The Assange persecution is the greatest threat to Western press freedoms in years. It is also a shining monument to the fraud of American and British self-depictions.
"Free speech and press freedoms do not exist in reality in the U.S. or the UK. They are merely rhetorical instruments to propagandize their domestic population and justify and ennoble the various wars and other forms of subversion they constantly wage in other countries in the name of upholding values they themselves do not support."
How I wish I did not believe this is a true statement.
Greenwald has published much evidence of how corrupt the US gov't has become, and such evidence is abundant elsewhere. No wonder trust in US gov't is at an all time low. It is earned.
You're being kind. I just watched Tucker Carlson talking to the brother of Assange, and obviously Carlson defends him, and I'm wondering if anyone on MSNBC is doing that. His brother really looked upset. I feel, and maybe it's wishful thinking it won't happen. Maybe Carlson will become more supportive and give this issue more time. More democrats I heard listen to Carlson then they do to Maddow,
To define what our government does, and what it has done, includes our many wars based solely on lies, and lies that have led to millions of deaths. Even before out 21st century wars the US government has killed some 6 million people, overturned whole governments, or killed off their leaders. Calling it shady stuff is too much of an understatement.
One thing to remember is that, prior to the Internet, there was simply no decent information flow (i.e. competition). That was more important in gaining trust than a (relative) lack of corruption.
The difference between now and, say, the Watergate era was not that there once was a noble media, but that the (mostly MSM) media were still relatively independent organizations, even if infiltrated and often more-or-less corrupted. But to get the best low-down, one would ordinarily need to live in a big city, for word-of-mouth and the underground press. And yes, reporters could still say with a straight face that they supported and practiced the noble cause of getting "truth" to the people.
Now, MSM is no better than than the old Soviet Pravda ("Truth"). Just more psychologically sophisticated, and ten times more slick looking, and fully a slave to (as CJ Hopkins puts it) GloboCap, fully staffed with drones, either mindless or captured.
Back in The Good Old Days, publishing news was hard. For one thing, you needed a printing press, which was expensive and required specialized staff to operate it. Not only that, but a printing press cost money for every sheet of paper printed, and you had to spend more money on distribution. A TV or radio station didn't come cheap, either, and you needed a license on top of that.
They say that "freedom of the press belongs to those who own one" but there's more! Unless you planned to publish as an expensive and time-consuming hobby, you needed an income stream. You would get some money from subscriptions, but subscriptions are really a means to sell advertising. Dependence on advertising meant that there were some people the publisher had to keep happy, and others he could not afford to annoy.
Anyone who knows anything about local news knows this. At best, it's a tightrope walk between giving subscribers the news they want to know, and not infuriating your advertisers. The result was a sort of natural censorship. Publishers had to think long and hard before they published anything that would tork the bigwigs off. The fact that a publisher was tied to a physical location and physical assets also made libel suits much easier.
The internet changed all that. Now, any anonymous toolio with a laptop and WiFi can go into the news publishing business by nightfall, and with worldwide distribution and advertising revenue, to boot. Marginal cost of readership is zero. Needless to say, this development has The People That Matter very concerned, and they are working hard to stuff that genie back into the bottle.
Thanks, that filled in a some important details on the way it once was.
However, I imagine you'll agree it is still true that, no matter how much easier it is now disseminate information -- and thus more bad information, absolutely *and* by proportion -- there is also still *far* more *good* information than in the past -- by absolute quantity. *If* you train yourself where and how to get it.
At least now you aren't so much at the mercy of the local gatekeeper.
Which, as I said, this has The People That Matter very concerned, and they are working hard to stuff that pesky information genie back into the bottle.
What weighs on me is the amount of people that eat it up from both sides of the aisle.
“You have to understand, most of these people aren’t ready to be unplugged. And some of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.”
Yet the courts still protect the press, even under a conservative SCOTUS and many conservative appointments to the lower courts. Don't get all hyperventilated yet, keep to the actual charges:
Biss, you don't seem to grasp that the US judicial system is utterly corrupt. Only the Supreme Court seems to have a sensable honorable and honest people in the seats of their court. And this could be very fleeting, these men are in danger from he maniacs of the Uber-Left that are out stalking them as I type this.
The only thing I find surprising about the whole Assange extradition affair is how abjectly stupid BOTH "the powers that be" and the propaganda corps are.
Apparently they're too stupid to realize that setting a precedence wherein they're now claiming what amounts to universal jurisdiction to the point of killing people means that any government anywhere in the world can now declare anything anyone does anywhere on the planet illegal under penalty of death, and extradite them extrajudicially from wherever - and lest you think Britain HAS "followed the rule of law", that just means you haven't been following that this whole procedure has been conducted illegally under British law!
This effectively is the kiss-off of the entire concept of the rule of law itself; it obviously doesn't actually mean shit to these people, and, by setting that precedence, it spells trouble for the whole world.
The US mainstream media is complicit with suppression of real journalists because these raging mediocrities have no more chance of performing real journalism than they have of jumping over the moon. They are not very bright, unimaginative, and don't like reading very much. They're glorified entertainers. So, they don't see the imprisonment of a real journalist as much of a threat. There's simply not enough commonality for them to identify with.
REALLY?! Amazing! ... Got a link or citation for me?! I'd love to find that! (Yes, I can do web searches, but a pointer to cut down on the wrong leads would be helpful.)
I'm sorry but I don't have a link. I remember him saying it during the Bush administration when Pvt. Manning released the video of civilians being shot from a helicopter.
I think it has gotten a lot worse after WWII and I think the formation of the CIA, helped to accomplish that because what can you call other then an organized crime outfit.
Very aptly said. And the ultimate tragedy is, the people, at least at a time not too far back, had the power to stop this - at the ballot box. The people listened the siren song of government "assistance", "safety regulations", you-name-it, and abdicated their authority and their responsibilities to themselves. The government has not enslaved us. Our subservient character, and obedient nature, are what did it.
Glad we agree on much of that. ... I think the "cause" is a little more complex than you state it. I'd say that, VERY succinctly and surely somewhat wrong due to brevity, is that the ultra-rich realize that because government is the ONLY thing that can constrain them, they have devoted considerable effort to the long-game of controlling government through a variety of means, lest it control them. And, as for We, The People, the ultra-rich have realized that some of us can be placated with distractions while the rest of us can be kept too busy struggling to just live our lives to devote enough attention to our duty to manage government to suit US instead of THEM. The few remaining can be persecuted as they've done to Manning, Assange, Snowden and anyone and everyone else they see as getting in their way.
Your last sentence, well, SOME, sure, but I think most people don't want to be wage slaves but see little option.
My feeling is that this is a problem (the world over, not just America) that is going to affect us from the bottom up. Those at the bottom will be affected long before those in the middle. They already are if you care to take a look at the third world country of your choice.
The first will be casually devoured like a Roman Emperor eating a bowl of grapes at the Coliseum on fight day. At some point though, all the grapes will be gone and the man in the pricey toga will start in on bigger fruit. And by then it will be too late.
The middle who will have looked down at those below them and repeated the mantra "At least I'm not that!" will come to realize that yes, yes, they actually are.
"They already are if you care to take a look at the third world country of your choice."
Lets take an actual example most here know pretty well: The United States of America.
YEP, the bottom HALF are suffering VERY badly, AND it's starting to have an effect on the "middle."
I happen to work near the Coliseum (the Oakland Coliseum, that is) and there's rampant homelessness here - and all throughout most all our cities. And these aren't, for the most part, deadbeats, these are people wtih JOBS! Its just that their jobs pay SO poorly, they can't afford a place to live! Or, conversely, the housing is so f-ing expensive, they can't afford a place to live. Or, both. And even two, three, heck FIVE of 'em pooling together can't rent a house to save their lives! Seriously!
This is BAD. And it's getting worse BY THE DAY. These fuel prices are making even the crappy jobs these people have not pay enough to live, the fuel taking up whatever little cushion they may have had. The USA is a VERY tough place NOT to be wealthy in - it's the oasis it once was no longer.
I am not concerned with this case setting some kind of president. They want him so badly and for so long because they want to make him an example for others, and let them know the repercussions they will suffer if they dare engage in the same behaviors. Interesting they got their wish as they carry out a one sided trial with no one to challenge their lies.
You don't have to be concerned about it, of course, but I do note that your lack of concern is the exact same sort of thing as the lack of concern about journalism that MSM "journalists" have as Greenwald points out in his article.
They clearly deserve prison time for their traitorous acts. And THEY, at least, are _genuine_traitors._ However, I don't see how anything negative comes to them except, at worst, a negative rating in the public's perception.
I do hope I'm wrong about that last point, though.
These psychopaths get away with what they do because WE ALLOW IT
Americans are in an abusive relationship with a bunch of psychopaths and while they continue to be abused ij the extreme they are still waiting for their abusers to change or for a 3rd party SAVIOR
IT. WONT. HAPPEN.
People in abusive relationships are unlikely to change until the abuse is SO BAD that they can no longer IGNORE IT. In our case, even though inflation is uncomfortable we are not yet to starving
BUT WE WILL SOON BE
Change will come when Americans are personally and profoundly affected by the psychopaths behavior
It appears that the American voter has tired of political party first politics. The voters of 6% Republican San Francisco just voted out a progressive DA. The voters of heavily-Democratic Los Angeles appear to be ready to do the same.
Voters of America are dismissed as ignorant, unsophisticated deplorables. Watch what happens when an elitist snob gets between the voter and food for her child.
The only problem is that there is no shortage of elitist snobs for folks who have the wherewithal to bag one to recuit if the one they backed gets turfed after four years of servitude.
Somebody in Congress when another matter involving these two nonstop liars, when it is their turn to question, needs to blast them if they keep giving the 'I do not recall' reply, as that is the same thing as the mafia bosses pleading the fifth prior to RICO and other laws. At least one person also needs to ask why anything they say is to be believed given how many times they have repeatedly lied.
Which shows they are unqualified for their jobs as they can't remember anything! They are national security liabilities. I mean, whose to say they didn't take bribes from the CCP, from North Korea, Saudi Arabia or who knows who else and just forgot about them? Whose to say they didn't leave classified information lying around?
They can't say that never happened, I mean, they cannot recall after all.
Today's Department of Justice under the Biden regime is more corrupt than it has ever been in US history. And that is saying a lot. The FBI has been totally corrupt since J, Edgar. And now COINTELPRO has been activated to persecute the Trump Republicans.
See: FBI Raids Home of Retired Texas Couple Who Attended Jan. 6 Capitol Rally
Damn, Glenn, your columns are so powerful, that I hang on every word, but at the same time, so depressing.
I know you hate Trump, but the same forces conspired to destroy him. If they could take down a duly elected POTUS, and prop up a demented back bencher, how can our country survive?
I disagree. He called out Comey, Brennan, Clapper and many of the generals and got crucified. He fought it harder than any President or elected official than I've seen in my 65 years, but as Schumer predicted, you can't win a fight against them.
My biggest disappointment in Trump--his lack of a backbone. His instincts were generally on target, at least in the ballpark. But, he tolerated incompetence and backstabbing at an unbelievable level. I put it down to his simply not understanding how deep and wide the corruption in The Swamp is. However, he had time to learn. Comey should have been all it took.
I must agree. I read through all the comments before entering this one. Trump did do a lot for the country - no new wars, pointed out that "we [the U.S.] are not so innocent", fair trade, almost full employment especially for minorities, a good economy with affordable living, strove to get along with foreign leaders. In those areas he was intelligent and had good understanding and the guts. But he basically totally caved to the Deep State, despite knowing it was his worst enemy. He'd post insulting tweets, then try to be buddies with the CIA, NSA, etc. WTF?
Trump never wanted to fight the real Deep State. To fight the Deep State, you have to be a civil libertarian. Trump has never had the record of a civil libertarian; it's laughable to compare his record on devotion to civil liberties with the record of someone like Greenwald. So, when Trump kept proclaiming he was opposing the Deep State, it could only be a slogan which he liked insofar as it could be used to suit his personal advantage.
Are we willing to swallow the idea that the "Deep State" is basically identical with the major anti-Trump forces in and around government? It's comforting for Trump's followers to believe something like that. They can feel comforted because they've come to think of the Deep State as inherently something that Trump is opposed to. So, when they dislike something about the Deep State (the real Deep State), they make the mental jump to thinking that Trump must want to fight against it, even if Trump has shown little evidence of that. Or if a person in government during Trump's administration had the decency to not follow Trump, due to having at least a tiny concern for the national interest or the people's rights or something else that matters more to them than obeying the White House occupant, Trump's followers will be too quick to assume "Oh, it's the Deep State trying to undermine Trump." Likewise, when these followers speculate about whether Epstein was killed in federal prison, they don't acknowledge the obvious possibility that *if* some powerful person was involved, it could naturally have been the individual who heads the chain of command for the federal prison system (Trump himself, who had connections to Epstein).
In reality, Trump appointed typical Deep State people like Pompeo and Haspel, and Greenwald keeps refusing to face what that shows. It shows that Trump truly doesn't mind many parts of the government that undermine people's rights as long as his connection to his followers remains intact. Trump isn't the kind of booster of the Deep State than many other presidents have been, so in comparison to other presidents he looks better on that point, but not being a booster of the Deep State doesn't make him an opponent of the Deep State either. In fact Trump sabotaged the fight against the Deep State by spreading the idea that the Deep State could only be what opposes Trump (Greenwald and others helped Trump do this). That weakens the fight against the Deep State in two ways: first, for Trump's followers, any energy they initially had to oppose the Deep State on principle gets redirected in a way that slavishly aligns with Trump's interests, and second, for those not attracted to Trump's many bad qualities, it's harder for them to think of themselves as fighting the Deep State when that term has been unmoored from its ethical foundations by Trump's subverting it into a partisan rallying cry. Once "Deep State" is reframed as a term that just aligns with partisan self-interest, it can no longer be used as a common goal. Since early in Trump's presidency, Greenwald has contributed to this process, whether he meant to or not. The fight against the Deep State could have been more transpartisan, but Greenwald was swept up in the excitement of the Trumpian drive for power, had unrealistic hopes that Trump would do more against the real Deep State, and helped to undermine the transpartisan coalition against the Deep State that needs to be gradually built up.
Epstein had things he could have said the public didn't already know, but Assange has already published what he has to share. And so, he's far more valuable as an example of what happens to people who out the USA's secrets (especially about its war crimes), than as a martyr.
Trump did make those stupid decisions but for all the tough guy talk, HE KNEW WHO WAS BOSS (In his case, billionaire psychopath Israeli Sheldon Adelson) and he knew what they would do if he did not OBEY. JUST LIKE BIDEN
Yes. And his failure to do so, on inauguration day, crippled his presidency, emboldened his fascist enemies. We Trump supporters have to admit it is a huge stain - where there should have been a huge win for truth and justice.
My point is not in defense of Trump, who I do believe was committed to changing the 'Depp State', but that the DS could destroy him, and place a tool like Biden in his place.
Well, he was in a variety of fights for four years, and I admire that he never gave up, even though the historians will write an entirely different epitaph.
Maybe DeSantis will take up the cause and make progress. I'd vote for Trump a third time out of principle, but think the globalists would nuke the country in response.
I, too, will vote for Trump a third time, should he run. If the GOP manages to nominate one of their typical RINO's (think Jeb!), I will write in Trump.
I agree that, should Trump run and win in 2024, it is probably Armageddon.
Interesting info if true- Esther Joy King told my dad at a fundraiser that McConnell said they would impeach him if he pardoned Assange. Why she would know and it hasn’t got out, no clue. But I find it plausible. Trump is too chicken shit to actually accomplish much and McConnell is a POS.
Well, they can do even less to Trump now, and even then, they couldn't do very much.
They can't charge Trump with treason without a declared war. That is why, for instance, Jane Fonda was able to put on fundraisers for the North Vietnamese Army and even go to Hanoi to deliver the proceeds, and the Nixon Administration of "enemies list" fame, couldn't do jack about it.
Note the relative silence of the US and UK MSM. You'd think that they might be concerned over press freedom, but they are not.
Their "journalists" sleep soundly in their beds, comforted in that they will never say or write or even think so much as a syllable that their masters would not approve of.
There aren't any 'journalists' anymore in the traditional media. You have to root them out on Substack and various other podcast/SM alternatives. My hope is that they will eventually coalesce and form an organized media alternative that is true to the first amendment.
"Why, of course, the people don't want war," Goering shrugged. "Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship."
"There is one difference," I pointed out. "In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars."
"Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."
Personal animus toward Assange has become a litmus test for those in power. When core civic liberties are undermined by the powers that be, the most common modus operandi is to eliminate core civic liberties, and a common tactic is to begin by targeting a figure who is both deeply marginalized and disliked.
Glenn is correct in that the Espionage Act and Sedition Act were used by Woodrow Wilson in a way that was more repressive than what Lincoln did even at the height of the Civil War. It hardly got any press. It also cowed the press in such a way that most of the country had no idea how incapacitated WIlson was in that last two years of his presidency. Today, it is just a compliant media that ignores presidential incapacitation.
Wilson also jailed journalists who were writing about the Spanish Flu pandemic. BTW, it's called the Spanish Flu because it was the Spanish press that started publishing news about it. The flu actually originated in Missouri (correct me if I am mistaken).
Sad, but not surprised, at Assange extradition order. It's laws like the Espionage/Sedition Acts that fuel my belief that every law should include a 'sunset' provision, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years (no more than 20), at which point the law should have to be affirmatively voted on again in both houses of Congress.
I don't disagree. In this case, they will draw a jury pool from the greater DC area in Virginia, prosecutors will be successful in limiting scope of evidence or testimony for the defense due to limitations placed on the defense (no justification defense permitted). In short, he will be facing a coin toss of a trial with a two-headed penny.
I have a sick feeling that they're releasing Assange, knowing he will probably be "suicided" in custody before it ever gets to the farcical trial. Deep state desperately needs a new "LOOK, SQUIRREL!" diversion, now that the Covid lies, January 6th farce and Ukraine narrative are unravelling faster than the economy going down the toilet.
The media neocons and neo-liberal interventionist warmongers alike are puppets controlled by The CIA and The Pentagon, which maintain absolute power. The War Party sprawls across both sides of the aisle and tolerates no meaningful pushback against their military adventurism, colonial human rights violations and mass murder.
...(A)nd the State and "Defense" (read, War) Departments (of course, the War Department is part of the Pentagon---the State Department isn't part of the Pentagon too, is it? I realize they're all joined at the hip).
Gore Vidal used to delineate between the real government and the fake government. In the real government, the departments are all connected. Hillary and Bush Sr. both worked in the real government then tried to play in the fake government and found it difficult. They both knew too much to participate in the puppet show.
The real government is not susceptible to election results. The central banksters, the Military Industrial Complex, the Intel Community all grind on regardless of elections.
What Gore Vidal was talking about is that regardless of which party we elect, the business of government goes on. The defense departments, state department, the CIA, etc. are supported by the uni-party and the media. On all important issues to the elites, there is zero change one administration to the next.
There is a forward facing government that presents to the public as the state department, Defense department, etc. but behind that the machinery grinds on regardless of consent from the public.
"The Obama Justice Department under Attorney General Eric Holder prosecuted more whistleblowers under the Espionage Act of 1917 than all previous administrations combined — in fact, three times as many as all prior presidents combined."
Folks who say that Obama was "different" need to remember this. There is no difference between Rs and Ds. It is all just one ruling class in a system designed to make us think that we actually have a choice.
As a prosecutor I am all too aware of the need to prove -- beyond a reasonable doubt and to the unanimous satisfaction of the jury ---the "intent" requirement of any and all public official corruption charges. The jury instructions are overwhelmingly defense oriented in these kinds of cases [naturally ---what else would one expect?]. The path open to any public official --- say, for example, James Comey--- to an easy Not Guilty verdict is the 'irrational good faith belief defense' --whereby the defendant admits his conduct was 'astray' but was pursued in mistaken, dumber -than- cat -shit 'good
faith.' Voila --- intent element of charge erased. No such defense is available under The Espionage Act [naturally --what else would one expect?]. The fact the essayists we most admire, including Glenn himself, are absolutely vulnerable under this law gives the lie to the idea of Freedom of Speech.
In the event of an Assange conviction (ha,ha,ha, as though it won't be a kangaroo court), is there any hope that the Supreme Court could step in and save him?
Assange's big sin is having embarrassed politicians and bureaucrats, and for that he has been hunted and hounded.
The US, UK, and any other nation that wants to preserve freedom, desperately needs to limit the time that politicians and bureaucrats are in positions where they can abuse power. This means term limits and lifetime limits, both for politicians as well as political appointees and high ranking bureaucrats (like Fauci, for example). The longer these people are in office the more arrogant they become and the more damage they can do. We'll lose a few qualified and honest people, but that price is worth ridding ourselves of the others.
It'll never be allowed to happen though. I think if people like Pelosi and Feinstein, etc., were told they had to leave Congress for good (pun intended), they'd either drop dead from heart attacks or strokes right there on the spot (or end up permanently incapacitated for the rest of their misbegotten "lives" [sic(k)!], or they'd only leave kicking and screaming. But the deep state would never allow them to be required to retire.
It wasn't that long ago the media was applauding whistleblowers when it came to Trump. Reality Winner was paraded around as a hero for months by all of these people only a couple of years ago.
It's funny how easily they can switch back and forth on their morals.
I'm not sure how much they're leading around the public by the nose, or how much of it is just the apathy or impotence of the masses.
I suspect most don't follow it or don't care (it doesn't help that it's not really covered at all in American media). It's a shame, because the Assange/Snowden/Manning cases are easily the most important (in my opinion) cases of at least the last decade or two.
One of my best friends thinks the U.S. is the most honest, sincere, moral governments ever existed. Even though he despises Biden and acknowledges FBI, deep state corruption, he believes Donald Trump and a Republican wave will fix everything. Delusional. Voting is an endorsement of one's subjugation to the corrupt state. If no one voted, or paid taxes, or sent their hapless children to government schools, how long would this BS last? But no, stooges like my friend will continue to vote, pay taxes and send their sad children to public school and think if only their people take charge, everything will be fine.
That PsyOp didn’t get enough attention, IMO. Violence and chaos, trying to divide the nation, all the MSM in board praising them, ignoring that their premises were built on lies and that they caused exponentially more damage than this Jan 6th did… notice also how it all completely stopped when Biden got into office. Smells like textbook CIA regime change, seen it all over the world
Dunno about that. Most of the BLM arrests were for minor things (probably as prevention in light of previous protests getting extensively out of hand - billions in damages across the country, lots of injuries, some deaths). I’m not a cop nor trying to defend all their decisions. But tell me what was the damage and injury totals from the Jan 6th protests? And why are they being magnified so much more - just because a few elites felt threatened, vs millions of ordinary citizens?
Which is why I either laugh or scream when Biden, et al, keep repeating that the ‘rich’ must pay their fair share. If they aren’t in jail for tax evasion (and most aren’t) they are paying their legal tax responsibility under IRS rules.
It's not endorsement, because it's not done voluntarily. Taxes are extracted from people through coercion backed up by the institutional violence of the state.
People pay taxes because the alternative is going to jail.
Your argument is like saying someone who gives up money when being robbed at gunpoint is endorsing armed robbery.
"Voting is an endorsement of one's subjugation to the corrupt state."
For decades, the round-numbers haven't really shifted much: About half of those eligible are not registered and of those registered about half actually vote and about half go for R and the other half go for D: IF the non-voters out there decided to get engaged and voted "third party" EVERY DAMNED TIME, it would cause a genuine revolution in this country practically overnight, and with very little risk of people actually being killed during it.
Your way, we either live under the boot heel of the ultra-rich until they drive us all to extinction, or we rise up and get slaughtered in the streets by the tens of millions with no clear result visible from here. My conclusion is either you haven't thought this through, or you want violence OR oppression.
Doesn't matter. That DROVES of people are NOT choosing D or R is what matters. And, either way, someone OTHER than a D or R would win as there just aren't that many candidates, especially "third party" ones. And, the present non-voters _dwarf_ the scale of the current voters by around 3 to 1.
Ever heard you can’t complain if you don’t vote? Go 3rd party, at least you’re using your voice. Also don’t forget you vote with your wallet every day!
My feeling is whether you want violence or not, it is already here. Or do you think all of the mass shootings we are all seeing have absolutely nothing to do with the world we live in?
That each and every one of the people doing the shooting are as most media would have you believe, 'deranged individuals' who have gone off their collective rockers completely on their own accord?
Sure, that's bad. And every life lost or damaged by such acts are a tragedy and the perps definitely criminals deserving prison.
That said, this is of a wholly different scale than what happens when We, The People ACTUALLY rise up.
These murders of which you speak are noise for the ultra-rich; no real threat to THEM. They'll tolerate it forever and it will do NOTHING for us. So, it's not clear why you bring them up. The question here is about CHANGING THE SYSTEM, and that won't happen voluntarily on the part of the ultra-rich.
Whether or not the VOLUNTEER men and women of our military, national guard and various thousands of police forces will ACTUALLY mow down U.S. citizens rising up to change the system or not. But they are SURELY armed for the job. And facing that head on is the only OTHER choice we have ... other than Voting Third Party, that is. Or, have you another non-violent means to suggest?
I do not disagree with anything you have said there, but you do not need the caps to put your argument out there man. :) It might not be me, it might not even be in my lifetime, but at some point people will have had enough and then it will be Voltaire all over again.
It is truly a shame that people in power can't learn from history, that they are so arrogant to feel that somehow they are beyond it but are nonetheless end up repeating it over and over again. We could be so much further ahead as a species if they would stop doing that shit.
(I didn't use caps to yell, but rather as bolding where as I do _this_ to indicate italics. -shrug- I'm olds-school when it comes to typing: I've been using comptuers daily since the fall of 1977...
It's "manufactured consent "; much cheaper and more effective than a police state. Money, democracy, rule of law, god, human rights, constitution etc., etc. ; all a giant crock of you know what. Homo sapiens can believe anything and the more fantastical the better.
Financially, I do not know if it actually *is* cheaper in terms of this is what it costs in advertising dollars vs this is what it costs in weapons dollars. Wouldn't you like to see those books?
"Free speech and press freedoms do not exist in reality in the U.S. or the UK. They are merely rhetorical instruments to propagandize their domestic population and justify and ennoble the various wars and other forms of subversion they constantly wage in other countries in the name of upholding values they themselves do not support."
How I wish I did not believe this is a true statement.
Greenwald has published much evidence of how corrupt the US gov't has become, and such evidence is abundant elsewhere. No wonder trust in US gov't is at an all time low. It is earned.
I often hear complaints from government officials and adjacent about how nobody trusts authority anymore.
Maybe they should try not doing so much shady stuff if they want to be trusted?
Just saying.
Shady is an understatement.
I didn't even see your statement, but obviously felt shady just didn't tell it like it is.
Our gov operates more like a mafia
You're being kind. I just watched Tucker Carlson talking to the brother of Assange, and obviously Carlson defends him, and I'm wondering if anyone on MSNBC is doing that. His brother really looked upset. I feel, and maybe it's wishful thinking it won't happen. Maybe Carlson will become more supportive and give this issue more time. More democrats I heard listen to Carlson then they do to Maddow,
To define what our government does, and what it has done, includes our many wars based solely on lies, and lies that have led to millions of deaths. Even before out 21st century wars the US government has killed some 6 million people, overturned whole governments, or killed off their leaders. Calling it shady stuff is too much of an understatement.
One thing to remember is that, prior to the Internet, there was simply no decent information flow (i.e. competition). That was more important in gaining trust than a (relative) lack of corruption.
The difference between now and, say, the Watergate era was not that there once was a noble media, but that the (mostly MSM) media were still relatively independent organizations, even if infiltrated and often more-or-less corrupted. But to get the best low-down, one would ordinarily need to live in a big city, for word-of-mouth and the underground press. And yes, reporters could still say with a straight face that they supported and practiced the noble cause of getting "truth" to the people.
Now, MSM is no better than than the old Soviet Pravda ("Truth"). Just more psychologically sophisticated, and ten times more slick looking, and fully a slave to (as CJ Hopkins puts it) GloboCap, fully staffed with drones, either mindless or captured.
Back in The Good Old Days, publishing news was hard. For one thing, you needed a printing press, which was expensive and required specialized staff to operate it. Not only that, but a printing press cost money for every sheet of paper printed, and you had to spend more money on distribution. A TV or radio station didn't come cheap, either, and you needed a license on top of that.
They say that "freedom of the press belongs to those who own one" but there's more! Unless you planned to publish as an expensive and time-consuming hobby, you needed an income stream. You would get some money from subscriptions, but subscriptions are really a means to sell advertising. Dependence on advertising meant that there were some people the publisher had to keep happy, and others he could not afford to annoy.
Anyone who knows anything about local news knows this. At best, it's a tightrope walk between giving subscribers the news they want to know, and not infuriating your advertisers. The result was a sort of natural censorship. Publishers had to think long and hard before they published anything that would tork the bigwigs off. The fact that a publisher was tied to a physical location and physical assets also made libel suits much easier.
The internet changed all that. Now, any anonymous toolio with a laptop and WiFi can go into the news publishing business by nightfall, and with worldwide distribution and advertising revenue, to boot. Marginal cost of readership is zero. Needless to say, this development has The People That Matter very concerned, and they are working hard to stuff that genie back into the bottle.
Thanks, that filled in a some important details on the way it once was.
However, I imagine you'll agree it is still true that, no matter how much easier it is now disseminate information -- and thus more bad information, absolutely *and* by proportion -- there is also still *far* more *good* information than in the past -- by absolute quantity. *If* you train yourself where and how to get it.
At least now you aren't so much at the mercy of the local gatekeeper.
Which, as I said, this has The People That Matter very concerned, and they are working hard to stuff that pesky information genie back into the bottle.
" *If* you train yourself where and how to get it."--Anti-Hip
That is how most of us got here! Quality information, sourced and relaiable.
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Comment was good; the use of the word "Toolio" took it to the "Great" status.
All of which is true, but...wait for it. Now it's available in Canada!
Yep. But it is.
What weighs on me is the amount of people that eat it up from both sides of the aisle.
“You have to understand, most of these people aren’t ready to be unplugged. And some of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.”
- Morpheus
Yet the courts still protect the press, even under a conservative SCOTUS and many conservative appointments to the lower courts. Don't get all hyperventilated yet, keep to the actual charges:
https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1289641/download
The question is whether he actually hacked the network and as Manning was found guilty, he appears to have little exposure to that charge.
Biss, you don't seem to grasp that the US judicial system is utterly corrupt. Only the Supreme Court seems to have a sensable honorable and honest people in the seats of their court. And this could be very fleeting, these men are in danger from he maniacs of the Uber-Left that are out stalking them as I type this.
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The only thing I find surprising about the whole Assange extradition affair is how abjectly stupid BOTH "the powers that be" and the propaganda corps are.
Apparently they're too stupid to realize that setting a precedence wherein they're now claiming what amounts to universal jurisdiction to the point of killing people means that any government anywhere in the world can now declare anything anyone does anywhere on the planet illegal under penalty of death, and extradite them extrajudicially from wherever - and lest you think Britain HAS "followed the rule of law", that just means you haven't been following that this whole procedure has been conducted illegally under British law!
This effectively is the kiss-off of the entire concept of the rule of law itself; it obviously doesn't actually mean shit to these people, and, by setting that precedence, it spells trouble for the whole world.
The US mainstream media is complicit with suppression of real journalists because these raging mediocrities have no more chance of performing real journalism than they have of jumping over the moon. They are not very bright, unimaginative, and don't like reading very much. They're glorified entertainers. So, they don't see the imprisonment of a real journalist as much of a threat. There's simply not enough commonality for them to identify with.
I see them as renaissance courtiers, whose job it is to act as P.R. agents to power.
"News is something that someone wants to keep secret. Everything else is just publicity."
I agree wholeheartedly. Which is one reason your non-stop attacks on me are so incomprehensible.
Jesus, you absolutely nailed it
"In a nation of lies the truth is treason."---Ron Paul
Nothing could be more accurate, sad and frightening.
Edit: Ron Paul quoting Orwell.
“The right to agree with others is not a problem in any society; it is the right to disagree that is crucial.”
—Ayn Rand
RON PAUL 2024!!!!!!!
He's one of the few Congressmen to ever have the courage to call Assange a hero.
REALLY?! Amazing! ... Got a link or citation for me?! I'd love to find that! (Yes, I can do web searches, but a pointer to cut down on the wrong leads would be helpful.)
I'm sorry but I don't have a link. I remember him saying it during the Bush administration when Pvt. Manning released the video of civilians being shot from a helicopter.
Well, that narrows it down to 8 years!
Ron Paul Tells Trump: Assange Is A Hero, Do Not Send Him To Prison
April 25, 2017
https://newspunch.com/ron-paul-assange-wikileaks/
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Lest anyone else be confused; that's Orwell.
It seems almost every good quote is just repeated and believed to come from the last person to utter it....including what I just said.
Quite true. Can I quote you on that?
or both
The rule of law has been dead for a long time now.
I think it has gotten a lot worse after WWII and I think the formation of the CIA, helped to accomplish that because what can you call other then an organized crime outfit.
Very aptly said. And the ultimate tragedy is, the people, at least at a time not too far back, had the power to stop this - at the ballot box. The people listened the siren song of government "assistance", "safety regulations", you-name-it, and abdicated their authority and their responsibilities to themselves. The government has not enslaved us. Our subservient character, and obedient nature, are what did it.
Glad we agree on much of that. ... I think the "cause" is a little more complex than you state it. I'd say that, VERY succinctly and surely somewhat wrong due to brevity, is that the ultra-rich realize that because government is the ONLY thing that can constrain them, they have devoted considerable effort to the long-game of controlling government through a variety of means, lest it control them. And, as for We, The People, the ultra-rich have realized that some of us can be placated with distractions while the rest of us can be kept too busy struggling to just live our lives to devote enough attention to our duty to manage government to suit US instead of THEM. The few remaining can be persecuted as they've done to Manning, Assange, Snowden and anyone and everyone else they see as getting in their way.
Your last sentence, well, SOME, sure, but I think most people don't want to be wage slaves but see little option.
It will change when
1. Americans are personally and profoundly affected by gov psychopaths
2 When Americans have nothing left to lose
3. When Americans no longer IGNORE THEIR PROBLEM
My feeling is that this is a problem (the world over, not just America) that is going to affect us from the bottom up. Those at the bottom will be affected long before those in the middle. They already are if you care to take a look at the third world country of your choice.
The first will be casually devoured like a Roman Emperor eating a bowl of grapes at the Coliseum on fight day. At some point though, all the grapes will be gone and the man in the pricey toga will start in on bigger fruit. And by then it will be too late.
The middle who will have looked down at those below them and repeated the mantra "At least I'm not that!" will come to realize that yes, yes, they actually are.
"They already are if you care to take a look at the third world country of your choice."
Lets take an actual example most here know pretty well: The United States of America.
YEP, the bottom HALF are suffering VERY badly, AND it's starting to have an effect on the "middle."
I happen to work near the Coliseum (the Oakland Coliseum, that is) and there's rampant homelessness here - and all throughout most all our cities. And these aren't, for the most part, deadbeats, these are people wtih JOBS! Its just that their jobs pay SO poorly, they can't afford a place to live! Or, conversely, the housing is so f-ing expensive, they can't afford a place to live. Or, both. And even two, three, heck FIVE of 'em pooling together can't rent a house to save their lives! Seriously!
This is BAD. And it's getting worse BY THE DAY. These fuel prices are making even the crappy jobs these people have not pay enough to live, the fuel taking up whatever little cushion they may have had. The USA is a VERY tough place NOT to be wealthy in - it's the oasis it once was no longer.
I am not concerned with this case setting some kind of president. They want him so badly and for so long because they want to make him an example for others, and let them know the repercussions they will suffer if they dare engage in the same behaviors. Interesting they got their wish as they carry out a one sided trial with no one to challenge their lies.
You don't have to be concerned about it, of course, but I do note that your lack of concern is the exact same sort of thing as the lack of concern about journalism that MSM "journalists" have as Greenwald points out in his article.
They clearly deserve prison time for their traitorous acts. And THEY, at least, are _genuine_traitors._ However, I don't see how anything negative comes to them except, at worst, a negative rating in the public's perception.
I do hope I'm wrong about that last point, though.
We've been hearing for years how these two criminals are going to be exposed and punished-still waiting.
Let's not kid ourselves
These psychopaths get away with what they do because WE ALLOW IT
Americans are in an abusive relationship with a bunch of psychopaths and while they continue to be abused ij the extreme they are still waiting for their abusers to change or for a 3rd party SAVIOR
IT. WONT. HAPPEN.
People in abusive relationships are unlikely to change until the abuse is SO BAD that they can no longer IGNORE IT. In our case, even though inflation is uncomfortable we are not yet to starving
BUT WE WILL SOON BE
Change will come when Americans are personally and profoundly affected by the psychopaths behavior
It appears that the American voter has tired of political party first politics. The voters of 6% Republican San Francisco just voted out a progressive DA. The voters of heavily-Democratic Los Angeles appear to be ready to do the same.
Voters of America are dismissed as ignorant, unsophisticated deplorables. Watch what happens when an elitist snob gets between the voter and food for her child.
The only problem is that there is no shortage of elitist snobs for folks who have the wherewithal to bag one to recuit if the one they backed gets turfed after four years of servitude.
I haven't been hearing that; where are you hearing that? (It doesn't sound like MSM material!)
They get the "no reasonable prosecutor" get out of jail free card.
Somebody in Congress when another matter involving these two nonstop liars, when it is their turn to question, needs to blast them if they keep giving the 'I do not recall' reply, as that is the same thing as the mafia bosses pleading the fifth prior to RICO and other laws. At least one person also needs to ask why anything they say is to be believed given how many times they have repeatedly lied.
...or how bad their memory is!
Which shows they are unqualified for their jobs as they can't remember anything! They are national security liabilities. I mean, whose to say they didn't take bribes from the CCP, from North Korea, Saudi Arabia or who knows who else and just forgot about them? Whose to say they didn't leave classified information lying around?
They can't say that never happened, I mean, they cannot recall after all.
My point, exactly.
The most important reason to never believe them, though, is that they're professional liars - it's a part of their job description!
What makes you think the judge will allow the evidence?
Why do you think that a Virginia district was selected?
It should not, you mean. The federal "courts" are in on the repression and won't allow a real defense.
The jury will be packed with airheads…guaranteed.
What do you think could possibly happen to them under today’s DoJ?
Today's Department of Justice under the Biden regime is more corrupt than it has ever been in US history. And that is saying a lot. The FBI has been totally corrupt since J, Edgar. And now COINTELPRO has been activated to persecute the Trump Republicans.
See: FBI Raids Home of Retired Texas Couple Who Attended Jan. 6 Capitol Rally
https://www.theepochtimes.com/fbi-raids-home-of-retired-texas-couple-who-attended-jan-6-capitol-rally_4557650.html
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Ugh.
Ugh.
Ugh.
Damn, Glenn, your columns are so powerful, that I hang on every word, but at the same time, so depressing.
I know you hate Trump, but the same forces conspired to destroy him. If they could take down a duly elected POTUS, and prop up a demented back bencher, how can our country survive?
Keep in mind that Trump could have pardoned Assange at any time.
As I recall, TRUMP _initiated_ this prosecution!
Or, Pompeo. Trump got played by the FBI/CIA/Generals to make a lot of bad decisions.
If and to the extent that Trump ever intended to fight the Deep State, he didn't fight it very hard.
I disagree. He called out Comey, Brennan, Clapper and many of the generals and got crucified. He fought it harder than any President or elected official than I've seen in my 65 years, but as Schumer predicted, you can't win a fight against them.
"He called out..."? Sure. What price have any of them paid? None.
"He fought harder..."? Absolutely no argument, but that is a low bar. I am 78, been watching a bit longer than you.
Schumer's statement should be one of the most chilling utterances in the history of the US. Essentially recognition of "Secret Police".
Trump fought just hard enough to gain your affections.
Trump never fired a general.
My biggest disappointment in Trump--his lack of a backbone. His instincts were generally on target, at least in the ballpark. But, he tolerated incompetence and backstabbing at an unbelievable level. I put it down to his simply not understanding how deep and wide the corruption in The Swamp is. However, he had time to learn. Comey should have been all it took.
Trump may have meant well, I don't know, but he proved weak, stupid, and easily manipulated.
I must agree. I read through all the comments before entering this one. Trump did do a lot for the country - no new wars, pointed out that "we [the U.S.] are not so innocent", fair trade, almost full employment especially for minorities, a good economy with affordable living, strove to get along with foreign leaders. In those areas he was intelligent and had good understanding and the guts. But he basically totally caved to the Deep State, despite knowing it was his worst enemy. He'd post insulting tweets, then try to be buddies with the CIA, NSA, etc. WTF?
Trump never wanted to fight the real Deep State. To fight the Deep State, you have to be a civil libertarian. Trump has never had the record of a civil libertarian; it's laughable to compare his record on devotion to civil liberties with the record of someone like Greenwald. So, when Trump kept proclaiming he was opposing the Deep State, it could only be a slogan which he liked insofar as it could be used to suit his personal advantage.
Are we willing to swallow the idea that the "Deep State" is basically identical with the major anti-Trump forces in and around government? It's comforting for Trump's followers to believe something like that. They can feel comforted because they've come to think of the Deep State as inherently something that Trump is opposed to. So, when they dislike something about the Deep State (the real Deep State), they make the mental jump to thinking that Trump must want to fight against it, even if Trump has shown little evidence of that. Or if a person in government during Trump's administration had the decency to not follow Trump, due to having at least a tiny concern for the national interest or the people's rights or something else that matters more to them than obeying the White House occupant, Trump's followers will be too quick to assume "Oh, it's the Deep State trying to undermine Trump." Likewise, when these followers speculate about whether Epstein was killed in federal prison, they don't acknowledge the obvious possibility that *if* some powerful person was involved, it could naturally have been the individual who heads the chain of command for the federal prison system (Trump himself, who had connections to Epstein).
In reality, Trump appointed typical Deep State people like Pompeo and Haspel, and Greenwald keeps refusing to face what that shows. It shows that Trump truly doesn't mind many parts of the government that undermine people's rights as long as his connection to his followers remains intact. Trump isn't the kind of booster of the Deep State than many other presidents have been, so in comparison to other presidents he looks better on that point, but not being a booster of the Deep State doesn't make him an opponent of the Deep State either. In fact Trump sabotaged the fight against the Deep State by spreading the idea that the Deep State could only be what opposes Trump (Greenwald and others helped Trump do this). That weakens the fight against the Deep State in two ways: first, for Trump's followers, any energy they initially had to oppose the Deep State on principle gets redirected in a way that slavishly aligns with Trump's interests, and second, for those not attracted to Trump's many bad qualities, it's harder for them to think of themselves as fighting the Deep State when that term has been unmoored from its ethical foundations by Trump's subverting it into a partisan rallying cry. Once "Deep State" is reframed as a term that just aligns with partisan self-interest, it can no longer be used as a common goal. Since early in Trump's presidency, Greenwald has contributed to this process, whether he meant to or not. The fight against the Deep State could have been more transpartisan, but Greenwald was swept up in the excitement of the Trumpian drive for power, had unrealistic hopes that Trump would do more against the real Deep State, and helped to undermine the transpartisan coalition against the Deep State that needs to be gradually built up.
(I posted this comment separately too.)
I thought it began under Obama, but the Trump DoJ initiated the request for extradition.
That said, I am sort of surprised that Assange has not been Epsteined, at least not yet.
Epstein had things he could have said the public didn't already know, but Assange has already published what he has to share. And so, he's far more valuable as an example of what happens to people who out the USA's secrets (especially about its war crimes), than as a martyr.
How do you know what Assange may have in reserve?
I suppose it's possible but in my view unlikely.
How could it be useful to him _now?_
Trump did make those stupid decisions but for all the tough guy talk, HE KNEW WHO WAS BOSS (In his case, billionaire psychopath Israeli Sheldon Adelson) and he knew what they would do if he did not OBEY. JUST LIKE BIDEN
YEP. See above. A total capitulation. Even Obama did not do it.
Yes. And his failure to do so, on inauguration day, crippled his presidency, emboldened his fascist enemies. We Trump supporters have to admit it is a huge stain - where there should have been a huge win for truth and justice.
I get that, and Snowden as well.
My point is not in defense of Trump, who I do believe was committed to changing the 'Depp State', but that the DS could destroy him, and place a tool like Biden in his place.
Day one, when Trump was elected, I said it is war--between Trump and The Swamp. My bet, day one, was on The Swamp. Too much to expect from one man.
OTOH, he could have put up a lot better fight.
Well, he was in a variety of fights for four years, and I admire that he never gave up, even though the historians will write an entirely different epitaph.
Maybe DeSantis will take up the cause and make progress. I'd vote for Trump a third time out of principle, but think the globalists would nuke the country in response.
I, too, will vote for Trump a third time, should he run. If the GOP manages to nominate one of their typical RINO's (think Jeb!), I will write in Trump.
I agree that, should Trump run and win in 2024, it is probably Armageddon.
What did poor Johnny do to deserve "change?!"
lol, yeah, don't know how autocorrect missed 'deep'
Actually thought it was a deliberate play on words because of the quotes. :)
Interesting info if true- Esther Joy King told my dad at a fundraiser that McConnell said they would impeach him if he pardoned Assange. Why she would know and it hasn’t got out, no clue. But I find it plausible. Trump is too chicken shit to actually accomplish much and McConnell is a POS.
Well, he got impeached twice, regardless. Once right at the end of his term. What could they do, impeach him a third time?
My apologies- the senate would convict.
That would have been most edifying, if they had done so.
Convict for what?
And again, no clue if she was just making up lies but McConnell is a snake so it’s plausible.
The same reason the house impeached him- nothing!
The J6 kangaroo court going on right now can be seen as the third impeachment, FF!
The purpose of this soviet-style farce is to indict him with treason so he can't run again.
Well, they can do even less to Trump now, and even then, they couldn't do very much.
They can't charge Trump with treason without a declared war. That is why, for instance, Jane Fonda was able to put on fundraisers for the North Vietnamese Army and even go to Hanoi to deliver the proceeds, and the Nixon Administration of "enemies list" fame, couldn't do jack about it.
Note the relative silence of the US and UK MSM. You'd think that they might be concerned over press freedom, but they are not.
Their "journalists" sleep soundly in their beds, comforted in that they will never say or write or even think so much as a syllable that their masters would not approve of.
There aren't any 'journalists' anymore in the traditional media. You have to root them out on Substack and various other podcast/SM alternatives. My hope is that they will eventually coalesce and form an organized media alternative that is true to the first amendment.
Judging by the Assange travesty, we no longer have a 1st amendment.
The Constitution has been a dead letter for a long time now.
Just say the magic words "Muh National Security Abracadabra!" and poof! the Bill Of Rights disappears.
It’s always about security, safety…you’d think people would have figured this out by now.
Goering on the subject:
"Why, of course, the people don't want war," Goering shrugged. "Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship."
"There is one difference," I pointed out. "In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars."
"Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."
Hope springs eternal.
Personal animus toward Assange has become a litmus test for those in power. When core civic liberties are undermined by the powers that be, the most common modus operandi is to eliminate core civic liberties, and a common tactic is to begin by targeting a figure who is both deeply marginalized and disliked.
Glenn is correct in that the Espionage Act and Sedition Act were used by Woodrow Wilson in a way that was more repressive than what Lincoln did even at the height of the Civil War. It hardly got any press. It also cowed the press in such a way that most of the country had no idea how incapacitated WIlson was in that last two years of his presidency. Today, it is just a compliant media that ignores presidential incapacitation.
Wilson also jailed journalists who were writing about the Spanish Flu pandemic. BTW, it's called the Spanish Flu because it was the Spanish press that started publishing news about it. The flu actually originated in Missouri (correct me if I am mistaken).
Close enough: Kansas. https://www.knowledgesnacks.com/articles/spanish-flu-origin/
Sad, but not surprised, at Assange extradition order. It's laws like the Espionage/Sedition Acts that fuel my belief that every law should include a 'sunset' provision, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years (no more than 20), at which point the law should have to be affirmatively voted on again in both houses of Congress.
I don't disagree. In this case, they will draw a jury pool from the greater DC area in Virginia, prosecutors will be successful in limiting scope of evidence or testimony for the defense due to limitations placed on the defense (no justification defense permitted). In short, he will be facing a coin toss of a trial with a two-headed penny.
May it land on its edge!
Free Julian!!!
I have a sick feeling that they're releasing Assange, knowing he will probably be "suicided" in custody before it ever gets to the farcical trial. Deep state desperately needs a new "LOOK, SQUIRREL!" diversion, now that the Covid lies, January 6th farce and Ukraine narrative are unravelling faster than the economy going down the toilet.
The media neocons and neo-liberal interventionist warmongers alike are puppets controlled by The CIA and The Pentagon, which maintain absolute power. The War Party sprawls across both sides of the aisle and tolerates no meaningful pushback against their military adventurism, colonial human rights violations and mass murder.
...(A)nd the State and "Defense" (read, War) Departments (of course, the War Department is part of the Pentagon---the State Department isn't part of the Pentagon too, is it? I realize they're all joined at the hip).
Gore Vidal used to delineate between the real government and the fake government. In the real government, the departments are all connected. Hillary and Bush Sr. both worked in the real government then tried to play in the fake government and found it difficult. They both knew too much to participate in the puppet show.
Please clarify. So, the "fake government's" departments aren't all connected? It seems to me that the "real government" is the fake government.
The real government is not susceptible to election results. The central banksters, the Military Industrial Complex, the Intel Community all grind on regardless of elections.
What Gore Vidal was talking about is that regardless of which party we elect, the business of government goes on. The defense departments, state department, the CIA, etc. are supported by the uni-party and the media. On all important issues to the elites, there is zero change one administration to the next.
There is a forward facing government that presents to the public as the state department, Defense department, etc. but behind that the machinery grinds on regardless of consent from the public.
Got ya. And I agreed with Brother Vidal more than not. He was right about that, as he was about a good many things.
Ohh you mean the millions of bureaucratic fiefdoms populated by so called civil servants.
I’ve been saying it for years. If the government doesn’t have the power to pick winners the government won’t be attractive to contestants.
Why this isn’t obvious to everyone is beyond me.
"The Obama Justice Department under Attorney General Eric Holder prosecuted more whistleblowers under the Espionage Act of 1917 than all previous administrations combined — in fact, three times as many as all prior presidents combined."
Folks who say that Obama was "different" need to remember this. There is no difference between Rs and Ds. It is all just one ruling class in a system designed to make us think that we actually have a choice.
As a prosecutor I am all too aware of the need to prove -- beyond a reasonable doubt and to the unanimous satisfaction of the jury ---the "intent" requirement of any and all public official corruption charges. The jury instructions are overwhelmingly defense oriented in these kinds of cases [naturally ---what else would one expect?]. The path open to any public official --- say, for example, James Comey--- to an easy Not Guilty verdict is the 'irrational good faith belief defense' --whereby the defendant admits his conduct was 'astray' but was pursued in mistaken, dumber -than- cat -shit 'good
faith.' Voila --- intent element of charge erased. No such defense is available under The Espionage Act [naturally --what else would one expect?]. The fact the essayists we most admire, including Glenn himself, are absolutely vulnerable under this law gives the lie to the idea of Freedom of Speech.
One of my rules: "When they plead incompetence, it is because the truth is worse. Far worse."
Frankly, I don't see how that law can be considered constitutional.
In the event of an Assange conviction (ha,ha,ha, as though it won't be a kangaroo court), is there any hope that the Supreme Court could step in and save him?
No, in a word. And I sincerely hope Steve Bannon doesn't think he's gonna get any help from the bench either. Those days are over.
From Obama to Trump to Biden, Assange is a candle in the dark.
Assange's big sin is having embarrassed politicians and bureaucrats, and for that he has been hunted and hounded.
The US, UK, and any other nation that wants to preserve freedom, desperately needs to limit the time that politicians and bureaucrats are in positions where they can abuse power. This means term limits and lifetime limits, both for politicians as well as political appointees and high ranking bureaucrats (like Fauci, for example). The longer these people are in office the more arrogant they become and the more damage they can do. We'll lose a few qualified and honest people, but that price is worth ridding ourselves of the others.
It'll never be allowed to happen though. I think if people like Pelosi and Feinstein, etc., were told they had to leave Congress for good (pun intended), they'd either drop dead from heart attacks or strokes right there on the spot (or end up permanently incapacitated for the rest of their misbegotten "lives" [sic(k)!], or they'd only leave kicking and screaming. But the deep state would never allow them to be required to retire.
I'm very happy Glenn wrote about Assange.
I'd like to see a lot more from him about it.
It wasn't that long ago the media was applauding whistleblowers when it came to Trump. Reality Winner was paraded around as a hero for months by all of these people only a couple of years ago.
It's funny how easily they can switch back and forth on their morals.
I'm not sure how much they're leading around the public by the nose, or how much of it is just the apathy or impotence of the masses.
I suspect most don't follow it or don't care (it doesn't help that it's not really covered at all in American media). It's a shame, because the Assange/Snowden/Manning cases are easily the most important (in my opinion) cases of at least the last decade or two.
One of my best friends thinks the U.S. is the most honest, sincere, moral governments ever existed. Even though he despises Biden and acknowledges FBI, deep state corruption, he believes Donald Trump and a Republican wave will fix everything. Delusional. Voting is an endorsement of one's subjugation to the corrupt state. If no one voted, or paid taxes, or sent their hapless children to government schools, how long would this BS last? But no, stooges like my friend will continue to vote, pay taxes and send their sad children to public school and think if only their people take charge, everything will be fine.
Try not paying taxes and see how that works out.
Even celebrities like Wesley Snipes and Lauryn Hill got jail sentences for tax evasion.
You probably have a higher chance of killing someone and avoiding jail time than you do with not paying taxes.
It at least seems that way, since we have recent examples of people not going to jail for that (zimmerman, rittenhouse, the affluenza case).
Unless your BLM raking in millions tax free and spending it on themselves. Where's the IRS on this scam?
BLM!(drink)
That PsyOp didn’t get enough attention, IMO. Violence and chaos, trying to divide the nation, all the MSM in board praising them, ignoring that their premises were built on lies and that they caused exponentially more damage than this Jan 6th did… notice also how it all completely stopped when Biden got into office. Smells like textbook CIA regime change, seen it all over the world
https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/01/07/figures-show-stark-difference-between-arrests-at-dc-black-lives-matter-protest-and-arrests-at-capitol-hill/?sh=4be820785706
Even Forbes thinks that you’re full of shit.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2022/02/22/fact-check-thousands-black-lives-matter-protesters-arrested-2020/6816074001/
Dunno about that. Most of the BLM arrests were for minor things (probably as prevention in light of previous protests getting extensively out of hand - billions in damages across the country, lots of injuries, some deaths). I’m not a cop nor trying to defend all their decisions. But tell me what was the damage and injury totals from the Jan 6th protests? And why are they being magnified so much more - just because a few elites felt threatened, vs millions of ordinary citizens?
My guess is they got tax shelter as a 501c3 or something of that sort.
Not the first time political (or other) grifters dodged taxes and won't be the last.
Rules for thee, but not for me, etc.
Which is why I either laugh or scream when Biden, et al, keep repeating that the ‘rich’ must pay their fair share. If they aren’t in jail for tax evasion (and most aren’t) they are paying their legal tax responsibility under IRS rules.
Meant this to go under previous thread.
Of course, we are coerced into virtual slavery, our labor to benefit moochers and the state. You just go on endorsing your slavery.
It's not endorsement, because it's not done voluntarily. Taxes are extracted from people through coercion backed up by the institutional violence of the state.
People pay taxes because the alternative is going to jail.
Your argument is like saying someone who gives up money when being robbed at gunpoint is endorsing armed robbery.
Voluntarily voting is an endorsement of the status quo. You are agreeing to be an obedient subject of the state.
Yeah I mean I agree that voting is pretty meaningless. I was just talking specifically about paying taxes.
This is a big mistake:
"Voting is an endorsement of one's subjugation to the corrupt state."
For decades, the round-numbers haven't really shifted much: About half of those eligible are not registered and of those registered about half actually vote and about half go for R and the other half go for D: IF the non-voters out there decided to get engaged and voted "third party" EVERY DAMNED TIME, it would cause a genuine revolution in this country practically overnight, and with very little risk of people actually being killed during it.
Your way, we either live under the boot heel of the ultra-rich until they drive us all to extinction, or we rise up and get slaughtered in the streets by the tens of millions with no clear result visible from here. My conclusion is either you haven't thought this through, or you want violence OR oppression.
The issue is that all those 'non-voters' wouldn't ever agree on a single candidate.
Doesn't matter. That DROVES of people are NOT choosing D or R is what matters. And, either way, someone OTHER than a D or R would win as there just aren't that many candidates, especially "third party" ones. And, the present non-voters _dwarf_ the scale of the current voters by around 3 to 1.
Ever heard you can’t complain if you don’t vote? Go 3rd party, at least you’re using your voice. Also don’t forget you vote with your wallet every day!
You're being played and don't know it.
nihilism is a black hole
That is the path we are on now.
not all of us, Steve!
How about a little TGIF good news and a laff- to start the week-end on a positive note:
SpaceX fires woke worker activists who attacked Space X boss, Elon Musk
Soooo delicious: these infantile narcissists actually think they can tell their boss what to do: they get a wonderful wake-up:
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/06/17/spacex-fires-woke-worker-activists-who-attacked-spacex-boss-elon-musk/
Elon Musk is a graduate of the WEF. Spare me your naivete.
Elon Musk is a graduate of the WEF. Spare me your naivete.
And you apparently have no plans or method by which to change that and just accept it, or... as I already pointed out, violence.
Wrong. I don't advocate violence ever. Self-defense only.
My feeling is whether you want violence or not, it is already here. Or do you think all of the mass shootings we are all seeing have absolutely nothing to do with the world we live in?
That each and every one of the people doing the shooting are as most media would have you believe, 'deranged individuals' who have gone off their collective rockers completely on their own accord?
Sure, that's bad. And every life lost or damaged by such acts are a tragedy and the perps definitely criminals deserving prison.
That said, this is of a wholly different scale than what happens when We, The People ACTUALLY rise up.
These murders of which you speak are noise for the ultra-rich; no real threat to THEM. They'll tolerate it forever and it will do NOTHING for us. So, it's not clear why you bring them up. The question here is about CHANGING THE SYSTEM, and that won't happen voluntarily on the part of the ultra-rich.
Whether or not the VOLUNTEER men and women of our military, national guard and various thousands of police forces will ACTUALLY mow down U.S. citizens rising up to change the system or not. But they are SURELY armed for the job. And facing that head on is the only OTHER choice we have ... other than Voting Third Party, that is. Or, have you another non-violent means to suggest?
I do not disagree with anything you have said there, but you do not need the caps to put your argument out there man. :) It might not be me, it might not even be in my lifetime, but at some point people will have had enough and then it will be Voltaire all over again.
It is truly a shame that people in power can't learn from history, that they are so arrogant to feel that somehow they are beyond it but are nonetheless end up repeating it over and over again. We could be so much further ahead as a species if they would stop doing that shit.
(I didn't use caps to yell, but rather as bolding where as I do _this_ to indicate italics. -shrug- I'm olds-school when it comes to typing: I've been using comptuers daily since the fall of 1977...
It's "manufactured consent "; much cheaper and more effective than a police state. Money, democracy, rule of law, god, human rights, constitution etc., etc. ; all a giant crock of you know what. Homo sapiens can believe anything and the more fantastical the better.
Financially, I do not know if it actually *is* cheaper in terms of this is what it costs in advertising dollars vs this is what it costs in weapons dollars. Wouldn't you like to see those books?