2022: The Year Nothing Fundamentally Changed—Again

  

2022: 

The Year Nothing Fundamentally Changed—Again

At the end of each calendar year, we at TRC usually go over what’s happened in the world during the previous twelve months and make some predictions for the coming year. (Last year’s New Year's Eve piece: https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/2021/12/2021-year-nothing-fundamentally-changed.html) This year illness around the holidays took its toll and there’s not enough time to review all 52 weekly posts for 2022, but if there is any one major thing that we can take away from this past year, it’s this: 

Nothing has fundamentally changed—again.

Here are some of the more blatant examples of things that are fundamentally the same—if not worse—than they were at the end of 2021. 

Build Back Better? Only if you work for the Pentagon or a military contractor such as Raytheon or Lockheed Martin:

The military budget deal just reached by Congress will put Pentagon spending at $858 billion — more than $118 billion higher than when President Biden came into office, and more than $180 billion higher than the last budget approved under President Obama. That increase would have been more than enough to cover the costs of the entire Build Back Better agenda. --Democrats Are Making A Devil's Bargain on Pentagon Funding.

In immigration news: Kids are still in cages.

Title 42, an archaic immigration rule resurrected in the Trump administration to flat-out deny asylum to asylum seekers, is still in effect. The Border Wall, started during the Trump administration, is still being constructed. Haitian asylum seekers were beaten with whips by Border Patrol officers on horseback, and they are still being deported at much higher percentages than other immigrants, particularly white and European undocumented immigrants. (Read Why All The Hate For Haiti?)

The student loan debt crisis hasn’t gone away. There may be a hiatus on repayments, but eventually it will go away and the trillion dollars of debt still owed will have to be repaid. Loans given to large businesses and corporations during the pandemic have been forgiven, however. 

COVID-19 is still rampant and mutating. People are still getting sick, being hospitalized, and dying from COVID and related illnesses, some now known as Long COVID. Most free vaccinations and testing clinics have been shut down. 

The major thing that has changed in regards to COVID-19 is that it’s no longer being reported to health departments regularly, and the mainstream media continues to downplay its lethality. This has only motivated some to stop wearing masks in public or taking it seriously, sharing the virus freely with strangers and loved ones alike.

Medicare For All—promised to be enacted by both Biden and "The Squad" on the campaign trail—has yet to come about. Medical debt is the number one reason Americans file for bankruptcy for yet another year. And we're still the only so-called "First World Industrialized Country" that doesn't guarantee health care to all its citizens. It's nothing to be proud of. It's all "Get back to work and get out and buy, buy, buy! Who cares if people are getting sick and dying? Our corporations have to turn a decent profit!"

Endless war continues. This time it’s a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, rather than a “hotter” war in Afghanistan. (Well, it could become hotter if the nukes start flying.) Meanwhile, Afghan refugees are still coming to the US looking for sanctuary. Promises made to the mostly Muslim Afghans seeking asylum (persons who helped the US forces along with their immediate family members) haven’t been kept as they should, but surprise, surprise! White, supposedly-Christian Ukrainians with no documents have had little trouble coming into the US and staying put. 

(Of course, this openness doesn't apply to members of the Russian Orthodox Church, a religion outlawed in Ukraine along with all opposition political parties. That's fighting for "democracy and freedom" American-style!)

Homelessness is on the rise. Mayors of cities such as Los Angeles and New York city have made it part of their winning campaigns promoting how they would destroy tent cities and stick homeless people into mental institutions against their will. Out of sight, out of mind, and more chances of gentrifying rundown areas to the delight of the developers and investment landlords.

In totally unrelated news (ha ha!), rents have more than doubled in many cities. Food and gasoline costs are spiraling ever upward. Empty shelves in grocery stores and discount places are because of “supply chain issues” or so we’re told. No mention is made in the mainstream media how most of our trade is with China, and that threatening war with China over Taiwan isn’t going to make goods any more affordable for the working classes. 

Railroad workers still don’t have the right to strike. They didn’t get the fifteen sick days they asked for either. So-called progressives such as AOC and most members of "The Squad" voted against them. (Read If The Workers Take a Notion...)

Over 48,000 University of California student workers went on strike this fall and are going back after the winter break, but they’re not satisfied with their tentative agreement. More and more America workers organized and joined unions in 2022, so it’s a good sign that most workers understand there is power in numbers and that CEOs are not gods and they don’t have to put up with their employers’ abusive behaviors. (Read Lab Rats of the World Unite!)

“Narrative control,” shadow-banning/censorship, and propaganda reached all-time levels in 2022. Recently the audacity of these propaganda tactics instigated by the FBI, CIA, and both major political parties were revealed in “The Twitter Files” released by independent journalist Matt Taibbi and others.  (Read Disinformation Wars, The Ministry of Truth v. Roe v. Wade and Atrocity Propaganda and Narrative Control for other examples of narrative control. Also, check out the articles from earlier in the year on our Ukraine War Series page to see the pattern of propaganda coming from the US government.)

Julian Assange still resides in Belmarsh Prison (UK). The US is still trying to extradite the Australian publisher of Wikileaks and charge him with treason. His physical and mental health continues to deteriorate. 

Policing? I'd like to tell you that there's been zero incidents of persons of color or poor folks in general being killed by cops in the US in 2022, but sorry. Deaths at the hands of cops continue. Police budgets are growing ever larger along with the military budget. Obviously, Biden or The Squad didn't take the "Defund the Police" movement seriously along with those who support Medicare For All. There's no money to be made by protecting the lives, health or safety of ordinary Americans.

This article title speaks for itself: "An Absolute F**cking Disgrace": Record 6,036 US Kids Killed, Injured by Gunfire in 2022 https://scheerpost.com/2022/12/28/an-absolute-fcking-disgrace-record-6036-us-kids-killed-injured-by-gunfire-in-2022

I’m sure you can think of other examples. 

So, what predictions do we have for 2023? An ever-growing number of unions forming and union members seems likely, and that’s a good thing. Possibly student loan repayments will be delayed again, but if not, many groups are already organizing for a mass boycott of student loan repayments. 

The more dire ordinary Americans’ situations become, as food and transportation costs spiral upward, the more likely they are to agitate for their rights to be paid decent wages, to have a roof over their heads, to have free access to health care and the knowledge of what’s really happening in the world without “Ministry of Truth” styled manipulation and censorship.  

 Is it a rosy outlook or a gloomy one? It’s up for us to decide. 

Sharing information from independent news sources (such as TRC) is an optimistic activity. Many have been brainwashed into believing whatever comes out of the mouth of the mainstream media pundits, so be gentle but persistent with them. Keeping up everyone's morale by sharing good news of peace breaking out and unions forming can go a long way. Financially and morally supporting other workers in their fight for safer and more just workplaces is another good step.

Remember: We’re all in this together. Happy New Year!

Related Articles:

"Disastrous": SCOTUS Upholds Title 42 Migrant Policy During Court Fight https://scheerpost.com/2022/12/28/disastrous-scotus-upholds-title-42-migrant-policy-during-court-fight/

Student Loan Debt is a Scam (video): https://youtu.be/pgPW926532E

Chris Hedges: The Democrats Are Now The War Party https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-democrats-are-now-the-war-party

The Claim That The Ukraine War Advances US Interests Discredits The Claim That It's Unprovoked https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/the-claim-that-the-ukraine-war-advances 

Democrats Are Making a Devil's Bargain on Pentagon Funding. It's Not Paying Off  https://scheerpost.com/2022/12/25/democrats-are-making-a-devils-bargain-on-pentagon-funding-its-not-paying-off/

Why All the Hate For Haiti?  https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/10/why-all-hate-for-haiti.html 

Biden Admin Plans to Expand Title 42 to Expel Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Haitians https://truthout.org/articles/biden-admin-plans-to-expand-title-42-to-expel-cubans-nicaraguans-and-haitians

To Die On The Job Is To Die For America https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/01/to-die-on-job-is-to-die-for-america.html

Zelensky's Diaspora Delegation Led by Economic Hit-Woman Who Led Plunder of Ukraine https://thegrayzone.com/2022/12/23/zelenskys-diaspora-hit-woman-ukraine/

Whee! Let's Start World War 3! https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/08/whee-lets-start-world-war-3.html

Atrocity Propaganda and Narrative Control https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/06/atrocity-propaganda-and-narrative.html

Disinformation Wars https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/11/disinformation-wars.html 

If the Workers Take a Notion... (RWU Strike) https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/12/if-workers-take-notion-rwu-strike.html

Lab Rats of the World Unite! https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/11/lab-rats-of-world-unite.html

The Ministry of Truth v. Roe v. Wade https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-ministry-of-truth-v-roe-v-wade.html

Ukraine War Series page  https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/p/ukraine-war-series.html 

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Twitter Files? https://scheerpost.com/2022/12/21/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-twitter-files/

Gov. Pressured Twitter to Find "Russian Interference", Ban Anti-US Accounts (video) https://youtu.be/sfsuYi72eVw

Chomsky, Hedges, Snowden, Stein and Greenwald on the Assange Case (video)  https://youtu.be/DM0WtQoKXd0 

Amid Inflation and Short Staffing Labor Organizers Demanded More in 2022  https://truthout.org/articles/amid-inflation-and-short-staffing-labor-organizers-demanded-more-in-2022/

Why You Should Be A Socialist in 2023 (video) https://youtu.be/thJ2ocejPko

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Thank you and a Happy New Year to you and yours!

Disinformation Wars

Disinformation Wars

by C. A. Matthews  

“The first casualty when war comes is truth.” —Senator Hiram W. Johnson

From Caitlin Johnstone’s Newsletter:

AP's anonymously sourced report which said "A senior U.S. intelligence official says Russian missiles crossed into NATO member Poland, killing two people" went viral because of the massive implications of direct hot warfare erupting between Russia and the NATO alliance. AP subsequently retracted its story as the mainstream political/media class came to accept that it was in fact a Ukrainian missile that had struck Poland.

AP's firing of reporter James LaPorta looks at this time to be the end point of any accountability for the circulation of this extremely dangerous falsehood. AP spokesperson Lauren Easton says no disciplinary action will be taken against the editors who waved the bogus story through, and to this day the public has been kept in the dark about the identity of the US official who fed such extremely egregious misinformation/disinformation to the public through the mainstream press. —AP Editor Says She “Can’t Imagine” a US Intelligence Official Being Wrong

I find it odd that any grown, normally-functioning person couldn’t possibly imagine being lied to by a US intelligence official, but that is what this recent news story suggests. The mainstream media (the AP or Associated Press, no less) is acting stupid to please the American intelligence community. Simply put, the US government wants to keep us in the dark about which one of their propagandists fed false information about these missiles to a now unemployed reporter, James LaPorta. I think in this case the intelligence official(s) knew the lie would be exposed sooner or later, but they felt confident that the damage they wished to inflict upon the reputation of Russia would be enough to justify their actions.

According to journalist Ben Norton at Multipolarista:

By publishing the fake news, the AP set off an international scandal that could have triggered a direct US military attack on Russia.

 

To try to save face, the AP fired LaPorta on November 21... This controversy shows how cozy mainstream corporate media outlets are with US intelligence agencies, and how anonymous spies feed them claims that are often false, but that serve Washington’s foreign-policy interests. —Media Regurgitates Fake News From US Spies Risking World War III with Russia

“All is fair in love and war.”—a proverb attributed to John Lyly's Euphues

Is it? When has “lying in war” ever come close to the equivalent of “fairness”? To propagandists, lying is just another tool in their repertoire they use to control the public’s initial reaction and later to build devotion to a cause. In this case, the cause is the continued support of the NATO-led proxy war in Ukraine and the continuing monetary and military aid the US is sending without hesitation to that part of the world. 

 

If any evidence would surface to demonstrate that the billions of dollars of weaponry the US is giving away isn’t being used for the purpose it was sent for, then it would be more than embarrassing—it could prove fatal to the cause. (For more about the 70% of US-provided weapons gone missing in Ukraine, check out Lab Rats of the World Unite! and the archived CBS 60 Minutes documentary.)

 

If the actual facts were made crystal clear, people might see through the trickery practiced by the US "Ministry of Truth" and demand an end to this conflict altogether. But never fear, the military industrial complex and fossil fuel corporations would never stand for that. Neither would their politician-puppets who enjoy all the money that come from these special interest groups. 

 

The propaganda-spewing US mainstream media stays in step as they cry in horror about the dangers of free speech. Award-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald states:

Online censorship has become one of the most potent propaganda weapons they possess, and there is no way they will allow anyone to dilute it even mildly without attempting to destroy them.  (...)

In unison, these media outlets decreed that not only would greater free speech on Twitter usher in the usual parade of horribles they trot out when demanding censorship — disinformation, hate speech, attacks on the “marginalized,” etc. etc. — but this time they severely escalated their rhetorical hysteria by claiming that Musk would literally cause mass murder by permitting a broader range of political opinion to be aired. —The Media's Deranged Hysteria Over Elon Musk's Restoration of Free Speech

Journalist Matt Taibbi shares another instance of how the US intelligence community is working to muddy the waters of public opinion:

Whether or not you thought the actual content of the story was important, the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop affair was a crossroads moment in the history of modern censorship. YouTube played a major role in this event.

This was a case in which major news media — including CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and countless other outlets — actively embraced disinformation, in the form of a group letter from 50-plus former intelligence officials saying the laptop story (they referred to a “laptop op”) had the “classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” All the aforementioned news agencies fell for this, as did Twitter (which blocked access to it, in what then-CEO Jack Dorsey later admitted was a “total mistake”) and Facebook (whose increasingly adrift founder Mark Zuckerberg later told Joe Rogan the story was throttled down at the suggestion of the FBI).

YouTube also pushed this disinformation campaign. It still does. Despite the total absence of evidence ever existing that the laptop was either fake or part of a Russian “information operation” and a growing pile of evidence that the laptop is real, YouTube continues to leave unmolested on its site countless videos promoting the conspiracy theory — that’s what it is, let’s be clear — that the laptop story is both bunk and an intelligence op. —YouTubeCensors Reality, Boosts Disinformation: Part 1

Once again, a US intelligence agency—in this case it appears to be the FBI—has jumped into the news cycle and tried to deflect attention away from what is actually happening. Not only did they try to cast doubts on the authenticity of the contents of the Hunter Biden laptop, they tried to place the blame for the laptop’s potentially embarrassing and possibly criminal contents on another source. 

 

Hunter Biden’s laptop contents were a “Russian op” like the Ukrainian missiles shot into Poland were “Russian missiles.” No thoughts are given to the facts of how the Ukrainians are still using Soviet-era rocket launchers and multiple experts in ballistics can prove the missiles were launched by Ukraine. No thoughts as to how much of the content of the laptop in question has already been verified. (Read more about how Hunter Biden joined the board of directors of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma in 2014 here.) Whatever the US intelligence community wants the public to think, that's the story mainstream media is going with.

 

There seems to be sort of a pattern to these disinformation attempts... Who are we supposed to trust? Who are we supposed to distrust? What actual evidence have we been given not to trust these people other than what the US intelligence services have told us?

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” —John 8:32

Before we get too down on journalists in general, here's more sobering news that reporting the truth can prove dangerous to one’s health and career:

Sweden’s parliament adopted a major espionage law expansion that will permit the country’s police to investigate journalists, publishers, and whistleblowers if they reveal secret information that “may damage Sweden’s relationship with another state or an international organization.”

Journalists, publishers, or whistleblowers found guilty of revealing such “damaging” information could be sentenced to up to four years in prison under the new law.

The expansion was aimed at ensuring the Swedish government has even more control over what the public learns about the country’s cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union, and the United Nations. —Sweden Expands Espionage Law, Endangering Freedom of Journalists and Whistleblowers

What comes to mind after reading this bit of news is that Sweden has cooperated with the United States and the United Kingdom to keep Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange imprisoned, first in the Ecuadorian embassy in London and currently in Belmarsh Prison. Western governments—particularly NATO members—seem to be big on perpetuating their propaganda and covering up the truth from the public. They're more than willing to cooperate with each other if the lie proves to be of benefit to them, too.

Here’s another example of the hypocrisy of this situation:

US State Department spokesman and CIA veteran Ned Price tweeted disapprovingly about the Kyrgyz Republic's decision to deport investigative journalist Bolot Temirov to Russia, where press freedom groups are concerned that the Russian citizen could face conscription to fight in Ukraine. (...)

This is after all the same government that is working to extradite an Australian journalist from the United Kingdom with the goal of imprisoning him for up to 175 years for exposing US war crimes. Price says "Journalists should never be punished for doing their job," but that is precisely what the government he represents is doing to Julian Assange, who has already spent three and a half years in Belmarsh Prison awaiting US extradition shenanigans. This is in top of the seven years he spent fighting extradition from the Ecuadorian embassy in London under what a UN panel ruled was arbitrary detention. —US Officials Concern Troll About World Press Freedoms While Assaulting Them

Whistleblowers are forever being painted as the enemy, but never those who openly lie and obfuscate the truth via the implementation of propaganda. Our so-called freedom relies on government officials lying to us and locking up truth-tellers, or so it seems.

“A fool and his money are soon parted.” —Proverbs 21:20

Once again, US propagandists and mainstream media pundits are good at confusing the public about what’s really going on in the world and how much tax payer money we’re throwing at it. We’re informed that economically distressed Americans shouldn’t be too concerned about how the US is sending billions of dollars in military aid to country with a dubious history to fight our proxy war against Russia. There's never enough money for social programs such as universal health care and student loan debt relief, but there's always enough to buy and ship instruments of death: 

The White House on Tuesday asked Congress to approve $37.7 billion in new aid for Ukraine, which would bring total US spending on the war to about $105 billion.

According toThe Hill, the request includes $21.7 billion in military aid for Ukraine and to replenish US military stockpiles that have been sent to the country.

A total of $14.5 billion in budgetary aid to directly fund the Ukrainian government is included, as Kyiv is expecting the US and its allies to pay its budget deficit for 2023. —White House Asks Congress for $37.7 Billion in New Ukraine Aid

Over one-hundred billion dollars sent to Ukraine and who knows how much more will be forthcoming. And US intelligence officials will continue to lie to us about what’s really going on there.

 

When will Americans realize that wars are not being run by generals? They’re being run by propagandists. Yeah, fools and their money are soon parted. Disinformation from our own government is turning us all into penniless fools. What are we going to do about it?

 

Related Articles:

 

US Officials Concern Troll About World Press Freedoms While Assaulting Them  https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/us-officials-concern-troll-about

 
YouTube Censors Reality Boosts Disinformation: Part 1
https://scheerpost.com/2022/11/22/youtube-censors-reality-boosts-disinformation-part-1/

 

AP Editor Said She "Can't Imagine" a US Intelligence Official Being Wrong  https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/ap-editor-said-she-cant-imagine-a

 

MSM Admits They Lied to You (video) https://rumble.com/v1vvgug-no-russia-did-not-bomb-poland-msm-admits-they-lied-to-you.html

 

The Media's Deranged Hysteria Over Elon Musk's Restoration of Free Speech (video) https://rumble.com/v1xbl8g-the-medias-deranged-hysteria-over-elon-musks-restoration-of-free-speech.html
 

While Crypto Bro Scammed Clients Reporters Scammed Readers
https://scheerpost.com/2022/11/21/while-crypto-bro-scammed-clients-reporters-scammed-readers/
 

Sweden Expands Espionage Law Endangering Freedom of Journalists and Whistleblowers https://scheerpost.com/2022/11/21/sweden-expands-espionage-law-endangering-freedom-of-journalists-and-whistleblowers/
 

Why is the AP Still Protecting the Source Behind Its False Russia Bombed Poland Story? https://scheerpost.com/2022/11/18/why-is-ap-still-protecting-the-source-behind-its-false-russia-bombed-poland-story/
 

Media Regurgitates Fake News From US Spies, Risking WWIII with Russia https://popularresistance.org/media-regurgitates-fake-news-from-us-spies-risking-world-war-iii-with-russia/

 
White House Asks Congress for $37.7 Billion in New Ukraine Aid
https://scheerpost.com/2022/11/16/white-house-asks-congress-for-37-7-billion-in-new-ukraine-aid/

Seen on Twitter:

Whole lotta “AsSaNgE iS nOt A JoUrNaLisT” geniuses out today so allow me to remind you that not only is Assange a journalist, he’s the only journalist on earth with a 100% record of accuracy. Thank you, next. #FreeAssangeNOW pic.twitter.com/5B5L7BMkpb

— Comrade Misty is Putin’s Buddy 🍀 (@SarcasmStardust) November 28, 2022

US changed Iranian flag to that of protesters during #WorldCup coverage. Iran should change the US flag to a BLM flag pic.twitter.com/eEEb27knLm

— Lee Camp [Redacted] (@LeeCamp) November 28, 2022

Lab Rats Of The World Unite!

 

Lab Rats of the World Unite! 

(You Have Nothing to Lose But Your Cheese)

by C. A. Matthews

If you’re thinking this article is about the student teachers', graduate assistants', and researchers' strike throughout the University of California system, you’re partially right. “Lab rats” is slang for laboratory assistants, and a strike of over 48,000 of them in the UC system is quite notable. What’s also notable is how very little mainstream media coverage there’s been of this massive strike by mostly young persons desperate to be paid a living wage. 

The average yearly wage in the UC system for student teachers/assistants is $24,000 a year—this in a state where rents have been skyrocketing, with the average rent for an apartment being between $2,000 to $3,000 a month. You’d think with rising tuition costs the university system could afford not to starve the people who do the lion’s share of the work on their campuses.

But the lab rats I’m actually referring to in the title of this blog doesn’t just stop with the student workers at the University of California. It includes all of us. We are all lab rats according to a New York Times article called Western Allies Look to Ukraine as a Testing Grounds For Weapons. And we all know that the Times is a “newspaper of record,” don’t we? That’s a source that the big name mainstream media pundits gladly quote from, so there’s got to be some grain of truth in what they say, right?

I’ll admit I’m being a bit facetious here, but in this case I think they’re reporting truthfully. If you don’t believe the NYT, then at least believe this military bigwig: 

"This Ukraine crisis that we’re in right now, this is just the warmup,” said US STRATCOM head Charles Richard at a naval conference earlier this month. “The big one is coming. And it isn’t going to be very long before we’re going to get tested in ways that we haven’t been tested [in] a long time.”

The current proxy war in Ukraine and all wars being waged overtly or covertly right now in the world are simply experiments to see how various newfangled war gadgetry works against flesh and blood targets before "the big one" gets started. And by targets they mean real live human beings like you or me. 

But why? Well, step back and unclutch your pearls for a moment and consider this: What good is a costly weapon of war if it doesn’t kill or dismember as advertised? Would you spend billions of dollars on a weapon that doesn't deliver the lethal results promised? 

Congress has sent about $100 billion worth of military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Only about 30% of the weapons can be accounted for according to a CBS 60 Minutes documentary. (Yes, another mainstream media outlet might possibly be telling us actual facts! But don’t worry—CBS took the documentary down from the internet after the government of Ukraine complained about it. I had a link to the archived version of the documentary, but it seems to have "disappeared." This article has a link to the archived documentary.)

 

That 30% of weapons accounted for that the US has sent to Ukraine has got to destroy, maim, intimidate, and annihilate enough to make up for the missing 70% or else the Ukrainians might feel like they have to push for more military aid from NATO by triggering "article five." Doing so could change the "cold" proxy war into a genuine nuclear Armageddon, but don't worry Zelensky and company would never do such a dangerous thing. (If you believe that, I have some swampland along the Pecos River to sell you.)

So, where did all the missing arms sent to Ukraine go? Most intelligent people assume these weapons have been sold onto the black market and gone into the hands of other groups such as the neo-Nazi groups Italian police have investigated. 

According to The Grayzone's Alexander Rubinstein:

Five members of an Italian neo-Nazi organization known as the “Order of Hagal” were arrested on November 15th while an additional member remains wanted by authorities. He happened to be in Ukraine, fighting Russian forces alongside the Azov Battalion, which has been formally integrated into the Ukrainian military. 

The “Hagal” members are accused of plotting terrorist attacks on civilian and police targets. A sixth member of the Hagal group, now considered a fugitive, is in Ukraine and embedded with the Azov Battalion, a neo-Nazi paramilitary group that has been incorporated into the Ukrainian National Guard. 

Members of the Order of Hagal reportedly maintained “direct and frequent” contacts over Telegram with not just the Azov Battalion, but also the neo-Nazi Ukrainian military formations Right Sector and Centuria, “probably in the view of possible recruitment into the ranks of these fighting groups,” according to Italian media.

The police investigation was launched in 2019 and has included extensive computer searches and wiretapping; tactics which have revealed members of the group’s intent on carrying out violent acts in Italy.

Killing people on the battlefield or through hate group crimes in our cities gives valuable feedback to military-industrial complex manufacturers as to the lethality of their weapons. Simply put, dead and wounded lab rats like you and me mean more sales. Selling weapons means more profits for MIC investors. Lab rats dying is a win-win in the investors’ eyes. 

So, why do we lab rats, white mice, and cute little guinea pigs allow these horrible events to happen? Do we want to be killed? Do we enjoy watching others being killed simply to make profits for billionaire capitalists? If you say “no” to these two questions, then you no longer have any excuses. You know what is needed. We must take action to prevent more deaths. We have to say "no more war" and actually mean it and do what it takes to stop it. 

Just like the striking lab rats of the University of California system, the warehouse workers of Amazon, and the baristas of Starbucks, we need to take this message to the streets. We must strike, protest, do whatever to get our message out to the public and get it on the airwaves and tweeted around the world. We need to make the owners of our lab cages afraid of us tiny little rodents who outnumber them 99 to 1. We must escape the cages of our own making and rattle their cages instead.

We can’t just sit back and nibble our cheese (or whatever lab rats/white mice eat) and watch Netflix. We can’t offer up “thoughts and prayers” alone about this situation and expect practical results. Raytheon and Lockheed Martin don’t read minds, and they certainly don’t hear our prayers. They simply accept large amounts of US taxpayers’ dollars and laugh all the way to the bank. What’s another million dead lab rats to them if they turn a profit? 

Our planet’s very survival depends upon this generation’s actions. Do we run back into our mouse holes and allow homicidal maniacs to kill us all in the name of capitalism and profits? Or do we use our teeth and claws to fight for our lives? Rats are known for their bravery and for deeply caring for their offspring. Let’s not cower in our cages any longer. 

Lab rats of the world unite! We have nothing to lose but our cheese (and our planet's safety to gain).

US Empire Views Ukrainians and Russians like Lab Rats https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/us-empire-views-ukrainians-and-russians  

This Year's Biggest Strike Is By 48,000 Academic Workers at the University of California  https://scheerpost.com/2022/11/25/this-years-biggest-strike-is-by-48000-academic-workers-at-the-university-of-california/

UC's Student Workers Can't Afford California  
https://scheerpost.com/2022/11/16/ucs-student-workers-cant-afford-california/

New School Staff Strike Shows the Institution Is Not So Progressive When It Comes to Faculty Pay  https://scheerpost.com/2022/11/17/new-school-staff-strike-shows-the-institution-is-not-so-progressive-when-it-comes-to-faculty-pay/

Strike Wave Rocks Britain as Unions Confront the Cost of Living Crisis  https://scheerpost.com/2022/11/20/strike-wave-rocks-britain-as-unions-confront-the-cost-of-living-crisis/
 
Blowback: Italian Police Bust Azov-Tied Nazi Cell Planning Terror Attacks https://thegrayzone.com/2022/11/15/blowback-italian-azov-tied-nazi-terror/

Zelensky and Media Lackeys Caught in Most Dangerous Lie Yet https://scheerpost.com/2022/11/20/zelensky-and-media-lackeys-caught-in-most-dangerous-lie-yet/

US Russia Proxy War Risks Nuclear Apocalypse 60 Years After Cuban Missile Crisis  https://popularresistance.org/us-russia-proxy-war-risks-nuclear-apocalypse-60-years-after-cuban-missile-crisis/

FTX Partnership with Ukraine Is Latest Chapter in Shady Western Aid Saga https://scheerpost.com/2022/11/16/ftx-partnership-with-ukraine-is-latest-chapter-in-shady-western-aid-saga/

FTX the Joke of Democracy
https://scheerpost.com/2022/11/17/ftx-the-joke-of-democracy/

Corporate Weapons Heaven Is Hell On Earth https://scheerpost.com/2022/11/18/corporate-weapons-heaven-is-hell-on-earth/

Our Ruling Class Wants Us to Accept War As Something That Will Never End  https://rainershea.substack.com/p/our-ruling-class-wants-us-to-accept

* * * 

In a near-future dystopian world, hope blossoms where mutual aid and democracy begins...

Zonta’s world is turned upside down when Jake arrives at the commune to investigate the disappearance of agents of the Authority. Can she persuade him to switch sides before the Protectors (antifascist fighters) take action?

Available now: https://www.extasybooks.com/Where-the-Bodies-Lie

A great tale of how love, cooperation, and socialism will ultimately save us all. -- Redd Phlagg