changed old thinking about policing and the state.
I don't follow the thought here. If they wanted to stop the riots, it'd be over in a month. It's not the police's fault but their masters. Our whole justice system has needed an overhaul for years, but not by this defund strategy. The political parties are the masters of the police (I think) and whoever is in power pulls their strings. It's the power that the puppet masters extract from the government players and system that is the problem from what I can tell. I'm willing to see it another way but as yet haven't seen the compelling evidence. Name calling ain't it.
I wasn't implying that you did any name calling. It seems to be the rule of the day though and it's hard to move forward, as I imagine is their intention. It's been great to see people on these threats honestly laying out their cases. I've learned a lot.
The stark contrast between police behavior in the summer riots and with regard to lockdowns has made it clear that they do indeed follow orders and that it is time to expose state-legitimizing myths such as "the rule of law," one of many faux ideals used to induce public tolerance of the increasing malfeasance of the justice system, top to bottom. The number of law and order conservatives who, in one year, have gone sour on police is head-spinning.
"If they wanted to stop the riots, it'd be over in a month." By the same reasoning, Nazification could have been over in a month if only "the masters" had called it off. They aren't going to; ruination takes time. Recommend this chilling excerpt from "They Thought They Were Free; The Germans, 1933-1945."
I am one of those people who have had a "head-spinning" awakening. Not that I wasn't aware of much of this, but not to the level I keep getting it. When my (former) friends and neighbors finally come clean and say they'd prefer a socialist or even communistic future, I realize just how unaware I am and have been. I still believe I don't "get" it. That's one reason I'm commenting here. By the way I LOVE your, "it is time to expose state-legitimizing myths such as "the rule of law," one of many faux ideals used to induce public tolerance of the increasing malfeasance of the justice system, top to bottom." That has my mind spinning in many different thought processes.
I'm not sure if you've followed any of Jordan Peterson's work. His debates and lectures about being christian have also given me much to chew on. The idea that we need the christian myths and stories to bring us together as a culture has some weight and merit to me. I bring that up to say that I think the myth of "law and order" as an important ideal to shoot for. When I go out to climb a mountain, I might be able to see the mountain at the start but as I get in the thickets I'm following a route based on what's in my mind and intuition. Often I've ended up on other peaks or on other excursions, all starting with a structural idea of plan.
Anyway, thank you for these thoughts. I'm going to be chewing on some of them for the next few hours or days.
Now that I've got your attention, I recommend Stephen Kinzer's "The Dulles Brothers" as an appetizer to start a feast of chewing! Peterson is a good man and I'm glad he is recovering from a long bout of personal suffering.
If you drop the word "leftwing" from your closing sentence, it would then be accurate, except that it leaves out agency; the media is acting in the interests of the ultra-rich who use the divide and conquer strategy to keep us all from joining together to remove the chains they have bound us all with. This isn't a left/right issue, it's an ultra-rich against the rest of the world issue, and always has been.
Disagree. The ultra rich have been co-opted by the left. The media is overwhelmingly leftist as I'm sure you know. The leaders of BLM define themselves as "trained marxists". They are not ultra rich. They are using fictional "systemic racism" to redefine the marxist class struggle. Their intention is violent revolution. They have all said as much in print and on national broadcasts. Do you know of any conservative members of the media who support "critical race theory"? I don't.
You know how to tell you're the good guys? When all the massive multi-national corporations that have questionable hiring, firing, healthcare, worker's rights, and safety track records, when celebrities with a huge problem of pedophilia and sexual misconduct promote and sponsor your cause and your Revolution has corporate sponsorship. At least this revolution has dope corporate sponsors! - from a Tim Pool tweet. The ultra rich from the media, Hollywood, big tech, oligarchs all support THE LEFT!
I keep seeing this "they are not left" excuse again and again on Glenn and Jimmy Dore's comment section. It's amazing type of delusion. And I am saying this as someone who recognizes that the current "left" is not "liberal". Jimmy Dore, Glenn etc are classical liberals - anti-censorship, anti-war and so on. But you trying to excuse the "left" as if the left is super pure and cannot have authoritarians is just delusional.
There's a reason why Jeff Bezos, Amazon, Walmart SUPPORT leftist causes like raising the minimum wage. It's an easy way for them to get rid of small business competition. They know they can afford it but small businesses can't.
You don't address Nosh's points and trying to diminish his ideas aren't helpful either. Please make your point clearer. I'd like to read it as well. I'm interested in this dialogue.
This is exactly where the story needed to go. A great swath of small "r" republicans resemble 1960's Democrats whereas a like number of DEMOCRATS are a half step behind J. Edgar Hoover. The former can be worked with and the latter will shame and villify you into obedience. There's an untold story here and political offiliation shouldn't be stopping Glenn from telling it.
It isn't DJT's party either, strictly speaking. It belong's to the Republican voter, not the Republican establishment, and WE used DJT to remind them of it. And so it continues.
I'm not convinced of this. It's easier to see that the Democrat Party, with full cooperation from the media and now corporations, manipulates its voters into thinking whatever is most profitable for the Party apparatus. The Republican Party wants that same power, they just don't have access to it, for the most part, and so the voters that call themselves Republicans believe its a more organic group.
What Republicans desperately craved is a fighter who would stand against the Democrat propaganda juggernaut, and that was Trump. I don't think they used him so much as it was symbiotic, and to the extent that he is a voice for Republicans, then Republicans are happy to let him take the Party in the direction he chooses.
It was Trump that used tariffs as a potent weapon, when the vast majority of Republicans would have considered themselves in favor of free and open markets. And it was Trump who wanted to end US military presence around the globe, when most Republicans were totally fine with existing policy.
I was very wary of DJT's tariff strategy, but 1) it WAS working, and 2) the difference between domestic "fair" trade (i.e. the (relatively) free market), and international is that the other side of the "trade" is not subject to the same "fair" restrictions put upon our traders.
The subject is book-sized complicated, of course, but the owner (i.e. manager) of the world's reserve currency cannot allow imbalance forever. That we have for so long is only due to the immense private wealth naturally created over centuries in a (relatively) free market by individual players acting in their rational SELF-interest, something dis-allowed in the worlds Authoritarian Socialist regimes.
I seriously love Glenn. Dude is legit. He and I are on separate sides of the political spectrum on paper, but he is an absolute inspiration.
There has been no other person who’s had a bigger impact on my critical thinking than Glenn. Hope that others support his work financially as well. We need him to continue to expose the elites for what they are!
John Solomon's journalism is excellent. In fact, it reminds me of GG's "calmer" columns, if you get my meaning. Also, if I am not mistaken, John Solomon is to The Hill what Glenn Greenwald is to The Intercept. Am I right?
And to watch the feigning lovefest on the democratic side for Liz Cheney and her "bravery" and "speaking truth to power" is truly gross. Just based on that alone it seems that the right decision was made to take her out of the Conference Chair position, not to mention everything else that Glenn stated.
Neocon war criminals like Bush, Liz Cheney, flint Michigan poisoner Rick Snyder, losers from Lincoln Project, actual white supremacists like Richard Spencer are all supporting one side. That alone should way up some people that they are on the wrong side.
It sickens me to no end that she was in any role in the leadership. The GOP cannot afford to be that out of step with its voters.
Glad she's ousted, but dammit, the RINOs have got to go. I'm sure that the Democrats would LOVE to have another neocon (emphasis on con, as in conartist) on their team. Go be awful over there, Liz.
Unfortunately, the GOP *is* that out of step with its voters. And has been for a very long time. The swampy establishment still to this day cannot comprehend Donald Trump or the populist movement he launched. That they are still expending so much political capital attempting to discredit him and his supporters only reinforces their isolation.
Cheney's deliciously inglorious takedown -- and especially her replacement with Stefanik -- is a significant step in the right direction but the party still has a long, long way to go. Beginning with McConnell.
"And has been for a very long time." 100 years, give or take. Coolidge, Reagan, Trump are the only respite. (A few non-POTUS classical liberals along the way, but way too few.)
And Cheney's takedown, like McCains, is GLORIOUS, not inglorious. In the manner of righting long-time wrongs.
Hopefully she has more integrity and will not be blinded by support of Trump.
Remember Trump assassinated Iran's national hero, Soleimani who defended Shiites from Sunny/ISIS/Al Qaeda genocide, mishandled completely virus (600,000 dead so far) and believes that Biden is not hard enough in support of horror on Palestinians. He was also stupid enough by not pardoning Assange - his strongest witness in dangerous and still ongoing Russia-gate scam of the century.
There are many valid criticisms of Trump like not pardoning Assange, failing to drain the swamp, banning bump stocks etc. But blaming him with "mishandled completely virus" and killing a literal terrorist Soleimani is pure TDS.
1. Soleimani was responsible for the deaths of over 600 U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Plus he orchestrated the Benghazi embassy attacks.
2. And I really need to spend some time to debunk the COVID handling bullshit because it keeps getting repeated. As a Canadian, US death numbers are not an outlier once you consider:
1. The US population is on average over 30lb overweight compared to the rest of the world with significant comorbidities (In the United States, 36.5 percent of adults are obese. Another 32.5 percent of American adults are overweight. In all, more than two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight or obese).
Among men, the prevalence of obesity was over 8 percentage points lower in Canada than in the United States (24.3% compared with 32.6%) and among women, more than 12 percentage points lower (23.9% compared with 36.2%):
12 and 8 percentages are fairly higher in comparison - especially when we are talking about percentages. USA which has 9-10x the population of Canada, 12% makes a very big difference.
2. has very old population similar to Italy (though this is similar to Canada too)
3. has CRAZY amounts of tourism during winter. You think any tourists come to Canada in Winter? Or do they prefer doing to warmer places in US? Canadian tourism in winter is significantly lower due to extreme cold weather. Almost all the trips for cruise ships, water parks (Disney), famous cities, national parks etc happen in USA. The snow season in Canada prevents all those.
> The number of tourists from overseas countries (countries other than the United States) rose to 7.1 million arrivals (+454,000) in 2019, while the number of US tourists to Canada rose to 15.0 million (+554,000). The summer months—June through September—were the peak months for tourism arrivals from overseas to Canada, representing 51.9% of all arrivals from overseas during 2019. By comparison, the peak months for tourism arrivals from the United States were May to October, with 68.8% of all US tourist arrivals to Canada.
> Canadian residents returned from 4.8 million trips abroad in December, up 2.9% from the previous month. Of these 4.8 million trips, 3.8 million were to the United States, up 3.3% from November. Almost three-quarters of these trips to the United States were made by car. Same-day car trips across the border edged up 0.4% to 1.8 million in December, while the number of return trips from overnight car trips rose 9.4% to 966,000. The number of plane trips to the United States rose 1.5% since November to 877,000. This was 4.7% higher than in December of the previous year. In December, travel to overseas countries by Canadian residents rose 1.8% to 1.1 million trips—the highest level on record for the month of December.
Now lets look at the opposite for tourism to USA:
> In 2019, the number of international tourist arrivals to the U.S. stood at almost 80 million after being on the rise for over a decade. 47.88 of that came from Americas (Canada being the first followed by Mexico).
> In 2019, there were approximately 20.72 million overseas visitors from Canada to the United States. The visitation figures from Canada peaked in 2013 when the U.S. received a total of 23.41 Canadian citizens across its borders. In 2019, Canada placed first in terms of the most visitors from one nation to the United States, followed closely by fellow U.S. neighbor, Mexico.
A large number of Canadians in the Niagara region also cross the border for simple stuff like cheaper goods. Nobody does the opposite.
Also international travellers from Canada often fly through US but not vice versa. When I have to visit my home in South Asia, it's always cheaper for me to fly through US. This is not true for the opposite.
And even the ones who visit places in Canada like Toronto and Niagara Falls visit New York too. And a lot of tourists come from Canada who visit places in south like Florida. Anecdotal - I know 3 families here with whose retired members all spend their winters in Florida and another family which spends it in Austin Texas.
4. Canada has VERY VERY low population density in all cities and population of 1/10th of US. This density is even bigger factor for COVID and crazy dense cities. US also has the third-highest population in the world. Look at the population density of the 10 highest dense municipalities in Canada (highest is 5,492.6 people per square kilometre in Vancouver, B.C.):
Now compare it to USA. Top 50 cities amongst them all are ALL signifiantly higher than the Canadian numbers. New York City alone is 10,431.1 people per square kilometre, San Francisco is 6,658.9, Boston is 5,143.4):
5. New York was been found to be the origin of virus variant for majority of the US states - something Governor Cuomo played a big role in. Plus back in March, the American Health Care Association told Cuomo, Wolf, Murphy, Whitmer etc to stop ordering infected patients into nursing homes. The governors ignored the AHCA and removed their own family from nursing homes while forcing others:
From leftist NYTimes who hate Trump: "Travel From New York City Seeded Wave of U.S. Outbreaks: The coronavirus outbreak in New York City became the primary source of infections around the United States. That helped to fuel outbreaks in Louisiana, Texas, Arizona and as far away as the West Coast. The findings are drawn from geneticists’ tracking signature mutations of the virus, travel histories of infected people and models of the outbreak by infectious disease experts":
6. Plus millions of illegal immigrants who stay in packed apartments and don't want to get check ups done at doctors because they don't want to get caught.
Trump banned travel from China and then Europe in January while everyone called him racist and DeBlasio and Pelosi were telling people to go dance in China town in MARCH! Leftists praised scientists like Fauci who disagreed with travel ban, first told him masks don't work and covid doesn't spread from human to human transmission only to flip flop few months later.
If it weren't for Trump's speeding up the vaccine process by removing regulations, you would be having the same fate as Canada - here we don't even make our own vaccine and are now begging other countries for vaccines. While Biden came in office lying claiming there was no vaccine before he took office - a blatant lie. Trump specifically said everyone will have vaccine available by April - and news media called him a liar. Guess what, he was right.
He gave you temporary hospitals and even 2 naval medical ships with thousands of beds - which governors didn't even use because they loved putting covid patients in nursing homes. He got you ventilators to all the states that needed them faster than expected.
Everything against what everyone was reporting and constantly obstructing. When he talked about using a patented UV light tech to clean and wash insides of covid patients (scientific term), leftists took that as him telling people to "inject cleaning products". That's the problem with TDS. They never took him seriously but always took him literally.
Only thing I guess Trump could have done differently is told people to take this opportunity to get healthy and start working out, losing weight and eating healthy. But that would be called fatphobia in today's "big & beautiful" world.
An old fucking man got constantly beat up by media, democrats every fucking day for 5 years, his wife getting mocked for her accent, his daughter being called a c*nt on live TV, lost his brother in the middle of all this - something everyone also made fun of and he still got this done while being called a racist.
Do you think you yourself could have closed the border if everyone ran with calling you racist and xenophobic and even the "scientific" experts like Fauci and WHO were saying the exact opposite to do? Put yourself in his shoes and be honest.
Keep believing that. Trump launched nothing. He harnessed an organic populous shift. That shift doesn't go away whether or not Trump remains in the equation.
Dude, you have so much TDS, I can smell it from Canada. I am sure Trump launched himself so he could lose 3 billion of his net worth (Forbes) and gave away 100% of his half a million presidential salary every year so he could get himself and all his associated banned from everywhere.
Meanwhile Obamas are now multi millionaires with a $16 million mansion in a majority white neighborhood along the ocean while they bitch about racism and climate change. And can't forget their multi million dollar Netflix propaganda shows.
Good riddance to Liz Cheney. Of course this story or another needs to list ALL of those that spread the false story and the media that breathlessly blasted it out with their megaphones. Textbook propaganda machine. Disgusting.
Thank you -- Biden and his handlers are doing exactly the same, unfortunately. No wander that they embraced a despicable Liz Cheney and GOP pro-ear lunatics:
Top priorities of corrupt Biden administration is not to prevent financial scandals but to try to make sure that the DNC/CIA scam of the century -- the Russia-gate hoax -- will NOT / will NEVER be fully acknowledged.
Team Biden Flogs Russian 'Interference' in U.S. Vote, No Matter What Its Intel Agencies Say -- By Paul Sperry May 07, 2021
In his big speech last week, President Biden complained about “Russia's interference in our elections” but his intelligence community, led by his appointee Avril Haines, right, says there wasn't any.
The Biden administration is misquoting its own intelligence findings on Russia – because the lying team of Obama-Biden-Hillary concocted the immense and dangerous Russia-gate hoax. As a result we have now double Cold Wars (with Russia and with China – and with support of some GOP lunatics)
The biggest problem is neo-con/lib control and use of the Central Imperial Agency. It needs to be gutted, publicly. I'm talking show trials. Who will do that? Biden?
You anti-war Democrats should have voted for the candidate who, by being the CIA's main target, could have done it. But your TDS was more important to you.
When are otherwise classical liberals of the "left" going to wake up, and stop trying to use the State to end poverty (it never will) and redristribute wealth (the attempt of which always results in greater unfairness than that of luck and individual difference in the first place)?
DNC will NEVER EVER let Tulsi get the nominee. Not in 2020, not in 2024. It takes a harsh, blunt and flawed man like Trump who fought the Republican Party to win the nominee to defeat these establishment types. There's a reason why he was called Teflon Don. Tulsi is way too nice. She needs to do what she did to Kamala in the debates 100X more. Funny thing is that she might have better chance winning the nominee as a Republican than DNC.
Though I am not her fan because she's a gun grabber. But I can respect her.
"But I can respect her." I know how important the 2nd is to you, M. CNNisFakeNews (Me, too). Having respect for a "gun-grabber" (your words) is a very hard thing to do, I know. You might be right, and if so, and she doesn't "modify," I'll be the first to offer my mea culpa. Your statement here speaks well of your open mind.
But she probably won't take the Republican VP offer, and I don't see the Democrats choosing her, which is actually a good thing, because she would be a much more dangerous "gun-grabber" as a Dem, wouldn't she.
The reason I can respect her is that she has shown a certain willingness to change her mind on topics. So I think if she sits down with someone like Steven Crowder and discusses 2A, she might be able to change her mind.
Arrogant, people pleaser yes. Narcissistic no. It's impossible to be narcissistic if you are a people pleaser. Plus I have seen random videos of him doing nice things to strangers which he didn't have to do, nor did any other president did. Many years ago, he stopped his secret service car in the middle of nowhere to shake hands with the fire fighters who had gathered to wave at him. And this old reddit thread (Now deleted) from before he got elected President asking everyone how Trump was in person got thousands of replies, all positive:
He is a flawed man with often poor judgement in hiring decisions - not firing people fast enough - Barr, Wray, Gina Haspel, Durham (???). But as you said, I do believe he genuinely loves his country and wanted to do the best for people.
DeSantis is 100% the man. He's blunt like Trump but he's also calculated since he's a politician with experience running a state effectively. Trump needs to retire, I genuinely feel bad for not just him but his wife who got treated horribly by everyone. Dude needs to spent his remaining years away from all this nonsense.
Btw, my 2016 vote (primaries and POTUS) for DJT was the lesser of two evils. My 2020 vote for DJT was the first time since 1984 I actually voted FOR a candidate, as opposed to lesser of two evils. My first vote for RR in 1980, when I was 19, was because my girlfriend told me to. I don't like leaving some things to luck!
I actually like Milton Friedman's negative income tax (today called Universal Basic Income), but like Mr. Friedman said, it must completely replace ALL forms of Federal transfer payment, including Social Security, so I figure it is a few centuries away.
Liz Cheney is the poster child for the lying duplicitous war mongering neocons. Amazed the Republicans had a smidgen of spine and removed her. We must be a party of peace, prosperity and AMERICA FIRST.
Glenn, can you explain why it is that Republican neocons want to continue these endless wars? You alluded to Raytheon in the last sentence, and certainly there is material gain to be had by Washington from these wars. But what is the ideological explanation for why Republican neocons want to continue all this stuff? How does Liz Cheney directly benefit from remaining in Afghanistan?
That’s totally speculative. You may end up being right, and it wouldn’t surprise me. But I don’t understand the very dogmatic attachment to these wars—what is the why??? Is it money (somehow), is it ego (she hates Trump), is it ideology (eg some naive and crooked idea that it serves America to be in Afghanistan)???? What is the why?
I think with something as consistent as America's endless war policy you will not find a single why. You will instead find shared why's that converge on a shared goal.
Why does the military want war? It provides additional money to the Pentagon and more General promotion spots on the roster for officers wanting to rise through the ranks.
Why does Raytheon and McDonnell Douglas want endless war? Their job is to make money for their share holders. Take a look at their stock price since 2001.
Why does the CIA, NSA, FBI, DEA and other 3 letter agencies want war? Not only does it increase their budget, but it also creates a constant threat they can use to maintain the surveillance state through operations like Prism and the attack on encryption. If your goal is control over a population you don't trust and hold in contempt, fear is your best friend and endless war gives you that. Those who argued against forming these agencies to begin with feared just this. Remember, Congress did not want the FBI. TR created them while congress was out of session because he was a power hungry mad man.
Why do politicians support endless war? To gain the support of the groups I listed above. As a congresswomen, Liz Chaney get's money from defense contractors, support from dark agencies like the CIA against her political opponents. Support from the military for maintaining ever growing budgets and more opportunities for promotions in the ranks. Support from police because of the 1033 weapons transfer program.
That and there is an entire swaths of voting American's who believe anyone backed by these groups must be on the side of god and righteousness.
Sure, the people gets screwed, but they have nothing to do with who holds power in American or who gets elected anyway.
"Those who argued against forming these agencies to begin with feared just this."
A good non-war example of this is FDR's Social Security, which really was an attempt at "forced" savings ("capital" in other contexts!), inevitably morphed, over decades of Statist corruption, into 1) a tax on work, and 2) an elderly welfare program in which grandparents eat their grandchildren and their grandchildren's capital. Classical liberals, what few were around in the 30's, saw the writing on the wall.
My opinion: Theodore Roosevelt turned to Bonaparte because Theodore was terrified of anarchists. Subsequent presidents thought Hoover useful and terrifying. Greed and fear work well for the FBI.
Very good question. I suspect that it varies. You may already be aware of this but if we were to use other political figures as a baseline, it isn't uncommon for the military industrial complex to provide massive donations to candidates. That, effectively, buys their support when the time comes. These same organizations will pay exorbitant "speaking" fees to those political figures while they are in office and thereafter. The same is true for nearly every other major industry. If it were possible to elect representatives that are not already bought and paid for, we could actually pass legislation that prohibits this activity but I'm pretty sure that will never happen. Interest groups and donors set the agenda. The politicians are just following orders from those who put them in power. That is how I see it anyway.
I think you are half right. Of course, with such a HUGE Federal gov't. there are legions of politicians, not to mention hangers-on, apparatchiks, rent-seekers, suckers-of-public-teet, etc. that are in it for the payola. But the ideological mind-set of Statists that resides in their rotten anti-individual hearts is the other half.
And it was the only area of the US to entirely escape the 2008 recession. It's also the area where no government "workers" lost a nickel of wages during the lockdowns imposed on the rest of the nation.
Thank you. The list is endless -- I would always also include the coup in Honduras and now the endless stream of desperate people into the US. The same with Syria -- and destabilization of Europe by desperate Syrians...
Until you understand the nature of government, you can’t make sense of their specific actions.
Government is an inherently parasitical entity.
It’s only function to gain power and steal value (since it does not create value)
Not one thing that any politician says is what they really think. Some like Bernie are just better actors. Obama: great actor. Reagan: great actor. The ones that people think are genuine are just better actor. Trump: terrible actor.
The warring has virtually nothing to do with ideology. It has to do with the massive Albatross of the US government growing its power, the DOD growing its power, the defense contractors and DOD revolving door working to increase their power and wealth.
It’s why they embark on propaganda campaigns before and during wars. They need a false pretense for warring because most people would never go along with it for the real reasons it’s happening.
There is no aspect of any part of the government carried out for benevolent reasons. It’s an intrinsically evil entity the moment its functions go anything beyond protecting individual liberties.
In the entire history of governments, governments all end up corrupted. Yet it’s silly to blame government? After 10,000 years of failure, those with some sense ask “maybe the structure itself is the problem”.
Where do you think the idea of government came from? Trees? It’s not a natural phenomenon like earthquakes.
If there was no establishment clause, religions would be doing everything in their power to establish *their* religion (as they have and do). Does that mean we have the state regulate religion? Or make religion illegal? No, we make it illegal for the state to establish a religion or favor one over another or be involved in any way. The structure of an established religion is the problem
Same with anything else. The only proper function of government is protecting (not violating) individual liberties
Anything else is inherently corrupt, destructive, and based on violence - that some people will use the force of government to get their way.
But did you really choose Biden? Or did shenanigans choose him? I know my answer. I will believe in Santa Claus before I believe Biden got 12 million more "real" votes than Obama.
But did the carpenters really choose Biden? Or did shenanigans choose him? I know my answer. I will believe in Santa Claus before I believe Biden got 12 million more "real" votes than Obama.
We get the government we choose, whether we are cognizent or not. The people have certainly NOT insurrected, by political vote nor economic vote nor bloodily, in SO long that the mindless State seems to act on its own and will take decades to cut down, even if we actually started to cut it down. WE allow it, either by negligence (freedom isn't free) or by the intent of those like Cheney, whose hearts are rotten with power lust, and who are threatened by men of the people (the DJTs, who get destroyed by otherwise wise people like M. Art).
To neocons and neolibs, power and control are their own rewards. Direct benefit? They don't don't need no stinkin' direct benefit. It's in their rotten hearts.
I apologize also. But your response is vague, too. Can you identify the confusing part? Is it definition of terms? The reference to a famous (and inaccurate, but so a propos) line from Treasure Of The Sierra Madre?That power and control are just as rewarding to Statists as wealth? Or how a heart consumed with fear and hate can ruin a human brain?
This is a pretty blatant ad hominem to avoid the actual point being made. Nowhere did DialecticalAlchemist blame "the Jews"; he instead pointed to a small group of ideologues, some of whom are Jewish and some who are not.
He framed the words "Anglo-Zionist WASP's who love money". That instantly associates negatives with being jewish, wasp, or anglo, and implies they favor money above all.
Maybe those of you in the hitler youth have missed some of this stuff.
As if every single person involved in the invasion of Iraq / afghanistan was not a publicly confessed member of all the top Neo-Con think tanks including PNAC. Prove me wrong. Rumsfeld, Bush Sr, Bush JR, Powel, Rice, Cheney… And all those bible thumping John Hagee Texas voters who cosigned this philosophy. Deny that “A Clean Break” was real and partly written by Richard Perle…..What’s that? You cant? Go back to your Forward.com comment section praising BiBi, liar.
Wars are VERY profitable for all players involved -- the US foreign policy of both GOP and DNC oligarchs has been IDENTICAL for 70+ years.
The War Party (its GOP and DNC right wings) always needs financing -- hence "existential threats" are everywhere. It is very likely that destruction of Syria and Venezuela will escalate -- "to free its people."
Always remember St. Obama's declaration:
“Venezuela is fundamental threat to USA” -- declared Obama formally initiating regime change.
What he meant is “Socialism is a threat to capitalism”… hence imperial War-party endless wars -- against “godless” Bolivia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Syria, Cuba, China…..
Repeat: Wars are immensely profitable for leaders and donors of both wings of the US War Party. Defund US military terrorism
Politicians don't write bills. Lobbyists do. The military industrial complex isn't just about wars. It's about wasting crazy money on overprices stuff and private contractors. An ordinary hammer might be worth $10. But when the same hammer gets bought through the military, it's worth $50 or other crazy amount.
I am a right winger who wants strong military. But I am also aware that the defence spending doesn't all get spent correctly - it gets wasted on bureaucrats, overpriced stuff and private contractors which are even more expensive and less accountable.
Look at what's happening in Afghanistan. Biden claims to remove the troops. But that's not the full story. He's moving the task to private contractors - 18000 of them.
High ranking decision making members of institutional power within the US tend to view themselves as stewards and servants of US policy. Some do so cynically, some for personal gain, and some with genuine zealotry. Whether they are Adam Schiff or Liz Cheney, they both contribute to the Imperial Grand Strategy. Check out Chomsky's book "Hegemony or Survival", Chapter 2 if you want to see how these strategic aims around the world formed and why they are enforced. It's not just Republic neocons who want to continue these foreign policies, the ideology is very endemic to most institutional power.
Ellen - It is because Capitalism is the basis our ideology—far more important in the US than our proclaimed devotion to democracy. Capitalism demands endless growth and increasing profits, therefore Imperialism to extend our market power becomes inevitable. Lenin wrote the book on this: “Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism.”
Please also know that it isn’t just neocon Republicans that desire these endless wars but most Democrats, as well. Recall Obama inherited two wars, Afghanistan and Iraq, and he quickly expanded that to include Libya, Syria, Somalia, and supporting the Saudi war in Yemen.
Same old "Capitalism is evil" comment. And as usual I will copy paste my answer.
Capitalism is a system where you create a good or service useful to me and I pay you for it. If you don’t produce something useful or you create something defective, I don’t pay you and you go bankrupt. That’s capitalism.
Now please show me where this capitalism is? Is bailing out companies which don’t produce useful stuff capitalism? Is bailing out banks which made poor and corrupt decisions capitalism?
Trump's lasting legacy will be how he changed some of the old thinking in the Republican Party, specifically about endless wars. It is not Liz Cheney's Party anymore, and all of us are better off.
Likewise, the ineffective police response to rioting coupled with police enforcement of lockdowns has changed old thinking about policing and the state.
except the MSM keep saying it was an "insurrection", as if knuckleheads taking selfies while cackling like hyenas constitute an insurrection.
The months of BLM/Antifa riots were not labeled an insurrection.
I think by rioting, they are referring to the last summer riots.
I don't follow the thought here. If they wanted to stop the riots, it'd be over in a month. It's not the police's fault but their masters. Our whole justice system has needed an overhaul for years, but not by this defund strategy. The political parties are the masters of the police (I think) and whoever is in power pulls their strings. It's the power that the puppet masters extract from the government players and system that is the problem from what I can tell. I'm willing to see it another way but as yet haven't seen the compelling evidence. Name calling ain't it.
I wasn't implying that you did any name calling. It seems to be the rule of the day though and it's hard to move forward, as I imagine is their intention. It's been great to see people on these threats honestly laying out their cases. I've learned a lot.
The stark contrast between police behavior in the summer riots and with regard to lockdowns has made it clear that they do indeed follow orders and that it is time to expose state-legitimizing myths such as "the rule of law," one of many faux ideals used to induce public tolerance of the increasing malfeasance of the justice system, top to bottom. The number of law and order conservatives who, in one year, have gone sour on police is head-spinning.
"If they wanted to stop the riots, it'd be over in a month." By the same reasoning, Nazification could have been over in a month if only "the masters" had called it off. They aren't going to; ruination takes time. Recommend this chilling excerpt from "They Thought They Were Free; The Germans, 1933-1945."
https://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/511928.html
I am one of those people who have had a "head-spinning" awakening. Not that I wasn't aware of much of this, but not to the level I keep getting it. When my (former) friends and neighbors finally come clean and say they'd prefer a socialist or even communistic future, I realize just how unaware I am and have been. I still believe I don't "get" it. That's one reason I'm commenting here. By the way I LOVE your, "it is time to expose state-legitimizing myths such as "the rule of law," one of many faux ideals used to induce public tolerance of the increasing malfeasance of the justice system, top to bottom." That has my mind spinning in many different thought processes.
I'm not sure if you've followed any of Jordan Peterson's work. His debates and lectures about being christian have also given me much to chew on. The idea that we need the christian myths and stories to bring us together as a culture has some weight and merit to me. I bring that up to say that I think the myth of "law and order" as an important ideal to shoot for. When I go out to climb a mountain, I might be able to see the mountain at the start but as I get in the thickets I'm following a route based on what's in my mind and intuition. Often I've ended up on other peaks or on other excursions, all starting with a structural idea of plan.
Anyway, thank you for these thoughts. I'm going to be chewing on some of them for the next few hours or days.
Now that I've got your attention, I recommend Stephen Kinzer's "The Dulles Brothers" as an appetizer to start a feast of chewing! Peterson is a good man and I'm glad he is recovering from a long bout of personal suffering.
It would be great if you are correct, but the jury is, as they say, still out; the pro-war sentiment runs as deep as racism.
Nonsense. Are you racist? Are you "pro-war"? Racism is pushed by leftwing media to create class divisions.
If you drop the word "leftwing" from your closing sentence, it would then be accurate, except that it leaves out agency; the media is acting in the interests of the ultra-rich who use the divide and conquer strategy to keep us all from joining together to remove the chains they have bound us all with. This isn't a left/right issue, it's an ultra-rich against the rest of the world issue, and always has been.
Disagree. The ultra rich have been co-opted by the left. The media is overwhelmingly leftist as I'm sure you know. The leaders of BLM define themselves as "trained marxists". They are not ultra rich. They are using fictional "systemic racism" to redefine the marxist class struggle. Their intention is violent revolution. They have all said as much in print and on national broadcasts. Do you know of any conservative members of the media who support "critical race theory"? I don't.
This is truly knee-slappingly delusional!
"The ultra rich have been co-opted by the left."
All I can say is, please wake up.
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
You know how to tell you're the good guys? When all the massive multi-national corporations that have questionable hiring, firing, healthcare, worker's rights, and safety track records, when celebrities with a huge problem of pedophilia and sexual misconduct promote and sponsor your cause and your Revolution has corporate sponsorship. At least this revolution has dope corporate sponsors! - from a Tim Pool tweet. The ultra rich from the media, Hollywood, big tech, oligarchs all support THE LEFT!
I keep seeing this "they are not left" excuse again and again on Glenn and Jimmy Dore's comment section. It's amazing type of delusion. And I am saying this as someone who recognizes that the current "left" is not "liberal". Jimmy Dore, Glenn etc are classical liberals - anti-censorship, anti-war and so on. But you trying to excuse the "left" as if the left is super pure and cannot have authoritarians is just delusional.
There's a reason why Jeff Bezos, Amazon, Walmart SUPPORT leftist causes like raising the minimum wage. It's an easy way for them to get rid of small business competition. They know they can afford it but small businesses can't.
When the establishment agrees with your ideology, you aren't the resistance.
You don't address Nosh's points and trying to diminish his ideas aren't helpful either. Please make your point clearer. I'd like to read it as well. I'm interested in this dialogue.
Then how deep is racism? That is the trigger to jury selection.
Change is hard, but also inevitable.
This is exactly where the story needed to go. A great swath of small "r" republicans resemble 1960's Democrats whereas a like number of DEMOCRATS are a half step behind J. Edgar Hoover. The former can be worked with and the latter will shame and villify you into obedience. There's an untold story here and political offiliation shouldn't be stopping Glenn from telling it.
It isn't DJT's party either, strictly speaking. It belong's to the Republican voter, not the Republican establishment, and WE used DJT to remind them of it. And so it continues.
I'm not convinced of this. It's easier to see that the Democrat Party, with full cooperation from the media and now corporations, manipulates its voters into thinking whatever is most profitable for the Party apparatus. The Republican Party wants that same power, they just don't have access to it, for the most part, and so the voters that call themselves Republicans believe its a more organic group.
What Republicans desperately craved is a fighter who would stand against the Democrat propaganda juggernaut, and that was Trump. I don't think they used him so much as it was symbiotic, and to the extent that he is a voice for Republicans, then Republicans are happy to let him take the Party in the direction he chooses.
It was Trump that used tariffs as a potent weapon, when the vast majority of Republicans would have considered themselves in favor of free and open markets. And it was Trump who wanted to end US military presence around the globe, when most Republicans were totally fine with existing policy.
I was very wary of DJT's tariff strategy, but 1) it WAS working, and 2) the difference between domestic "fair" trade (i.e. the (relatively) free market), and international is that the other side of the "trade" is not subject to the same "fair" restrictions put upon our traders.
The subject is book-sized complicated, of course, but the owner (i.e. manager) of the world's reserve currency cannot allow imbalance forever. That we have for so long is only due to the immense private wealth naturally created over centuries in a (relatively) free market by individual players acting in their rational SELF-interest, something dis-allowed in the worlds Authoritarian Socialist regimes.
You nailed it!
I seriously love Glenn. Dude is legit. He and I are on separate sides of the political spectrum on paper, but he is an absolute inspiration.
There has been no other person who’s had a bigger impact on my critical thinking than Glenn. Hope that others support his work financially as well. We need him to continue to expose the elites for what they are!
I have had the same awakening to him. Amazed that a journalist still exists other than John Solomon.
John Solomon's journalism is excellent. In fact, it reminds me of GG's "calmer" columns, if you get my meaning. Also, if I am not mistaken, John Solomon is to The Hill what Glenn Greenwald is to The Intercept. Am I right?
Preach it! Thank you 🙏
And to watch the feigning lovefest on the democratic side for Liz Cheney and her "bravery" and "speaking truth to power" is truly gross. Just based on that alone it seems that the right decision was made to take her out of the Conference Chair position, not to mention everything else that Glenn stated.
Neocon war criminals like Bush, Liz Cheney, flint Michigan poisoner Rick Snyder, losers from Lincoln Project, actual white supremacists like Richard Spencer are all supporting one side. That alone should way up some people that they are on the wrong side.
It sickens me to no end that she was in any role in the leadership. The GOP cannot afford to be that out of step with its voters.
Glad she's ousted, but dammit, the RINOs have got to go. I'm sure that the Democrats would LOVE to have another neocon (emphasis on con, as in conartist) on their team. Go be awful over there, Liz.
Mittens is next.
Unfortunately, the GOP *is* that out of step with its voters. And has been for a very long time. The swampy establishment still to this day cannot comprehend Donald Trump or the populist movement he launched. That they are still expending so much political capital attempting to discredit him and his supporters only reinforces their isolation.
Cheney's deliciously inglorious takedown -- and especially her replacement with Stefanik -- is a significant step in the right direction but the party still has a long, long way to go. Beginning with McConnell.
"And has been for a very long time." 100 years, give or take. Coolidge, Reagan, Trump are the only respite. (A few non-POTUS classical liberals along the way, but way too few.)
And Cheney's takedown, like McCains, is GLORIOUS, not inglorious. In the manner of righting long-time wrongs.
Wonder if Tim Dillon can do a Liz Cheney parody too, blonde wig and all? My father the pharaoh lol. Good riddance to bad rubbish!
Did you see Tim Dillon's Meghan McCain skit? Died laughing.
Thank you - I know little about Stefanik.
Hopefully she has more integrity and will not be blinded by support of Trump.
Remember Trump assassinated Iran's national hero, Soleimani who defended Shiites from Sunny/ISIS/Al Qaeda genocide, mishandled completely virus (600,000 dead so far) and believes that Biden is not hard enough in support of horror on Palestinians. He was also stupid enough by not pardoning Assange - his strongest witness in dangerous and still ongoing Russia-gate scam of the century.
There are many valid criticisms of Trump like not pardoning Assange, failing to drain the swamp, banning bump stocks etc. But blaming him with "mishandled completely virus" and killing a literal terrorist Soleimani is pure TDS.
1. Soleimani was responsible for the deaths of over 600 U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Plus he orchestrated the Benghazi embassy attacks.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/qassem-soleimani-was-responsible-for-the-deaths-of-hundreds-of-american-soldiers
https://nypost.com/2014/06/20/how-irans-spy-chief-paid-for-the-benghazi-attack/
2. And I really need to spend some time to debunk the COVID handling bullshit because it keeps getting repeated. As a Canadian, US death numbers are not an outlier once you consider:
1. The US population is on average over 30lb overweight compared to the rest of the world with significant comorbidities (In the United States, 36.5 percent of adults are obese. Another 32.5 percent of American adults are overweight. In all, more than two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight or obese).
Among men, the prevalence of obesity was over 8 percentage points lower in Canada than in the United States (24.3% compared with 32.6%) and among women, more than 12 percentage points lower (23.9% compared with 36.2%):
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db56.htm
12 and 8 percentages are fairly higher in comparison - especially when we are talking about percentages. USA which has 9-10x the population of Canada, 12% makes a very big difference.
2. has very old population similar to Italy (though this is similar to Canada too)
3. has CRAZY amounts of tourism during winter. You think any tourists come to Canada in Winter? Or do they prefer doing to warmer places in US? Canadian tourism in winter is significantly lower due to extreme cold weather. Almost all the trips for cruise ships, water parks (Disney), famous cities, national parks etc happen in USA. The snow season in Canada prevents all those.
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/200221/dq200221b-eng.htm
> The number of tourists from overseas countries (countries other than the United States) rose to 7.1 million arrivals (+454,000) in 2019, while the number of US tourists to Canada rose to 15.0 million (+554,000). The summer months—June through September—were the peak months for tourism arrivals from overseas to Canada, representing 51.9% of all arrivals from overseas during 2019. By comparison, the peak months for tourism arrivals from the United States were May to October, with 68.8% of all US tourist arrivals to Canada.
> Canadian residents returned from 4.8 million trips abroad in December, up 2.9% from the previous month. Of these 4.8 million trips, 3.8 million were to the United States, up 3.3% from November. Almost three-quarters of these trips to the United States were made by car. Same-day car trips across the border edged up 0.4% to 1.8 million in December, while the number of return trips from overnight car trips rose 9.4% to 966,000. The number of plane trips to the United States rose 1.5% since November to 877,000. This was 4.7% higher than in December of the previous year. In December, travel to overseas countries by Canadian residents rose 1.8% to 1.1 million trips—the highest level on record for the month of December.
Now lets look at the opposite for tourism to USA:
> In 2019, the number of international tourist arrivals to the U.S. stood at almost 80 million after being on the rise for over a decade. 47.88 of that came from Americas (Canada being the first followed by Mexico).
https://www.statista.com/topics/1987/travel-and-tourism-industry-in-the-us/#dossierSummary
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1012283/united-states-inbound-tourist-arrivals-by-region/
> In 2019, there were approximately 20.72 million overseas visitors from Canada to the United States. The visitation figures from Canada peaked in 2013 when the U.S. received a total of 23.41 Canadian citizens across its borders. In 2019, Canada placed first in terms of the most visitors from one nation to the United States, followed closely by fellow U.S. neighbor, Mexico.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/214764/number-of-visitors-to-the-us-from-canada/
A large number of Canadians in the Niagara region also cross the border for simple stuff like cheaper goods. Nobody does the opposite.
Also international travellers from Canada often fly through US but not vice versa. When I have to visit my home in South Asia, it's always cheaper for me to fly through US. This is not true for the opposite.
And even the ones who visit places in Canada like Toronto and Niagara Falls visit New York too. And a lot of tourists come from Canada who visit places in south like Florida. Anecdotal - I know 3 families here with whose retired members all spend their winters in Florida and another family which spends it in Austin Texas.
4. Canada has VERY VERY low population density in all cities and population of 1/10th of US. This density is even bigger factor for COVID and crazy dense cities. US also has the third-highest population in the world. Look at the population density of the 10 highest dense municipalities in Canada (highest is 5,492.6 people per square kilometre in Vancouver, B.C.):
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/170208/t001a-eng.htm
Now compare it to USA. Top 50 cities amongst them all are ALL signifiantly higher than the Canadian numbers. New York City alone is 10,431.1 people per square kilometre, San Francisco is 6,658.9, Boston is 5,143.4):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population_density
5. New York was been found to be the origin of virus variant for majority of the US states - something Governor Cuomo played a big role in. Plus back in March, the American Health Care Association told Cuomo, Wolf, Murphy, Whitmer etc to stop ordering infected patients into nursing homes. The governors ignored the AHCA and removed their own family from nursing homes while forcing others:
https://www.ahcancal.org/News/news_releases/Pages/Long-term-care-leaders-address-state-orders-on-hospital-admissions-to-nursing-homes.aspx
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1191811
From leftist NYTimes who hate Trump: "Travel From New York City Seeded Wave of U.S. Outbreaks: The coronavirus outbreak in New York City became the primary source of infections around the United States. That helped to fuel outbreaks in Louisiana, Texas, Arizona and as far away as the West Coast. The findings are drawn from geneticists’ tracking signature mutations of the virus, travel histories of infected people and models of the outbreak by infectious disease experts":
https://archive.is/fEPG7
6. Plus millions of illegal immigrants who stay in packed apartments and don't want to get check ups done at doctors because they don't want to get caught.
Trump banned travel from China and then Europe in January while everyone called him racist and DeBlasio and Pelosi were telling people to go dance in China town in MARCH! Leftists praised scientists like Fauci who disagreed with travel ban, first told him masks don't work and covid doesn't spread from human to human transmission only to flip flop few months later.
If it weren't for Trump's speeding up the vaccine process by removing regulations, you would be having the same fate as Canada - here we don't even make our own vaccine and are now begging other countries for vaccines. While Biden came in office lying claiming there was no vaccine before he took office - a blatant lie. Trump specifically said everyone will have vaccine available by April - and news media called him a liar. Guess what, he was right.
He gave you temporary hospitals and even 2 naval medical ships with thousands of beds - which governors didn't even use because they loved putting covid patients in nursing homes. He got you ventilators to all the states that needed them faster than expected.
Everything against what everyone was reporting and constantly obstructing. When he talked about using a patented UV light tech to clean and wash insides of covid patients (scientific term), leftists took that as him telling people to "inject cleaning products". That's the problem with TDS. They never took him seriously but always took him literally.
Only thing I guess Trump could have done differently is told people to take this opportunity to get healthy and start working out, losing weight and eating healthy. But that would be called fatphobia in today's "big & beautiful" world.
An old fucking man got constantly beat up by media, democrats every fucking day for 5 years, his wife getting mocked for her accent, his daughter being called a c*nt on live TV, lost his brother in the middle of all this - something everyone also made fun of and he still got this done while being called a racist.
Do you think you yourself could have closed the border if everyone ran with calling you racist and xenophobic and even the "scientific" experts like Fauci and WHO were saying the exact opposite to do? Put yourself in his shoes and be honest.
Thank you -- and - the Earth is flat !!
Wow, great rebuttal. I guess I was wrong for thinking you were one of the sane liberals Boris who could think objectively.
I think he is. And Soleimani might have been a mistake, blowback included.
The U.S. needs to vacate the ancient lands until the indigents deal with each other without outside influence, and learn to join the modern world.
Trump launched nothing but himself. It's all he can see. It's all he could ever see.
Keep believing that. Trump launched nothing. He harnessed an organic populous shift. That shift doesn't go away whether or not Trump remains in the equation.
Dude, you have so much TDS, I can smell it from Canada. I am sure Trump launched himself so he could lose 3 billion of his net worth (Forbes) and gave away 100% of his half a million presidential salary every year so he could get himself and all his associated banned from everywhere.
Meanwhile Obamas are now multi millionaires with a $16 million mansion in a majority white neighborhood along the ocean while they bitch about racism and climate change. And can't forget their multi million dollar Netflix propaganda shows.
Agreed!!
"Asking the Wrong Question About Liz Cheney. Don’t ask why we need to oust her. Ask why she was ever in leadership in the first place."
https://amgreatness.com/2021/05/06/asking-the-wrong-question-about-liz-cheney/
Grow a spine and take out the trash.
Thank you for continuing to document the duplicity in DC.
Good riddance to Liz Cheney. Of course this story or another needs to list ALL of those that spread the false story and the media that breathlessly blasted it out with their megaphones. Textbook propaganda machine. Disgusting.
The absolute best money I spend every month is on this subscription. Glenn speaks the truth. Such a rare thing nowadays.
Thank you -- Biden and his handlers are doing exactly the same, unfortunately. No wander that they embraced a despicable Liz Cheney and GOP pro-ear lunatics:
Top priorities of corrupt Biden administration is not to prevent financial scandals but to try to make sure that the DNC/CIA scam of the century -- the Russia-gate hoax -- will NOT / will NEVER be fully acknowledged.
Team Biden Flogs Russian 'Interference' in U.S. Vote, No Matter What Its Intel Agencies Say -- By Paul Sperry May 07, 2021
In his big speech last week, President Biden complained about “Russia's interference in our elections” but his intelligence community, led by his appointee Avril Haines, right, says there wasn't any.
https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2021/05/07/team_biden_flogs_russian_interference_in_us_vote_no_matter_what_its_intel_agencies_say_776083.html?mc_cid=74007ffd5f&mc_eid=6198033111
The Biden administration is misquoting its own intelligence findings on Russia – because the lying team of Obama-Biden-Hillary concocted the immense and dangerous Russia-gate hoax. As a result we have now double Cold Wars (with Russia and with China – and with support of some GOP lunatics)
No accountability for the perpetrators of this crime on our country. Sad.
Thank you.
Correct -- not yet. But we need to continue to fight for the accountability of criminals.
The biggest problem is neo-con/lib control and use of the Central Imperial Agency. It needs to be gutted, publicly. I'm talking show trials. Who will do that? Biden?
You anti-war Democrats should have voted for the candidate who, by being the CIA's main target, could have done it. But your TDS was more important to you.
When are otherwise classical liberals of the "left" going to wake up, and stop trying to use the State to end poverty (it never will) and redristribute wealth (the attempt of which always results in greater unfairness than that of luck and individual difference in the first place)?
"You anti-war Democrats should have voted for the candidate who, by being the CIA's main target, could have done it."
Tulsi Gabbard was the obvious choice, not Trump.
DNC will NEVER EVER let Tulsi get the nominee. Not in 2020, not in 2024. It takes a harsh, blunt and flawed man like Trump who fought the Republican Party to win the nominee to defeat these establishment types. There's a reason why he was called Teflon Don. Tulsi is way too nice. She needs to do what she did to Kamala in the debates 100X more. Funny thing is that she might have better chance winning the nominee as a Republican than DNC.
Though I am not her fan because she's a gun grabber. But I can respect her.
"But I can respect her." I know how important the 2nd is to you, M. CNNisFakeNews (Me, too). Having respect for a "gun-grabber" (your words) is a very hard thing to do, I know. You might be right, and if so, and she doesn't "modify," I'll be the first to offer my mea culpa. Your statement here speaks well of your open mind.
But she probably won't take the Republican VP offer, and I don't see the Democrats choosing her, which is actually a good thing, because she would be a much more dangerous "gun-grabber" as a Dem, wouldn't she.
The reason I can respect her is that she has shown a certain willingness to change her mind on topics. So I think if she sits down with someone like Steven Crowder and discusses 2A, she might be able to change her mind.
Not on the ticket, M. Art. You shot yourselves in your feet.
Couldn't have said it better Amy. I voted Trump both times in spite of his obvious personality flaws.
Arrogant, people pleaser yes. Narcissistic no. It's impossible to be narcissistic if you are a people pleaser. Plus I have seen random videos of him doing nice things to strangers which he didn't have to do, nor did any other president did. Many years ago, he stopped his secret service car in the middle of nowhere to shake hands with the fire fighters who had gathered to wave at him. And this old reddit thread (Now deleted) from before he got elected President asking everyone how Trump was in person got thousands of replies, all positive:
http://archive.is/8TvxG
He is a flawed man with often poor judgement in hiring decisions - not firing people fast enough - Barr, Wray, Gina Haspel, Durham (???). But as you said, I do believe he genuinely loves his country and wanted to do the best for people.
DeSantis is 100% the man. He's blunt like Trump but he's also calculated since he's a politician with experience running a state effectively. Trump needs to retire, I genuinely feel bad for not just him but his wife who got treated horribly by everyone. Dude needs to spent his remaining years away from all this nonsense.
I love Tulsi! I believe you have missed my praise of her. And you are spot on about DJT.
My 2024 ticket (as of now, of course): DeSantis/Gabbard.
Btw, my 2016 vote (primaries and POTUS) for DJT was the lesser of two evils. My 2020 vote for DJT was the first time since 1984 I actually voted FOR a candidate, as opposed to lesser of two evils. My first vote for RR in 1980, when I was 19, was because my girlfriend told me to. I don't like leaving some things to luck!
Maybe, but she never got out of single digits in the polls so she was not as option
She got more delegates than Kamala Harris did!
Yup. Which tells you a lot about our current VP
Only modern VP with 0 (zero) delegates, I believe.
As if they would allow Tulsi anywhere near the nomination.
I actually like Milton Friedman's negative income tax (today called Universal Basic Income), but like Mr. Friedman said, it must completely replace ALL forms of Federal transfer payment, including Social Security, so I figure it is a few centuries away.
Liz Cheney is the poster child for the lying duplicitous war mongering neocons. Amazed the Republicans had a smidgen of spine and removed her. We must be a party of peace, prosperity and AMERICA FIRST.
The vote was 134–46, so a quarter of the GOP is still swamp water.
More importantly 75% voted to remove her from leadership
Rookie numbers! The 25% needs to be kicked out.
Then our minority will only exacerbate. (I know you are sarc here.)
Yep. Never underestimate the incompetence of RINOs.
Glenn, can you explain why it is that Republican neocons want to continue these endless wars? You alluded to Raytheon in the last sentence, and certainly there is material gain to be had by Washington from these wars. But what is the ideological explanation for why Republican neocons want to continue all this stuff? How does Liz Cheney directly benefit from remaining in Afghanistan?
She'll be sitting on the board of a defense contractor when she's voted out. That's how their game works.
And then, she'll lobby Congress. :)
That’s totally speculative. You may end up being right, and it wouldn’t surprise me. But I don’t understand the very dogmatic attachment to these wars—what is the why??? Is it money (somehow), is it ego (she hates Trump), is it ideology (eg some naive and crooked idea that it serves America to be in Afghanistan)???? What is the why?
I think with something as consistent as America's endless war policy you will not find a single why. You will instead find shared why's that converge on a shared goal.
Why does the military want war? It provides additional money to the Pentagon and more General promotion spots on the roster for officers wanting to rise through the ranks.
Why does Raytheon and McDonnell Douglas want endless war? Their job is to make money for their share holders. Take a look at their stock price since 2001.
Why does the CIA, NSA, FBI, DEA and other 3 letter agencies want war? Not only does it increase their budget, but it also creates a constant threat they can use to maintain the surveillance state through operations like Prism and the attack on encryption. If your goal is control over a population you don't trust and hold in contempt, fear is your best friend and endless war gives you that. Those who argued against forming these agencies to begin with feared just this. Remember, Congress did not want the FBI. TR created them while congress was out of session because he was a power hungry mad man.
Why do politicians support endless war? To gain the support of the groups I listed above. As a congresswomen, Liz Chaney get's money from defense contractors, support from dark agencies like the CIA against her political opponents. Support from the military for maintaining ever growing budgets and more opportunities for promotions in the ranks. Support from police because of the 1033 weapons transfer program.
That and there is an entire swaths of voting American's who believe anyone backed by these groups must be on the side of god and righteousness.
Sure, the people gets screwed, but they have nothing to do with who holds power in American or who gets elected anyway.
All true. In addition, a big bad scary enemy is useful to deflect calls for domestic reform.
"Those who argued against forming these agencies to begin with feared just this."
A good non-war example of this is FDR's Social Security, which really was an attempt at "forced" savings ("capital" in other contexts!), inevitably morphed, over decades of Statist corruption, into 1) a tax on work, and 2) an elderly welfare program in which grandparents eat their grandchildren and their grandchildren's capital. Classical liberals, what few were around in the 30's, saw the writing on the wall.
In a fiat currency system this is not true.
In a failing one it is.
My opinion: Theodore Roosevelt turned to Bonaparte because Theodore was terrified of anarchists. Subsequent presidents thought Hoover useful and terrifying. Greed and fear work well for the FBI.
Very good question. I suspect that it varies. You may already be aware of this but if we were to use other political figures as a baseline, it isn't uncommon for the military industrial complex to provide massive donations to candidates. That, effectively, buys their support when the time comes. These same organizations will pay exorbitant "speaking" fees to those political figures while they are in office and thereafter. The same is true for nearly every other major industry. If it were possible to elect representatives that are not already bought and paid for, we could actually pass legislation that prohibits this activity but I'm pretty sure that will never happen. Interest groups and donors set the agenda. The politicians are just following orders from those who put them in power. That is how I see it anyway.
I think you are half right. Of course, with such a HUGE Federal gov't. there are legions of politicians, not to mention hangers-on, apparatchiks, rent-seekers, suckers-of-public-teet, etc. that are in it for the payola. But the ideological mind-set of Statists that resides in their rotten anti-individual hearts is the other half.
I don't necessarily disagree. Ideology is a factor but the monetary benefits are more tangible.
That is how it IS.
And it was the only area of the US to entirely escape the 2008 recession. It's also the area where no government "workers" lost a nickel of wages during the lockdowns imposed on the rest of the nation.
Don't forget writing a book that no one buys but they got millions for.
Democrat warmongers do precisely the same things. Gun running in Libya? Radicalizing Egypt? Killing Khaddaffi? Obama and Killary.
Thank you. The list is endless -- I would always also include the coup in Honduras and now the endless stream of desperate people into the US. The same with Syria -- and destabilization of Europe by desperate Syrians...
Ellen J
Until you understand the nature of government, you can’t make sense of their specific actions.
Government is an inherently parasitical entity.
It’s only function to gain power and steal value (since it does not create value)
Not one thing that any politician says is what they really think. Some like Bernie are just better actors. Obama: great actor. Reagan: great actor. The ones that people think are genuine are just better actor. Trump: terrible actor.
The warring has virtually nothing to do with ideology. It has to do with the massive Albatross of the US government growing its power, the DOD growing its power, the defense contractors and DOD revolving door working to increase their power and wealth.
It’s why they embark on propaganda campaigns before and during wars. They need a false pretense for warring because most people would never go along with it for the real reasons it’s happening.
There is no aspect of any part of the government carried out for benevolent reasons. It’s an intrinsically evil entity the moment its functions go anything beyond protecting individual liberties.
Blaming government is silly. It's the equivalent of blaming the hammer for the sins of the carpenter.
In the entire history of governments, governments all end up corrupted. Yet it’s silly to blame government? After 10,000 years of failure, those with some sense ask “maybe the structure itself is the problem”.
Where do you think the idea of government came from? Trees? It’s not a natural phenomenon like earthquakes.
If there was no establishment clause, religions would be doing everything in their power to establish *their* religion (as they have and do). Does that mean we have the state regulate religion? Or make religion illegal? No, we make it illegal for the state to establish a religion or favor one over another or be involved in any way. The structure of an established religion is the problem
Same with anything else. The only proper function of government is protecting (not violating) individual liberties
Anything else is inherently corrupt, destructive, and based on violence - that some people will use the force of government to get their way.
But WE choose the gov't, by volition or negligence.
But did you really choose Biden? Or did shenanigans choose him? I know my answer. I will believe in Santa Claus before I believe Biden got 12 million more "real" votes than Obama.
Well, I think DJT got more legal votes.
But did the carpenters really choose Biden? Or did shenanigans choose him? I know my answer. I will believe in Santa Claus before I believe Biden got 12 million more "real" votes than Obama.
Best comment today!
We get the government we choose, whether we are cognizent or not. The people have certainly NOT insurrected, by political vote nor economic vote nor bloodily, in SO long that the mindless State seems to act on its own and will take decades to cut down, even if we actually started to cut it down. WE allow it, either by negligence (freedom isn't free) or by the intent of those like Cheney, whose hearts are rotten with power lust, and who are threatened by men of the people (the DJTs, who get destroyed by otherwise wise people like M. Art).
"he DJTs, who get destroyed by otherwise wise people like M. Art"
WTF?!
Whatever.
Sorry, M. Art. I agree I was a little gratuitous.
Sorry, M. Art. I thought you were anti-DJT. May I give you another chance?
Kudos for eliciting pearls of wisdom from Mr Timothy. Mr Timothy - You Rock, Sir!
"I won't get fooled again. No, no, no. Not again!"
(Only one correction: RR understood and agreed with you about gov't. You need to re-educate yourself there, M. Givemeliberty.)
To neocons and neolibs, power and control are their own rewards. Direct benefit? They don't don't need no stinkin' direct benefit. It's in their rotten hearts.
This is too vague for me. I’m sorry.
They serve the interests of their masters, and are richly rewarded for doing so. It's not complicated.
I apologize also. But your response is vague, too. Can you identify the confusing part? Is it definition of terms? The reference to a famous (and inaccurate, but so a propos) line from Treasure Of The Sierra Madre?That power and control are just as rewarding to Statists as wealth? Or how a heart consumed with fear and hate can ruin a human brain?
Have you ever heard of a white paper by PNAC? This is your why. The Anglo-Zionist WASP’s who love money and the idea that they and only they along with Israel are destined to rule mankind. https://greenwald.substack.com/p/liz-cheney-lied-about-her-role-in/comments
Yes. There we have it. It's the fault of the Jews. Heil Hitler.
This is a pretty blatant ad hominem to avoid the actual point being made. Nowhere did DialecticalAlchemist blame "the Jews"; he instead pointed to a small group of ideologues, some of whom are Jewish and some who are not.
He framed the words "Anglo-Zionist WASP's who love money". That instantly associates negatives with being jewish, wasp, or anglo, and implies they favor money above all.
Maybe those of you in the hitler youth have missed some of this stuff.
As if every single person involved in the invasion of Iraq / afghanistan was not a publicly confessed member of all the top Neo-Con think tanks including PNAC. Prove me wrong. Rumsfeld, Bush Sr, Bush JR, Powel, Rice, Cheney… And all those bible thumping John Hagee Texas voters who cosigned this philosophy. Deny that “A Clean Break” was real and partly written by Richard Perle…..What’s that? You cant? Go back to your Forward.com comment section praising BiBi, liar.
Do you dream being a guard at Auschwitz? Heil Hitler.
Power-mongers are party agnostic, they only give a fuck about their own little fiefdoms.
Wars are VERY profitable for all players involved -- the US foreign policy of both GOP and DNC oligarchs has been IDENTICAL for 70+ years.
The War Party (its GOP and DNC right wings) always needs financing -- hence "existential threats" are everywhere. It is very likely that destruction of Syria and Venezuela will escalate -- "to free its people."
Always remember St. Obama's declaration:
“Venezuela is fundamental threat to USA” -- declared Obama formally initiating regime change.
What he meant is “Socialism is a threat to capitalism”… hence imperial War-party endless wars -- against “godless” Bolivia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Syria, Cuba, China…..
Repeat: Wars are immensely profitable for leaders and donors of both wings of the US War Party. Defund US military terrorism
Politicians don't write bills. Lobbyists do. The military industrial complex isn't just about wars. It's about wasting crazy money on overprices stuff and private contractors. An ordinary hammer might be worth $10. But when the same hammer gets bought through the military, it's worth $50 or other crazy amount.
I am a right winger who wants strong military. But I am also aware that the defence spending doesn't all get spent correctly - it gets wasted on bureaucrats, overpriced stuff and private contractors which are even more expensive and less accountable.
Look at what's happening in Afghanistan. Biden claims to remove the troops. But that's not the full story. He's moving the task to private contractors - 18000 of them.
https://youtu.be/jIapQt75GyE
Ellen,
High ranking decision making members of institutional power within the US tend to view themselves as stewards and servants of US policy. Some do so cynically, some for personal gain, and some with genuine zealotry. Whether they are Adam Schiff or Liz Cheney, they both contribute to the Imperial Grand Strategy. Check out Chomsky's book "Hegemony or Survival", Chapter 2 if you want to see how these strategic aims around the world formed and why they are enforced. It's not just Republic neocons who want to continue these foreign policies, the ideology is very endemic to most institutional power.
Dang, M. ColorlessGreenIdeas. I'm jealous of your communication skills.
Ellen - It is because Capitalism is the basis our ideology—far more important in the US than our proclaimed devotion to democracy. Capitalism demands endless growth and increasing profits, therefore Imperialism to extend our market power becomes inevitable. Lenin wrote the book on this: “Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism.”
Please also know that it isn’t just neocon Republicans that desire these endless wars but most Democrats, as well. Recall Obama inherited two wars, Afghanistan and Iraq, and he quickly expanded that to include Libya, Syria, Somalia, and supporting the Saudi war in Yemen.
Same old "Capitalism is evil" comment. And as usual I will copy paste my answer.
Capitalism is a system where you create a good or service useful to me and I pay you for it. If you don’t produce something useful or you create something defective, I don’t pay you and you go bankrupt. That’s capitalism.
Now please show me where this capitalism is? Is bailing out companies which don’t produce useful stuff capitalism? Is bailing out banks which made poor and corrupt decisions capitalism?