Digital McCarthyism

Digital McCarthyism

by C. A. Matthews

It was bound to happen sooner or later. And it did—a self-proclaimed “very important person in government” would impugn the integrity of a journalist who—gasp!—actually posts his/her/their work online for others to read. That this government VIP is Congress-thing Debbie Wassermann-Schultz of Florida comes to no surprise to anyone who followed the Bernie Sanders saga on this blog. 

 

Yes, it’s the same disgraced Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, former DNC chair, who ultimately took the fall for screwing Bernie over in the Democratic Party primaries of 2016. Somehow she always lands on her feet—unlike her boss Joe Biden, who has been filmed tripping both up and down stairs lately.

 

So, here we are in the year 2023 and Miss Debbie and her Democratic Party friends find it suspect that an award-winning journalist like Matt Taibbi has a Substack page and edits a digital magazine. The nasty implications the Dems leveled at Matt at a Congressional "Weaponization of Government" hearing this week reveal just how terrified the establishment is that We the People might actually wake up and learn the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth from a Tweet or a Substack post.

 

The Dems acted so contemptuously that even a non-voting delegate from the US Virgin Islands called Matt a “so-called journalist” and didn’t even apologize for her rudeness. That’s rich coming from a “so-called Congress member” who doesn’t even have voting privileges! By comparison, the Republicans on the committee came off sounding like angels as they questioned Matt and his fellow journalist Michael Shellenberger. (Guess the Dems' billionaire donors told the Dems it’s the Red Hats’ time to win, so go ahead and act like ill-mannered brats, huh?)

The nasty implications the Dems leveled at Matt reveal just how terrified the establishment is that We the People might actually read a Tweet or Substack post and realize how corrupt the US government truly is and how far they will go to censor this truth. In this instance, Matt and Michael, who both worked on The Twitter Files, discovered and revealed nefarious attempts at social media censorship by various US government agencies and related organizations working on their behalf to censor tweets they didn't like. These censorship actions could possibly get folks in the current administration into big trouble.

 

But nothing good ever comes from revealing the truth, now does it?

 

I couldn’t care less what Miss Debbie and her buddies in Congress have to say except they’re in positions of power and have recently come up with such criminal designations as “domestic terrorism” to describe what environmental activists (such as the ones at Cop City/Welaunee Forest in Atlanta) do whenever they hold a protest to protect the Earth. 

 

That designation really hurts. Just because we want everyone to have clean air, land, and water doesn’t make us domesticated at all. Far from it. And I apologize for any “terror” having drinkable water and less pollution in our food, skies, and bodies of water causes you, but there you have it. 

 

I’m one of those crazy people like Matt Taibbi who make pointed observations about our society and publish their thoughts online. We have an overwhelming desire to share information with others so they can know the truth and learn to think for themselves. Miss Debbie and the Kool-Aid Drinking Cult of Democrats will just have to get over their terror of We the People finding out what’s been going on behind the scenes in the world of government propaganda and censorship as well as the running of the government itself.

The Ministry of Truth—or the DHS Bureau of Disinformation or whatever it’s being called nowadays—worked overtime to cover up their disinfo operations in “Russiagate.” They are royally ticked off to have had their manipulations exposed, which possibly explains Miss Debbie’s surliness. All the smart kids now have no excuse to believe Russia had anything to do with the 2016 presidential election thanks to Matt and others revealing this in The Twitter Files. The “Censorship-Industrial Complex” has been exposed.

 

Even The New York Times recently was forced to reveal that Russiagate was all a big lie perpetuated by a supposed "Russian propaganda tracking" dashboard called Hamilton 68 or Jefferson Airplane 747 or something like that. Matt Taibbi discovered it was all an operation to cloud the issues and confuse voters in order to cover up the simple fact that warmonger/DOMA supporter Hillary Clinton couldn’t beat her good friend, used car salesman Donald Trump, in something called the US 2016 presidential election.

 

Nothing important really. The billionaires of the US Military-Congressional-Industrial Complex got their war in Ukraine eventually. They even used the four years Trump was in office to further smear Russia’s reputation via the Russiagate hoax and make people forget all about the Maidan Coup of 2014 and the eight years of Ukraine bombing the civilians of the Donbass region. In the end, the arms manufacturers were glad the Orange Man won. They’re rolling in money nowadays.

 

So, forgive me when I say that US presidential elections aren’t all that important. They’re not as important as a journalist revealing the US government's sanctioning of an actual terrorist attack on another country’s LNG pipelines located under the Baltic Sea. Elections aren’t as important as possibly instigating a war with a nuclear power.

 

An award-winning journalist named Seymour Hersh revealed this truth to the world last month. For his courage and hard work, he is being slandered and libeled by his lesser peers at the behest of the government propagandists that Miss Debbie and her darling Dems keep protecting and accusing Matt Taibbi of exposing in The Twitter Files. One of their biggest smears concerning Sy Hersh’s journalistic integrity and impeccable career is that he first published his Nord Stream 2 explosion article on his Substack, probably because US government propagandists pressured mainstream media outlets not to publish it. 

 

How can the US government fool We the People into thinking that a small group of “Pro-Ukrainian non-state actors” blew up pipelines of such a grand size, found underwater at a depth only a professional military operation handled by US Navy deep sea divers could have done? The New York Times and Washington Post are trying hard with this rather wimpy story (possibly written by the Disinformation Bureau), but it’s not having as much success as Sy Hersh’s better researched story.

 

The massive amounts of time and money spent brainwashing We thePeople into thinking the “Uni-party that Goes by Two Names” isn’t corrupt and owned by billionaires is a crime—not what Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger do for a living. Just think of what could have been done with all the energy and resources wasted by our government’s propagandists… Maybe we could have tackled homelessness in America and forgiven thousands of student loan debts. Medicare For All could have been enacted and saved millions of Americans their lives and their personal finances.

 

I realize now those things aren’t important to well-off Miss Debbie and her fellow VIPs in Congress, but they are important to We the People, the workers, the 99%. A whole lot of our family members, friends, and neighbors who suffered or are still suffering from homelessness, student loan debt, and no health care could be alive, healthy, and happy today if Miss Debbie and her kind actually cared enough to work for us instead of their billionaire donors with their insatiable need to shut down indie journos like Matt and company.

 

Senator Joseph McCarthy became infamous for calling journalists, authors, actors, and others “Communists” in the 1950s. Sen. McCarthy destroyed the careers and lives of innocent Americans with his baseless accusations and all for what? To shut up people he didn’t agree with and didn’t want others to learn important facts from. 

 

Now we’re living in the era of “Digital McCarthyism” where the politician-puppets working for the billionaires shut down truth-tellers online via shadow-banning and outright closing down of social media accounts. Censorship and destroying the reputations of others was wrong seventy years ago, and it’s still wrong today.

 

I asked you to do a couple of things a few weeks back in regards to the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment story. Are you still doing them? Are you making notes of how and when the mainstream media ignores big stories or tries to slant them in a way to cover up for whatever billionaire, corporation, or government official might be at fault? Are you still comparing and contrasting news articles/stories by independent journalists with the "so-called journalists" of the mainstream media? Keep it up. 

Watch out for ad hominem (personal) attacks that are made by those in authority (and their sycophants) against the messengers (like Matt Taibbi, Michael Shellenberger, and Seymour Hersh) of potentially embarrassing messages. Always focus on the message and not the medium (newspaper, TV, radio, podcast, blog, Tweet, etc.) that the message happens to occur in. Do your research and find out who the messenger really works for and what’s in it for them. Are they working to spread propaganda for the government or a private corporation? What has this person or organization got to lose if the truth comes out?

 

Why do the powerful feel that turning independent journalists into pariahs will keep them, the elites, safe from We the People exacting justice upon them? When the truth reveals itself in time, the shit always hit the fan. And the results aren’t pretty. Why tempt fate?

 

 

Guess what—we’re suspect too! Follow us on Substack at therevolutioncontinues.substack.com It’s where all the cool kids like Matt Taibbi, Caitlin Johnstone, Aaron Mate, Chris Hedges, Seymour Hersh and so many other independent journalists post their work. I’m assuming you’re not living in the 18^th century like Miss Debbie and her friends, and are, in fact, reading this article on a computer, cell phone, tablet, or similar device. I really doubt you’re reading this via smoke signals or on the remains of dead trees. Please, replant those dead trees if you are. Our planet needs all the trees we can grow to avert the climate catastrophe to come. We “domestic terrorists” want to save all the trees that we can, like the ones in Atlanta. Thank you.

 

Related Links (lots of revealing video links):

 

Matt Taibbi: My Statement to Congress
https://scheerpost.com/2023/03/09/matt-taibbi-my-statement-to-congress/

 

The Democrats Have Lost the Plot https://www.racket.news/p/the-democrats-have-lost-the-plot

  

The Democrats' Disastrous Miscalculation on Civil Liberties https://www.racket.news/p/the-democrats-disastrous-miscalculation

 

The Twitter Files

https://scheerpost.com/2022/12/04/the-twitter-files/

Matt Taibbi Schools Dem Congressman On Purpose Of “Twitter Files” Hearing https://youtu.be/yy51IrTq61Y

 

Court Admits DNC and Debbie Wasserman Schulz Rigged Primaries Against Sanders https://observer.com/2017/08/court-admits-dnc-and-debbie-wasserman-schulz-rigged-primaries-against-sanders/

Dems Attack ‘Twitter Files’ Journalists & Completely Clown Themselves https://youtu.be/EzcAIJUKEIw

Matt Taibbi BATTLES Congress https://youtu.be/qD1HXnd8ruo

How the media misled us about Russiagate w/Jeff Gerth | The Chris Hedges Report https://youtu.be/IiefPIKp9XY

Russiagate was a hoax w/Matt Taibbi | The Chris Hedges Report
https://youtu.be/KSwrUSdOJcQ 

 

Unchastened by its Russigate Embarrassment the NY Times Doubles Down in its Special Counsel Coverage

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2023/02/15/unchastened_by_its_russiagate_embarrassment_the_ny_times_

doubles_down_in_its_special_counsel_coverage_881457.html 

Matt Taibbi Squares Off w/ House Dems Over #TwitterFiles | SYSTEM UPDATE #52 https://rumble.com/v2cel4c-system-update-show-52.html

Debbie Wasserman Schultz vs Matt Taibbi (go to 1:50 in the video) https://www.youtube.com/live/ZiUroNVKtqw

How the USA PATRIOT Act redefines "Domestic Terrorism"
https://www.aclu.org/other/how-usa-patriot-act-redefines-domestic-terrorism

23 charged with domestic terrorism over protest against proposed Atlanta, Georgia police training center https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/03/10/bcbm-m10.html

How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline
https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/how-america-took-out-the-nord-stream

White House Counters Hersh’s Reputation With Weak ‘Intelligence’ https://popularresistance.org/nord-stream-attack-white-house-counters-hershs-reputation-with-weak-intelligence/

US complicity in Nord Stream bombing stands exposed
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/03/09/pers-m09.html

US Officials Point the Finger at Pro-Ukrainian Group for Nord Stream Attack https://scheerpost.com/2023/03/05/us-officials-point-the-finger-at-pro-ukrainian-group-for-nord-stream-attack/

More on the Norfolk Southern train derailment aftermath:

How Corporate Greed Destroyed East Palestine (Documentary by Second Thought) https://youtu.be/TcSLlveDu6k

Another Norfolk Southern Train Derailed as Its CEO Testified Before the Senate https://truthout.org/articles/another-norfolk-southern-train-derailed-as-its-ceo-testified-before-the-senate/

Railroad Executives Got Cash, In Part For ‘Record’ Train Length
https://popularresistance.org/railroad-executives-got-cash-in-part-for-record-train-length/

Norfolk Southern Conductor Killed in Crash as Train Safety Bill Faces Pushback https://truthout.org/articles/norfolk-southern-engineer-killed-in-crash-as-train-safety-bill-faces-pushback/

Norfolk Southern’s “six point plan” for rail safety: More PR damage control after East Palestine, Ohio derailment
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/03/09/ohio-m09.html

Please, if you are able, support The Revolution Continues so we can  keep the lights turned on. Give via our Paypal account https://paypal.me/camatthews  Power to the people!
Thank you.

Seen on Twitter:

Debbie Wasserman Schultz rigged the 2016 Democratic primary against Bernie Sanders, then appeared to rig her own election in 2018: A judge ruled that paper ballots were illegally destroyed after Wassernman Schultz challenger @Tim_Canova filed a lawsuit. pic.twitter.com/6jpxieDHfn

— Matt Orfalea (@0rf) March 9, 2023

“So-called journalists” @mtaibbi pic.twitter.com/8ma8L8OZaX

— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) March 9, 2023

The Business Model of Empire

If you've been following the news about Ukraine but still don't understand that it's the single most aggressively narrative managed and psyop-intensive war in human history, there is a 100 percent chance you believe false things about what's happening there.         --Caitlin Johnstone

The Business Model of Empire

by C.A. Matthews

The United States of America is an empire. It has imperialistic intentions. It seeks out resources, lands, and peoples to further its own purposes. You don't have to agree with its intentions to agree with the fact that it displays all the characteristics of an empire.

In order to build an empire, you must have a business plan of sorts. In my opinion, the US has a pretty simple business model when it comes to empire building. I call it "The Three Cs" or "Capitalism, Conflict, and Competition."

Capitalism is the "religion" or the belief system of US Empire. Capitalists are the billionaires (soon becoming trillionaires) who essentially own a controlling share of everything--and I mean everything.  They own politicians, who are essentially their paid-off servants who do everything to keep capitalists and fellow politicians from ever going to jail for the crimes they regularly commit. 

Capitalists own our mainstream media outlets--television, radio, cable and newspapers/periodicals--as well as our social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. They own our communication devices such as internet connections and cell towers. They own almost every morsel Americans put into their mouths through their massive agribusinesss, food processing plants and franchised restaurants. They own our military and profit well on the constant purchasing of armaments and related instruments of destruction.

Conflict is the means in which capitalism continues to exist. Capitalism needs endless resources--minerals, oil, foodstuffs, technology, plastic dollar store gadgets, etc. Capitalism demands profits, so paying too much for resources or the land or the people to produce these products they sell isn't seen as a good thing. And why pay for resources, lands, or workers at all when you can simply take them through Conflict? 

So, Conflicts--or the more accurately named "military actions," "interventions," "proxy wars," or simply "coups d'etat"--are started in order to feed the hungry monster that is Capitalism. The Capitalists aren't particularly bothered about the innocent lives forfeited in their grabs for resources. The natives are seen as so much "collateral damage."  That's what the capitalists' politician-puppets are for--to make a big noise to distract from all the needless deaths. Politicians pontificate and say things like, "The US has invaded such-and-such country in order to defend democracy," or "We are fighting to save the locals against Communism/Socialism/Any-ism that doesn't care much for Capitalism and building up the US Empire."

And, frankly, why would any country in the middle of a proxy war to cover for the US Empire's interests care about the growth of the US Empire or the success of Capitalism? The people there are seen by the US/Western powers as wage slaves or cannon fodder at best. Even George Orwell couldn't have foreseen the blatant disregard for human life.

Competition is a word that covers all sorts of manipulations that keep the world's populace off balance so that the US Empire/Capitalism can continue to grow. While conflict is necessary for the US Empire to make those land or resource grabs, how do you get the human element to cooperate with your plans? This is where competition comes into play. You seed competition among peoples by causing artificial scarcity of food and other necessary items such as medicines/vaccines worldwide. You seed competition by playing "The Race Card" and creating artificial divisions among human beings based on race, religion, gender identity, etc. at home.

Once the US Empire has seeded enough division among its own people (as well as other peoples) then it becomes fairly easy to swoop in and pick up the pieces from among the warring factions. Competition creates mini-conflicts that fuel the bigger Conflict needed for the success of Capitalism and so the billionaires can cash in and pocket all the profits they can possibly glean from a situation.

But what can one do with all the money taken in a world that has fallen apart through war (possibly nuclear war) and climate catastrophe? The US Empire builds a "Space Force" to protect the billionaires currently competing to get their spaceships into space. Once the Capitalists have traveled to other worlds they'll restart The Three Cs once more.

What a glorious future, huh?

If you still can't connect the dots between US Empire building and the current proxy war in Ukraine, don't be too hard on yourself. After all, the Capitalists who own all the mainstream media news outlets and social platforms are doing their best through the fourth "silent C" of Empire Building--Censorship. Censorship and "Cancellation Culture" keeps the public ill-informed. 

That's the way the US Empire Builders want it. It adds a fifth "C" to the equation of "Confusion" that keeps groups of people in Conflict, allowing for Competition that negates and persecutes truth-tellers such as Julian Assange and Chris Hedges. Networks and independent journalists that report on all sides of the story in Ukraine are being shut down by the Capitalists and ridiculed by their politician and media pundit-puppets, so it's difficult to learn what's really happening.

And Capitalism flourishes as the profits from the proxy war grow amid confusion and censorship. There were $800 million in arms sales to Ukraine last week alone. Raytheon and Lockheed Martin stock is soaring on Wall Street. Happy days are here again! (At least for those who own and control armament stocks.)

In order for you to see Clearly (a "C" that isn't in the Empire building business model) check out last week's blog piece on Critical Thinking Skills. That's the lucky seventh "C" for the people--Criticism or keeping a critical eye open. There's only one way for us to Continue life on this earth. We must Continually Critique Capitalism and US Empire Building or else it will kill everyone and everything in its insane quest for profits above all else.

To quote Redd Phlagg: "Remain skeptical. Read widely." And always be aware that you  and your happiness aren't a part of the US Empire's Business Model. It doesn't deserve your allegiance. It only deserves your disdain.

Some others' thoughts on the subject:

Analysts say the defense industry has spent billions of dollars lobbying Congress while quietly making much more in profit by manufacturing weapons that fuel deadly conflicts in Ukraine, Yemen and across the world under federal arms sales agreements that have little effective congressional oversight. 

There is a dangerous “feedback loop” between major weapons manufacturers in the United States that make billions in profits from arms sales, the countries that arm themselves with these weapons, and the U.S. government, which uses arms sales as “tools” to gain economic and diplomatic leverage, according to Dan Auble, a researcher at money-in-politics tracker OpenSecrets. 

“Unfortunately, it’s ultimately the human beings on the ground who suffer as a result of the prolonged wars that are fed from these arms sales abroad,” Auble told reporters on Thursday. Mike Ludwig, Ukraine and Yemen Wars Highlight US Role As Biggest Arms Dealer in the World

Capitalist enterprises seek, find, and develop foreign sources of food, raw materials, workers, and markets. As competition becomes global, competing capitalist enterprises seek help from their nations’ governments to expand. Politicians quickly learn that companies in their nations that lose in global competition will blame those politicians for insufficient support. Meanwhile, companies that win in the global competition will reward such politicians for their help. The social result of this is that capitalism entails national competition alongside enterprise competition. Wars often punctuate capitalism’s national competition. The winners in those competitions thereby often tended to build empires, historically. Richard Wolff, The Role of Capitalism in the War in Ukraine 

But what was “unprecedented” just six weeks ago has now become commonplace, even normalized. Any platform devoted to offering inconvenient-to-NATO news or alternative perspectives is guaranteed a very short lifespan. Less than two weeks after the EU's decree, Google announced that it was voluntarily banning all Russian-affiliated media worldwide, meaning Americans and all other non-Europeans were now blocked from viewing those channels on YouTube if they wished to. As so often happens with Big Tech censorship, much of the pressure on Google to more aggressively censor content about the war in Ukraine came from its own workforce: “Workers across Google had been urging YouTube to take additional punitive measures against Russian channels.”

So prolific and fast-moving is this censorship regime that it is virtually impossible to count how many platforms, agencies and individuals have been banished for the crime of expressing views deemed "pro-Russian.” On Tuesday, Twitter, with no explanation as usual, suddenly banned one of the most informative, reliable and careful dissident accounts, named “Russians With Attitude.” Created in late 2020 by two English-speaking Russians, the account exploded in popularity since the start of the war, from roughly 20,000 followers before the invasion to more than 125,000 followers at the time Twitter banned it. An accompanying podcast with the same name also exploded in popularity and, at least as of now, can still be heard on Patreon. -- Glenn Greenwald, Western Dissent from US/NATO Policy is Small, Yet the Censorship Campaign is Extreme 

Bridget Moix, general secretary of the Quaker organization Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), on Tuesday detailed various nonviolent steps the Biden administration and Congress "can take to help end the war in Ukraine and promote long-term peace." 

"While it may feel as though more weapons and punishing sanctions are the only options in Ukraine, in fact, U.S. leaders have many nonviolent policy options available to help save lives and advance peace," she wrote. 

"They need to understand that using diplomacy, working through multilateral institutions, supporting local peacebuilders, providing humanitarian aid, and protecting refugees are not 'weak' responses," Moix argued. "These are our best tools for bringing about a durable solution to the crisis."  Biden Answers Zelenskyy's Plea to Arm Ukraine with $800 Million in Weapons

The business model of Empire in one graphic.

The US has killed more than 20 million people since WW2 for “freedom and democracy”. pic.twitter.com/l9ZCNMGdib

— Mnar Adley (@MnarMuh) April 13, 2022

Related articles:

The Role of Capitalism in the War in Ukraine  https://scheerpost.com/2022/04/14/the-role-of-capitalism-in-the-war-in-ukraine/ 

Ukraine and Yemen Wars Highlight US Role As Biggest Arms Dealer in the World https://truthout.org/articles/ukraine-and-yemen-wars-highlight-uss-role-as-biggest-arms-dealer-in-the-world/

The New Gold Rush: How Pentagon Contractors Are Cashing in on the Ukraine Crisis   https://scheerpost.com/2022/04/18/the-new-gold-rush-how-pentagon-contractors-are-cashing-in-on-the-ukraine-crisis/

US-Backed Coup in Pakistan Overthrows PM Imran Khan https://popularresistance.org/us-backed-coup-in-pakistan-overthrows-pm-imran-khan-over-his-independent-foreign-policy/ 

The Venezuelan Coup, 20 Years Later https://scheerpost.com/2022/04/15/the-venezuelan-coup-20-years-later/  

How the US Does "Diplomacy" https://popularresistance.org/how-the-u-s-does-diplomacy/

Western Dissent from US/NATO Policy is Small, Yet the Censorship Campaign is Extreme  https://greenwald.substack.com/p/western-dissent-from-usnato-policy 

American Militarism, a  Persistent Malady https://scheerpost.com/2022/04/14/american-militarism-a-persistent-malady/

The Reasons For and Dangers Behind the War in Ukraine https://popularresistance.org/the-reasons-for-and-dangers-behind-the-war-in-ukraine/ 

Biden Answer Zelenskyy's Plea to Arm Ukraine Now With 800 Million in Weapons https://scheerpost.com/2022/04/14/biden-answers-zelenskyys-plea-to-arm-ukraine-now-with-800-million-in-weapons/

A Love Letter to All Draft Dodgers  https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/a-love-letter-to-all-draft-dodgers?s=r 

How Much Are We Prepared to Sacrifice https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/how-much-are-we-prepared-to-sacrifice

Seen on Twitter:

Again: if this is not a proxy war, then there has never been a proxy war. https://t.co/1eodev8r5x

— Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ (@caitoz) April 11, 2022

The US empire maintains our control via 2 things - truly ridiculous military power (800 military ases around the world + a $1 Trillion a year budget), and secondly controlling much of the world’s central banking system.

— Lee Camp [Redacted] (@LeeCamp) April 16, 2022

Before the US helped fund + arm the destruction of Syria, they dropped the dollar. Before the US sent a drone bomb through one of Iran's top officials, they dropped the petrodollar.

— Lee Camp [Redacted] (@LeeCamp) April 16, 2022

Now Russia + China are creating a new version of the SWIFT system to get around US-controlled finance systems. In order to stop that (among other reasons), the US is willing to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian.

— Lee Camp [Redacted] (@LeeCamp) April 16, 2022

The USA has made enemies all over the globe. Our military and/or our weapon support has stolen the lives of millions and millions of people in a few decades.

If you live in the USA, this should terrify you.

— Jory Micah, M.A. Christian Doctrine & History (@jorymicah) April 16, 2022

In spite of our propaganda machine, Ukraine is not winning, our Gov't knows that they have no chance to win, but the longer they can keep this war going, they hope they can weaken Russia, sell more weapons, and use Ukrainian dead bodies as a talking point

— Black in the Empire (@blackintheempir) April 17, 2022

 A very good thread (series) of tweets:

People often assume that capitalism is defined by "markets and trade". But markets and trade existed for thousands of years before capitalism. Capitalism is only 500 years old. So what is distinctive about this economic system? Three things (well, more, but three for now):

— Jason Hickel (@jasonhickel) April 18, 2022

You're Not Paranoid (They Are Out To Get You)

 

You're Not Paranoid 

(They Are Out To Get You)

by C.A. Matthews

 

Some days you think you're going crazy. Then you read your Twitter feed and realize it's not you that's crazy--it's the whole freakin' system that controls our every move that's crazy.

A human rights lawyer, Steven Donziger, represents an indigenous tribe in Ecuador that was poisoned by massive dumping of wastes on their otherwise pristine land by an international oil corporation. This person should be labeled a hero, decorated with ribbons and medals, and should be called a saint on every news show and in every print publication. But no… Donziger's story has been mostly ignored and his reputation smeared in the mainstream media. When he wouldn't give up his computer full of confidential information between his law team and his clients, he was held in criminal contempt of court. But no legitimate court wanted to convict him or try him, so the oil company "bought" itself a judge and hopped up charges in their own kangaroo court just to punish him for being a good guy. And get this--the US  government is perfectly okay with an oil company calling the shots!

If that ain't crazy! The hero in his own words:

 “Chevron caused a mass industrial poisoning in the Amazon that crushed the lives of Indigenous peoples. Six courts and 28 appellate judges found the company guilty. Fight on.” —Steven Donziger

Conviction of Steven Donziger, said one critic, “perfectly encapsulates how corporate power has twisted the U.S. justice system to protect corporate interests and punish their enemies.” Julia Conley, Six Month Sentence for Lawyer Who Took on Chevron 

This past week, another court in the UK held a hearing to expedite a journalist to the US for simply reporting the truth to the world.

Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges says of Julian Assange:

Assange’s “crime” is that he exposed the more than 15,000 unreported deaths of Iraqi civilians. He exposed the torture and abuse of some 800 men and boys, aged between 14 and 89, at Guantánamo. He exposed that Hillary Clinton in 2009 ordered US diplomats to spy on U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and other U.N. representatives from China, France, Russia, and the UK, spying that included obtaining DNA, iris scans, fingerprints, and personal passwords, part of the long pattern of illegal surveillance that included the eavesdropping on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in the weeks before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. He exposed that Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and the CIA orchestrated the June 2009 military coup in Honduras that overthrew the democratically-elected president Manuel Zelaya, replacing it with a murderous and corrupt military regime. He exposed that George W. Bush, Barack Obama and General David Petraeus prosecuted a war in Iraq that under post-Nuremberg laws is defined as a criminal war of aggression, a war crime, which authorized hundreds of targeted assassinations, including those of US citizens in Yemen. He exposed that the United States secretly launched missile, bomb, and drone attacks on Yemen, killing scores of civilians. He exposed that Goldman Sachs paid Hillary Clinton $657,000 to give talks, a sum so large it can only be considered a bribe, and that she privately assured corporate leaders she would do their bidding while promising the public financial regulation and reform. He exposed the internal campaign to discredit and destroy British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn by members of his own party. He exposed how the hacking tools used by the CIA and the National Security Agency permits the wholesale government surveillance of our televisions, computers, smartphones and anti-virus software, allowing the government to record and store our conversations, images and private text messages, even from encrypted apps.

He exposed the truth. He exposed it over and over and over until there was no question of the endemic illegality, corruption and mendacity that defines the global ruling elite. And for these truths alone he is guilty.

Chris Hedges, The Most Important Battle For Press Freedom In Our Time 

So, Julian Assange, an Australian publisher who exposes corruption and murder millions of times over will be extradited from the UK to the US so the US can lock him in solitary confinement and push him even further over the edge mentally and emotionally just because he embarrassed the sadistic military-industrial complex and corrupt politicians by showing the world what's really happening.

And that's not crazy?

I'll tell you what it is--it's downright immoral, is what it is. The Assanges and Donzigers of the world are a rare breed of human being brave enough to take on the sick and twisted system, knowing they could be severely penalized for simply doing their jobs. They face their tormentors and suffer unjust punishments for the good of humanity. They are rewarded by silence or outright lies streaming from the lips of mass media "darlings" willing to do the dirty work of covering for the depravity of those in power.

We're not crazy--we're not paranoid. The system is out to get us, subdue us, and bend our will to theirs. We can't let them do this. We need to act like Julian Assange and publish the truth come what may anyway. We need to act like Steven Donziger and stand up for the marginalized and defenseless peoples of the Earth.

If we don't… We will become the very sickness they lost their freedom to fight. We will become truly crazy. And the evil status quo wins.

Related Articles:

From Press Freedom to Prison Systems, Everything Assange Touches Gets Illuminated  https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/from-press-freedom-to-prison-systems

America's Unending Persecution of Whistleblowers https://scheerpost.com/2021/10/29/john-kiriakou-on-daniel-hale-and-americas-unending-persecution-of-whistleblowers/ 

The Most Important Battle For Press Freedom In Our Time https://scheerpost.com/2021/10/28/hedges-the-most-important-battle-for-press-freedom-in-our-time/ 

Julian Assange Extradition Hearing https://popularresistance.org/on-contact-julian-assange-extradition-case/ 

Billionaire Reveals Virtual Reality Experience Called "Mainstream Media" https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/billionaire-reveals-virtual-reality

Prisoner Gives a Guantanamo Court The First Account of CIA Abuse  https://www.rsn.org/001/prisoner-gives-a-guantanamo-court-the-first-account-of-cia-abuse.html 

 Six Month Sentence for Lawyer Who Took on Chevron https://consortiumnews.com/2021/10/01/six-month-sentence-for-lawyer-who-took-on-chevron-provokes-anger/

Exxon CEO Accused of Lying About Climate Science to Congressional Panel https://www.rsn.org/001/exxon-ceo-accused-of-lying-about-climate-science-to-congressional-panel.html

Assange and Donziger Attacked (video) https://www.portable.tv/series/redactedtonight?v=86fddabd-b3a0-440c-8970-e9f45f48c2c8

Our Courts Also Have a Big Corruption Problem https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/05/our-courts-also-have-big-corruption-problem/ 

Documents Show How US Government Used Social Media To Interfere in Venezuela  https://jacobinmag.com/2021/10/us-venezuela-election-campaign-intervention-influence-maduro-mud-social-media-facebook

 As seen on Twitter:

 

The wrong person is in prison. #FreeAssangeTODAY pic.twitter.com/sb8IoBE0lm

— Comrade Misty is Putin’s Buddy 🍀 (@SarcasmStardust) October 29, 2021

"Loretta Preska, the judge who did Chevron’s bidding in the case against activist Steven Donziger, has a history of conflicts of interest and pro-corporate rulings. And she's not alone — corporate influence and conflicts of interest are rampant in the courts."#FreeDonziger https://t.co/V04ewJB0B8

— 🔥 End Corporate/Duopoly Rule (@jeffsguardian) November 1, 2021

 

***

From Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund:

The age of trickle-down tax-cut economics is coming to an end!

President Biden and Congressional leaders have just released the Build Back Better legislation that we have been working on for months. It’s historic legislation that will recover the revenue lost in the tax handouts given to the rich and corporations by the Trump-GOP tax scam in 2017―and make bold investments in working families and the environment.

Right now, members of the House are under pressure to vote for the bipartisan infrastructure bill (it’s already passed the Senate) before all 50 Democratic votes in the Senate are even secured for the Build Back Better legislation. In order to guarantee passage of this historic agenda, we’re demanding the House hold the line: No vote on infrastructure without assurance that Build Back Better will pass the Senate!

Click here to write a letter to your members of Congress urging them to hold strong on Build Back Better. The bills must be passed together to ensure the bill remains as robust as possible.

Here’s what the Build Back Better bill will do:

It will invest in universal preschool for all 3- and 4-year olds, make high quality childcare more affordable, expand Medicaid home care to keep older Americans and people with disabilities in their homes while paying care workers a fair wage, expand Medicare to cover hearing, extend the Child Tax Credit that is providing monthly cash payments to 35 million families, invest in clean energy and combat the climate crisis.

This bill is 100% paid for by closing tax loopholes used by the rich and corporations, requiring a 15% minimum tax to stop wealthy corporations from dodging their fair share of taxes, taxing firms that enrich shareholders rather than invest in workers, catching rich tax cheats that are evading $160 billion in taxes every year, creating a special higher tax rate for the ultra-wealthy, and more.

Small businesses and people making under $400,000 a year won’t pay any more in taxes.

Click here to write to your U.S. representative and senators and urge them to hold the line: No vote on infrastructure without Build Back Better. Tell them it’s time to invest in working families―completely paid for by making the rich and corporations pay their fair share.

This is the most important shift in our country’s priorities in a generation―ending trickle-down tax-cut economics for the rich and finally investing in our families and communities. Let’s get this across the finish line!

Frank Clemente
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund

 ***

In less than a week, the Biden administration plans to restart the horrible, Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy in border cities that the Biden administration advises all U.S. citizens to avoid going there because they are so potentially dangerous. 

This policy illegally denies safety to families in the U.S. and sends them back to danger -- where the State Department recommends U.S. citizens avoid due to crime and kidnapping. Families are then forced to wait for months on end, with little to no resources, in makeshift tent homes, sometimes with children with disabilities like cerebral palsy or epilepsy. 

The consequences have been devastating: over 7,000 people have been kidnapped or victims of violent attacks after being turned back from seeking safety in the U.S. 

Restarting this racist policy is immoral and inhumane. President Biden promised to restore an immigration system that welcomes people with dignity, but he is doing the opposite: 

Demand that the Biden administration stop forcing families back into danger.

 Tell biden: stop Remain In Mexico

If Remain in Mexico restarts in November, families who have trekked to our front door seeking safety may be forced to make an impossible decision: separate from your children for the chance they will be free from danger, or await your asylum trial together in a city where migrants are highly susceptible to being kidnapped, extorted, or killed. 

So far, over 70,000 migrants seeking safety have been sent back to these border cities, including at least 16,000 babies, children, and teenagers. 

People deserve access to basic human needs and to claim asylum in the U.S. We need to do everything possible to stop Remain in Mexico from returning. Join me today and take action for babies, children, pregnant people, and families who want a future free from violence and tragedy in the U.S.

Tell biden: stop Remain in Mexico

We can’t let Remain in Mexico jeopardize the lives of children and families looking for a safer tomorrow. President Biden must live up to his promise to restore asylum.

Thanks for all you do,
Erin Mazursky, Organizing Director
Families Belong Together