Do We Really Want Peace?

by C. A. Matthews

The anniversaries of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and August 9, 1945) pass by most Westerners’ consciousness without notice. The dates aren’t printed on any calendars I have like “Memorial Day” or “Presidents’ Day” are, labeled in big, bright capital letters. The week the first atom bombs were dropped on civilians is not a bank holiday anywhere as far as I know.

The anniversary is mostly remembered by the children of the survivors and a handful of international peace organizations. The one event that should have motivated humankind to turn around and go in a better direction is the one event we seem to care the least about. We neither care to remember it and learn from it nor honor it and promise ourselves we’ll never do it again.

I have to admit that if GPAX, the Green Party Peace Action Committee, hadn’t presented “Never Again!” a very informative webinar on August 6, I’d probably would have forgotten about humanity’s fall from innocence, too. Yes, humankind is guilty of the sin of unleashing the power of the atom, the genie that cannot be put back inside the bottle once it has escaped. All life on Earth will never be the same again.

No one born since those early August days in 1945 has ever lived in a world without manmade nuclear radiation effecting them, either directly through an nuclear warhead detonation, or from being shot with depleted uranium coated bullets, or from the fallout leaking from a nuclear power plant that has suffered a “mishap” like Fukushima, or even from a simple rain shower. Manmade radiation has become a permanent part of our ecosystem for the worse, not better.

No one born since then has ever known a world where life as we know it could be wiped out in a matter of minutes if one or more nuclear powers decide to launch their nuclear weapons. This knowledge should keep us awake nights, but the majority of us seem okay living day-to-day in such a terrifying world.

Could it be we really don’t want peace? Could it be that we’d rather live with the threat of imminent Mutually Assured Destruction than to give up our creature comforts and affordable lifestyles in the West? Could it be Americans enjoy the hegemony we’ve gained through the threat of dropping H-bombs on your country if it doesn’t “cooperate” and give us what we want? (This means you, Venezuela and Iran. Hand over your oil or else!)

Or could it be I’m over-exaggerating the threat of our potential demise? Could I be minimizing the numbers of activists who are actively fighting to shut the war machine down? I don’t think so...

 

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Escaping the Nightmare

by C.A. Matthews

This beautifully produced short video (above) spoke to me this week. Watch it and see what I mean.

Entitled Escaping the Duopoly Nightmare: A Tribute to the Fearless! the video gives one hope that there is a large enough percentage of Americans out there who actually “get it” and who are escaping the nightmare of the faux US democracy established and maintained by the billionaire oligarchs. These folks aren’t crying into their beers/coffee cups. They’re making plans on how they’ll fight back, and it could lead to building a strong alternative party that represents the working class, not the one-percent, in the near future.

To put this in the vernacular: Smart voters ain’t buying into the rich dudes’ lies anymore. They’re taking their business elsewhere. They’re starting their own workers’ party, far away from the brain dead, bought-off Red and Blue MAGAts. They’re going to put the people in charge, not the corporations.

Amen to these brave visionaries! Could the Revolution be just around the corner?

Meanwhile across the globe, brave Pakistanis are escaping from a nightmare not of their own making...

 

To discover who else is escaping nightmares, please read the rest of this article by clicking on this Substack link: https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com. There you'll see related article and video links, all the graphics, and be able to leave comments. You can also subscribe and receive the weekly blog post in your email box. 

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There’s Always Money For Bombs

“The sinews of war are infinite money.” --Marcus Tullius Cicero

"How many free school lunches could have been bought with the money we used to send bombs to Israel so they could bury children under rubble?" --Professor Anthony Zenkus on X https://twitter.com/anthonyzenkus/status/1797464596552585340

There’s Always Money For Bombs

by C.A. Matthews

The images out of Gaza have been unrelentingly traumatic, but the slaughter in Rafah was just unbearably upsetting. Reports of decapitated babies. Charred children. People burned alive. All just days after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to halt its military offensive in Rafah. All while the US government makes excuse after excuse for Israel’s flagrant breaches of international law, which Israel said was just a “tragic mistake”.

After those images, I couldn’t function anymore. I certainly couldn’t sit down and try and write. The hopelessness and the horror and my rage felt too overwhelming. My complicity felt too overwhelming – the knowledge that this mass slaughter is being facilitated and funded by the US taxpayer, the knowledge that a little portion of my writing income goes towards this suffering. All while the public school around the corner from me in Philadelphia is failing because there’s never enough money for education and the library near me shuts on Sundays because there’s never enough money for public services and there are people going bankrupt in the US from medical bills because there’s never enough money to invest in public health. But there’s always money for bombs. --from Where is Joe Biden’s fury about decapitated Palestinian babies? by Arwa Mahdawi

When I read Arwa’s impassioned plea for sanity, I identified with it completely. I knew I had to write about it.

There is always—and I mean always—enough money for bombs in the annual budget that the US Congress passes. Sure, some of the money goes for tanks, nuclear subs, the dockyard queen known as the “Littoral Combat Ship,” and for the crash-worthy F-35, too, but that’s the gist of where the majority of our tax dollars go toward. Armaments. War. Death. Destruction.

Genocide.

Why is that? Arwa makes some pertinent points here. There’s never any money for universal health care or to help struggling public schools in America, but there’s plenty of money to give to genocidal maniacs like Israel, always billions of dollars worth of bombs to hand over to these ethnic cleansing mass murderers. Bombs that have killed and maimed over 100,000 human beings in Gaza alone. Bombs that don’t create goodwill among the nations. Bombs that only create more animosity and fear.

Bombs that are bringing us each and every day closer to a nuclear war and the end of the world as we know it.

I’m sure there are plenty who feel that I’m exaggerating the point and that poor Arwa needs to take a chill pill and lie down until her brain fog clears. I call those types of people “idiots.” Okay, perhaps “morons” might be the better term in an intellectual sense, but either term works for me. Nowadays we can’t afford to keep listening to morons and idiots because these moron and idiots are trying to start World War III.

Don’t believe me? Believe another intelligent person who has looked into this issue:

The Biden administration has given Ukraine permission to use US-provided weapons to hit targets inside Russian territory (...) a step that marks a significant escalation of the proxy war.

“Ukraine needs support from the US for targeting when it fires US-provided missiles, which means the US will now be directly supporting strikes inside Russia. The escalation risks provoking a major response from Russia, as Moscow recently warned the UK that it would target British military sites in Ukraine and “beyond” if British missiles were used in strikes on Russian territory. (…)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that any NATO countries that let Ukraine strike Russia with their weapons would face “major consequences.”  From Biden Gives Ukraine Permission To Strike Inside Russia With US Weapons by Dave DeCamp

There it is in black and white. The US is threatening Russia. One nuclear power is threatening another by giving bombs to another country, Ukraine, even after what President Putin said about the first country will be held accountable for whatever damage their bombs do. And the idiots and morons in the US allow Ukraine to shoot American bombs/missiles into Russia, targeting nuclear radar sites, knowing full well that these actions could escalate the current conventional bloodbath into full-fledged nuclear warfare. For added fun, US NATO ally France is sending some of its troops into Ukraine to get slaughtered as quickly as Ukrainian troops have. There can never be enough cannon fodder—I mean “soldiers”.

I know it’s difficult to get your head around this horrific state of affairs, but allow me to help. I believe the word you’re looking for to describe this situation is “suicide.”

To reiterate: There’s always money for bombs. AND the US will always make certain there are bombs enough worldwide to commit a nuclear genocide against every last living thing on earth. Why? Because the US is hell-bent to get its way and remain the top dog economically and militarily while standing on the apex of a pile of smoldering rubble called the Late Great Planet Earth.

See, that’s not too difficult to understand, is it? It isn’t a good thing. In fact, it’s something that the rest of the people of the planet desperately want to stop. It’s what keeping both Arwa and me awake at nights.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll know what I mean by the terms “zio-bully” and “zionarcissism”  and how to apply them to the behaviors of the United States of Israel. The US suffers greatly from the mental illness of zionarcissism. It believes the best thing in the world is to zio-bully everyone into doing what they say by threatening them with bombs raining down on them from the sky, along with the parts from more than a few Boeing jets for good measure. [Editor’s note: The US bombs that were rained down upon the sleeping refugee camp in Rafah were actually made by Boeing, the Boeing GBU-39. (Cost reports range from $30,000-$40,000 per bomb.)Yes, Boeing can make something that actually works as intended. Too bad this something was intended to maim and kill.]

by Mark Taylor www.DeMOCKracy.Ink

I know what you’re thinking, if you’re a sane and moral person, that is. You’re thinking: “It doesn’t make any sense for the US, or anyone for that matter, to provoke a nuclear confrontation. Nobody wins in a nuclear war.” You’re absolutely right. But if you’ve been following recent events, you’ll have come to the conclusion that the US is not run by anyone the least sane and/or moral.

For crying out loud, Butcher Biden has been giving away billions of dollars worth of bombs and armaments to Israel who is clearly committing war crimes against an indigenous civilian population! Children are being burnt alive and suffering amputations without the benefit of anesthetic because Biden allows the Israelis to block food and medicines from coming into Gaza. I ask you how is Biden’s behavior either “sane” or “moral”?

“But what do we Americans get out of all this death and destruction?” you wonder. “Surely we must get something out of it, or why else do it and ruin our reputation on the world stage?”

Good questions. Perhaps there are no satisfactory answers. One thing the NATO countries are getting from watching the Israeli Occupation Forces bomb and sniper-shoot their way across Gaza is lots of great data on how well their instruments of death work in the field. Military scientists now know exactly how many bombs it takes to turn a city the size of Gaza City into rubble. This could make fighting conventional wars in the future (if there is a future) much more organized and cost effective.  If you know you’ll only need like 25,000 bunker buster bombs for your first month’s barrage, then you won’t need to buy or stock any more bombs than that. See how that could save a few trillion bucks in the Pentagon’s budget? (More money for those legendary golden toilet seats for F-35s!)

Even more sinister than that is now all these wonderful military-industrial complex corporations have great feedback on just how deadly their weapons of war really are. I mean, it’s difficult to know just how many children can be burned alive in a refugee tent camp without actually testing out your bombs by dropping them on some human guinea pigs. Isn’t it nice how the people of Gaza have volunteered their services essentially to serve as “crash test dummies” for the past eight months?

You don’t believe me that scientists actually collect this sort of data from the deaths of civilians and use it to make more lethal weapons? Well, if I told you that Nazi scientists tested weapons on the bodies of living (soon dead) concentration camp prisoners during World War II, and that information was snatched up by the US and others at the end of the war and studied closely, would you still not believe me? It’s okay if you don’t. But watch out that you and yours don’t become the next guinea pig they decide to test out their instruments of death on.

In the end, that’s all the military-industrial complex CEOs want—lots of profits (which the US government is providing) and lots of success with their “products” so they get repeat business. And these products won’t necessarily be sold to be used abroad in a distant land against a distant people you don’t like next time. Americans could be the next guinea pigs. Take a look at our militarized policing systems in American cities.

Why the hell does a small town with less than 25,000 people in the heartland of America need a dozen Humvee armored cars, courtesy of a Pentagon rummage sale? Answer: It doesn’t. But I used to drive past the police depot that contained these weapons of war when I lived in that little town, and I wondered if the cops bought them just in case they ever needed to mow down a few protesters who started acting out of line and demanding an end to the genocides, an end to the endless wars.

Small town cops can’t ever be too careful come a full fledged “riot” of five grandmothers and two dogs standing on the corner of Main Street carrying “Free Palestine” banners. Those armored cars will come in handy in running those “killer grannies” down, won’t they? Who’s to say our militarized police won’t use these military-grade weapons against us for other things like being the wrong color, wrong religion, wrong politics, wrong gender identity, wrong… You get the picture.

So remember: There’s always money for bombs. That is, until We the People decide that there isn’t, and we do something to stop these insane genocidal-suicidal morons.

photos by Stefan Fane

One big thing we can do is show solidarity with oppressed people both at home and around the world. We can broadcast their cause to a wider audience, since broadcast mainstream media stations won’t bother to. We can stand together and not let the morons-in-charge divide us and conquer our power.

I did just that this past weekend. I marched in solidarity for Palestine with an interesting mix of people—peace activists, queer activists, LGBTQIA supporters, American Muslim activists and their supporters. I know, these don’t sound like groups that normally would march together in a summer festival parade under the banner of Palestine liberation, but they did. We had a great time and received over all good responses from the community.

Marching with Stefan

We can’t allow the morons to break our spirits. We can’t allow them to divide and conquer us as we fight for our case. We can’t quit protesting until we see our objectives met.

One day soon, we will make it so there is never any money for bombs as long as there are oppressed human beings in need of our help anywhere on the planet. I can’t wait to walk beside you then.

Related Articles and Other Interesting Links

Israel’s Tents Massacre in Rafah Is a Heinous War Crime https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/tents-massacre-rafah-war-crime

Rafah Invasion Was Once Biden’s “Red Line” — But Israel Continues to Cross It https://truthout.org/articles/rafah-invasion-was-once-bidens-red-line-but-israel-continues-to-cross-it/

Where is Joe Biden’s fury about decapitated Palestinian babies? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/30/biden-palestinian-beheaded-israeli-babies

Biden Lets Ukraine Strike Russia With US Weapons While Ukraine Attacks Russian Nuclear Defenses  https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/biden-lets-ukraine-strike-russia

Biden Gives Ukraine Permission To Strike Inside Russia With US Weapons https://news.antiwar.com/2024/05/30/biden-gives-ukraine-permission-to-strike-inside-russia-with-us-weapons/

US Presidents Who Gamble With Nuclear Armageddon https://consortiumnews.com/2024/05/30/us-presidents-who-gamble-with-nuclear-armageddon/

The Military-Industrial Complex Is Killing Us All https://scheerpost.com/2024/06/03/the-military-industrial-complex-is-killing-us-all/

Surveillance and interference: Israel’s covert war on the ICC exposed https://www.972mag.com/icc-israel-surveillance-investigation/

The ICC Takes on Israel and the US Congressional Mafia https://medeabenjamin.substack.com/p/the-icc-takes-on-israel-and-the-us

Top EU official accused at ICC of ‘complicity’ in Gaza genocide https://thecradle.co/articles/top-eu-official-accused-at-icc-of-complicity-in-gaza-genocide

Israel Seizes Entire Gaza Border! https://rumble.com/v4ygyze-live-israel-seizes-entire-gaza-border-and-much-more.html

Biden pressures Netanyahu to accept peace deal that could have been agreed 40,000 bodies ago https://www.councilestatemedia.uk/p/biden-pressures-netanyahu-to-accept

Falsified US State Department Report Inspires Yet Another Resignation https://popularresistance.org/falsified-us-state-department-report-inspires-yet-another-resignation/

This Texas Company Is Providing the Jet Fuel for Israel’s Assault on Gaza https://truthout.org/articles/this-texas-company-is-providing-the-jet-fuel-for-israels-assault-on-gaza/

UN Calls for International Aid as Sudan Faces Imminent Famine Amid Civil War https://truthout.org/articles/un-calls-for-international-aid-as-sudan-faces-imminent-famine-amid-civil-war/

UCLA's Disturbing Crackdown on Peaceful Protesters: An Injustice Unfolds https://www.citizenschronicle.org/p/uclas-disturbing-crackdown-on-peaceful

Gaza-on-the-Rhine, a history lesson https://autonomies.org/2024/03/yazan-alloujami-gaza-on-the-rhine-a-history-lesson/

From Massachusetts, Some Tax-the-Rich Inspiration https://scheerpost.com/2024/05/28/from-massachusetts-some-tax-the-rich-inspiration/

In a Victory for Assange and First Amendment, UK Court Grants Right to Appeal  https://truthout.org/articles/in-a-victory-for-assange-and-first-amendment-uk-court-grants-right-to-appeal/

Why Celebrities Aren't Speaking Up About Gaza https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/why-celebrities-arent-speaking-up

Educators Celebrate as Judge Strikes Down New Hampshire ‘Banned Concepts’ Law https://scheerpost.com/2024/05/30/educators-celebrate-as-judge-strikes-down-new-hampshire-banned-concepts-law/

Delhi Heat Wave Suggests Underestimated Speed and Intensity of Global Warming https://truthout.org/articles/delhi-heat-wave-suggests-underestimated-speed-and-intensity-of-global-warming/

Murray & Galloway on Ending Israel's Genocide in Gaza https://youtu.be/mW5KF-Z08ug

Subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack today. Go to https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com and subscribe at the link at the end of the article. You'll enjoy having each week's post automatically sent to your email box or reading it at the Substack site. Many thanks for your consideration. 

The Rule of Tyrannies

The world will never know peace as long as war is profitable. The world will never know health as long as sickness is profitable. The ecosystem will never thrive as long as ecocide is profitable. We will remain ruled by tyrants for as long as our systems elevate tyranny. --Caitlin Johnstone,  All Our Systems Are Built To Elevate Viciousness

The Rule of Tyrannies

by C.A. Matthews

There is no water left on Earth that hasn't been tainted with micro-plastic particles.
 
There are mass die-offs of trees, plants, and animals due to rising temperatures and the subsequent droughts and fires that ensue.
 
The sea levels are rising because of melting ice sheets at the poles, causing flooding and drowning entire island chains.
 
There are many who shout racist-elitist taunts at the migrants fleeing from natural disasters and violent conflicts caused by our rapidly warming planet and our economic system's insatiable need to overthrow any leaders who don't do business on our country's terms.

There is another pandemic on the horizon with the emergence of the monkeypox virus in the US. With no universal health care, possibly another million plus Americans will suffer and die from a preventable illness. (The current rate is 400+ COVID-19 deaths per day and an untold number of people suffering permanent disability from Long COVID.)
 
There are politicians spouting nonsense about "winnable nuclear war" as if radiation faded away mere hours after dropping a nuke bomb. These same politicians continue to militarize the police, an unspoken threat against the working classes to stay in their designated place. The politicians' military industrial complex donors are happy with this outcome.
 
There are those who still think nuclear power is "clean energy" even after the disasters of Chernobyl, Fukushima, and others. They are doing their best to prevent cleaner sources of energy such as solar, wind and geothermal from ever becoming a part of our power grid, as a recent bill  passed in Congress and praised by the fossil fuel industry demonstrates.

What is the key element winding its way through all these seemingly unrelated abuses of our planet, its peoples, and all its creatures? If you said "money" or more accurately "the love of money" then you win today's prize. The prize is that you get to die knowing how these man-made insults to Mother Earth were entirely preventable.

 (Watch the documentary 2040 to learn how current technology can address all the above challenges. They're not unsolvable problems. We are capable of affecting positive changes to save the planet, but we have to be willing to do so and we need to start today.)
 
The love of money, or profits, if you will, is selling humankind's destiny down the river of greed in order to make a few more billionaires even richer. Why any person needs incalculable wealth to survive when the rest of us get by on mere pittances is a mystery to me. I don't know about you, but this obsession billionaires have with accruing more and more digits in their bank account ledgers just makes me angrier and angrier.
 
Time is running out for our dear Mother Earth. We've seen the effects of climate catastrophe speeding up this summer in heatwave after sweltering heatwave. Some say we've gone beyond the point of no return. And all because these billionaire tyrants can't make enough money to satisfy their lusts. They are obsessed with "growing the economy" while gouging workers for basic necessities like food, medicine, and shelter. These greedy tyrants can't get enough until they destroy all the beautiful diversity of life on this planet.
 
Will somebody--anybody--make it stop? Please.

If our dying world and our empty bellies can't motivate us lowly workers to stand up for ourselves and the planet, then what will? We've been terrorized by tyrants using a sadistic economic system called capitalism for far too long. To save Earth and humanity, capitalism must die. It must die and be replaced with a kinder, gentler system that treats everyone and every living thing with the respect and dignity he/she/they/it deserves.
 
Will taking the reins away from the tyrants now in control be easy? No. Will it possibly cost us some of our lives in the struggle? Yes. But we have no choice--our planet is being destroyed by sadistic psychopaths. Psychopaths who can't see the forest for the trees since they've chopped all the trees down to print more useless currency!
 
It would be wonderful if the tyrants of the 1% came down off their thrones and gave the 99% the keys to the kingdom, but don't count on it. If they've convinced their politician-puppets to spout nonsense about the benefits of nuclear warfare, and how justice can be found in increasing policing and military agencies to take up arms against us, then we must be prepared to deal swiftly and strongly with shutting these monsters down.
 
We can't wait, hoping and praying these tyrannical psychopaths will come to their senses and learn to be empathetic. Odds are they never will. We can't risk what is left of our Earth still able to harbor life.

It's life or death for our world. I vote for the death of the tyrants and their capitalist system so that the vast majority of us may live. Live in peace and harmony together with nature--not constantly fighting against Our Mother Earth in order to acquire huge sums of meaningless money.
 
We've only got one planet. Let's do what needs to be done. Let's take good care of her so she will continue to take care of our children and grandchildren in the future. Don't allow the tyrants--bent on destruction to slake their thirst for blood money--stand in our way.

Things you can make money out of:

• War

• Ecocide

• Sickness

• Finite commodities

Things you can't make money out of:

• Peace

• A thriving biosphere

• Health

• Energy sources you can't control

While we use money to value things, we will never be free. --Caitlin Johnstone, China Threatens the US Empire, Not the US Itself

Related Articles:

Solving Plastic Crisis Through Community Empowerment https://popularresistance.org/solving-the-plastic-crisis-through-community-empowerment/ 

US Houses Passes Pro-Corporate Climate Bill
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/08/13/zxah-a13.html

Trailer for the documentary 2040: https://vimeo.com/429859999

Monkeypox is Yet Another Health Crisis Fueled by Governmental Neglect https://truthout.org/articles/monkeypox-is-yet-another-global-health-crisis-fueled-by-governmental-neglect/

Land of the Dying: Alarming Study Shows US Killing Its Own Population
https://scheerpost.com/2022/08/09/america-land-of-the-dying-alarming-study-shows-us-killing-its-own-population/

Capitalism is Making Us Sick and Sucking Us Dry
https://truthout.org/audio/capitalism-is-making-us-sick-and-sucking-us-dry/

The U.N. Just Declared a Universal Human Right to a Healthy Sustainable Environment https://popularresistance.org/the-un-just-declared-a-universal-human-right-to-a-healthy-sustainable-environment/

High Profile Paper on Catastrophic Climate Impact...
https://popularresistance.org/high-profile-paper-on-catastrophic-climate-impacts-echoes-our-what-lies-beneath-analysis-on-fat-tail-existential-risks-and-ipcc-reticence-published-four-years-ago/

Climate Reality Is Hitting Us Like a Breakaway Glacier https://truthout.org/articles/climate-reality-is-hitting-us-like-a-breakaway-glacier/

Big Oil and Gas Reap Record Profits as the World Burns https://scheerpost.com/2022/08/02/big-oil-and-gas-reap-record-profits-as-the-world-burns/

Why Is There More Media Talk About Using Nuclear Weapons Than About Banning Them https://scheerpost.com/2022/08/09/why-is-there-more-media-talk-about-using-nuclear-weapons-than-about-banning-them/  

Modern US Warmongerng Is Scaring Henry Kissinger https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/modern-us-warmongering-is-scaring 

Why Can't They Say It? (video--Lee says "it" at approx. 17 min.) https://rumble.com/v1g38yp-why-cant-they-say-it-with-lee-camp.html

All Our Systems Are Built To Elevate Viciousness https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/all-our-systems-are-built-to-elevate

China Threatens the US Empire, Not The US Itself https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/china-threatens-the-us-empire-not

Seen on Twitter:

Giving Big Oil 600 million acres of public land and water to drill on over the next 10 years is nothing to celebrate. https://t.co/ik6xHgx7Xu

— Ryan Knight ☭🕊 (@ProudSocialist) August 12, 2022

This observation is SO much more scary coming from Kissinger than from a peace advocate speaking from outside the belly of the empire. If the empire's warmongering is so crazy and reckless that it's frightening a 99 year-old Henry Kissinger, it's REALLY crazy and reckless. https://t.co/WUGP3mvEJs

— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) August 13, 2022

United States Gov't bipartisan has let over a million Americans die to protect their profits.

Do you actually believe that they would spend billions of dollars on Ukrainians and Taiwanese without it being in their financial interest?

— Solidarity (@1WhiteRabbitt) August 14, 2022

Capitalists just made up the idea that a low minimum wage is there for young people to get work experience and Americans just swallowed that propaganda without thinking about it for even a second and then vomited it back up onto the rest of us for decades.

— Brutal Regime Apocalyptic Dreams (@brutal_regime) August 15, 2022

Why is health care even a debate?
Why is housing ppl even a debate?
Why is clean water even a debate?
Why is saving our planet even a debate?
Why is protecting our most vulnerable even a debate?
Why are human rights even a debate?
Why is social responsibility a fn debate?!

— Thia is with … 😏✌️💋🔥 (@ThiaBallerina) August 14, 2022

Stupid humans pic.twitter.com/5OLt4UtW57

— Amazon Piss Jugs 🇾🇪🇵🇸 (@JeremyWard33) August 15, 2022

Critical Thinking Skills For The Masses

Few people sincerely want the truth about the world. Most just want politicians and pundits to whisper reassuringly in their ear, "Don't worry. We've got this. Your schoolteachers told you the truth about everything, and so did the news man. You are on the side of righteousness." --Caitlin Johnstone, US Interventionism Always Makes Things Worse

Friendly reminder that it's impossible to get a clear understanding of what's going on in the world without accounting for the fact that very powerful people within your own society are actively working very hard to manipulate your understanding in their favor. -- Caitlin Johnstone, US Interventionism Always Makes Things Worse

It's time for a lesson in...

Critical Thinking Skills For The Masses 

by Redd Phlagg

Critical thinking is making reasoned judgements that are logical and well thought-out.  --Study.com

Function of the CIA:

1. Run secret wars
2. Disseminate propaganda to influence people’s minds

That’s not hyperbole. That’s from the Former Operations Director of the CIA.

Think about this next time you buy the narratives that are crafted to control you. pic.twitter.com/HysmXBejUV

— Ryan Knight ☭ (@ProudSocialist) April 7, 2022

You meet a person, and they become the love of your life. You trust this person and believe every word that comes from their mouth and trust every action they take or ask you to take on their behalf. One day, you come across irrefutable evidence that your beloved has been lying to you, not just once but many, many times. As time goes on, you discover that this person has been lying to you all throughout the time you've known them and are confident that you will never confront them about their lying. They are free to abuse your trust and even possibly abuse you physically, psychologically, and spiritually because they know you will never leave or speak ill of them.

Do you stay in this relationship? What is your payoff for putting up with the lies and abuse?

If you're able to think critically, you should be able to weigh the evidence and come up with a theory about how this person will act in the future based on their past actions. If they have lied repeatedly to you, you will act skeptically about any information they have given you or will give you. You will eagerly double-check whatever claims they make against other authoritative sources. If you believe these sources and discuss your options with others you trust, you should come to the conclusion that it's not worth your effort to remain with this person. You will make the logical decision to leave them.

But human beings aren't logical and rarely use their critical thinking skills when it comes to the people and groups they have emotionally bonded with. We make excuses for other's lies and tell ourselves that we deserve to be lied to. We convince ourselves that the lies we've been told are actually "truths" even if our higher cognitive processes tell us there's no possible way they can be true.

"I'd never accept a lie as the truth!" I hear you say. Are you so sure? "No way would I continue believing anything out of the mouth of anyone who repeatedly lied to me," you insist.

Okay, then answer me this: Do you believe everything the US government has told you about the whys and wherefores about what's happening in Ukraine? Do you believe everything that mainstream media outlets such as NBC News tell you about what's going on there?

If you answered yes to either or both or those questions, the following is going to blow your mind:

NBC News has a new report out citing multiple anonymous US officials, humorously titled "In a break with the past, U.S. is using intel to fight an info war with Russia, even when the intel isn't rock solid".  

The officials say the Biden administration has been rapidly pushing out "intelligence" about Russia's plans in Ukraine that is "low-confidence" or "based more on analysis than hard evidence", or even just plain false, in order to fight an information war against Putin. (…) 

Just as the smear campaign against Julian Assange trained mainstream liberals to defend the right of their government to keep dark secrets from them, we may now be looking at the stage of narrative control advancement where mainstream liberals are trained to defend the right of their government to lie to them. -- Caitlin Johnstone, US Officials Admit They're Literally Just Lying To The Public About Russia

It's time to use those critical thinking skills... NBC News (a mainstream media outlet) is quoting US government officials who state they're telling outright lies. Do you continue believing these officials who candidly admit to lying?

It wouldn't be the first time US government officials have lied to us about a military action. Do you remember the reason George W. Bush sent our troops into Iraq-- something about "weapons of mass destruction" being found there? Does that ring a bell? It's been verified there were never any WMDs in Iraq. This "false flag" or fictional excuse was concocted to give the US an excuse to invade that country. 

And no, none of the 9/11 terrorists came from Iraq. Most of them came from Saudi Arabia. So, why didn't we invade Saudi Arabia? Good question. Invading a country we don't like just made more sense at the time than invading one we did/still do like.

Hey, stop using those critical thinking skills now! It's embarrassing to the US government to point out that they're liars.

When our government wants the American people to believe something or go along with a military action (no matter how abhorrent it may be), they will expect us to keep our minds turned off and our mouths shut.

This year we're supposed to hate all things Russian with a passion and to think there's no such thing as a Ukrainian Neo-Nazi paramilitary unit such as the Azov Battalion. But here's the Pentagon and another mainstream media outlet--Reuters News--reporting about a recent event in Ukraine that you probably have heard about and might have upset you. Warning: I might upset you again by telling you that it's possible that this horrible event might not have even happened or  it wasn't quite what you were led to believe:

WASHINGTON, April 4 (Reuters) – The U.S. military is not in a position to independently confirm Ukrainian accounts of atrocities by Russian forces against civilians in the town of Bucha: “The Pentagon can’t independently and single handedly confirm that, but we’re also not in any position to refute those claims.”

If the Pentagon, which includes the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, cannot confirm any of the atrocities that Ukrainian government claimed, then what really happened? Did anything happen? Who can be believed?

Critical thinking skills can help us in this instance. Other sources of information should be consulted and the evidence weighed before jumping to conclusions.
According to this source:

The Ukrainian President caused controversy in Greece by including a video message from members of the neo-Nazi Azov battalion in his speech to the Greek parliament. This caused a walk-out by a number of Greek MPs who protested the move on Thursday. (…) 

The Azov Battalion is based in Mariupol, and had led a terror campaign against civilians there, including the city's 120,000 Greeks. Greek City Times also reported that the Ukrainian nationalist forces have "killed people for trying to leave the city." 

Greece's SKAI news asked Mr. Kiouranas, a Greek who lives in Mariupol, if he was planning on leaving the city, to which he responded:  

“How can I leave? When you try to leave you run the risk of running into a patrol of the Ukrainian fascists, the Azov Battalion," adding “They would kill me and are responsible for everything." --Greek MPs Leave Zelensky Session for Including Message from Neo Nazi Azov
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/greek-mps-leave-zelensky-session-for-including-message-from

Since foreigners living in Ukraine have confirmed the violence of the Azov Battalion, and other sources have stated that multiple atrocities have been committed against ethnic Russians by these fascist groups since the 2014 coup when the eastern republics that make up the Donbas region voted to leave Ukraine, then it's possible the Russian Army isn't committing atrocities at all. It seems highly probable that Ukrainian fascists such as the Azov Battalion are killing ethnic Russians and are trying to shift the blame and focus away from them and the Ukrainian government instead.

Now, more than ever we need to use our critical thinking skills to prevent a proxy war over a liquid natural gas pipeline (and possibly American/Ukrainian biolabs working on military grade pathogens) from turning into World War III. And if you don't believe this conflict could turn into a nuclear apocalypse, just read what one former top NATO commander says about how the use of nuclear weapons is a "proper response" in this article, Former NATO Military Analyst Blows The Whistle on West's Ukraine Invasion Narrative https://www.rsn.org/001/former-nato-commander-says-western-fears-of-nuclear-war-are-preventing-a-proper-response-to-putin.html

Always keep in mind who benefits from a situation--even a horrific situation such as nuclear war or a prolonged conventional conflict:  For Arms Manufacturers the War in Ukraine is a Profits Bonanza https://www.rsn.org/001/for-arms-manufacturers-the-war-in-ukraine-is-a-profits-bonanza.html

Remain skeptical. Read widely. Don't give your love or trust away automatically to any person, group, political party, or government just because they tell you, "You can believe us! We'll never lie to you!"

Because even our co-opted mainstream media has told us that's completely bogus.

Russia supposedly killed civilians in Bucha that they:
-Lived in peace with for a month
-Did not ever previously engage in combat with
-Were distributing food & aid to
-Knew we’re supporters of Russia (white armbands)
-Were peacefully leaving during a withdrawal of the city 🤔

— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) April 6, 2022

Articles to make you think for yourself and consider all sides of the story:

UPDATE: More Escalations in Online Censorship https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/more-escalations-in-online-censorship?s=r 

Former NATO Military Analyst Blows The Whistle on West's Ukraine Invasion Narrative  https://scheerpost.com/2022/04/09/former-nato-military-analyst-blows-the-whistle-on-wests-ukraine-invasion-narrative/

US Officials Admit They're Literally Just Lying to the Public About Russia https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/us-officials-admit-theyre-literally?s=r

Who Are the Good Guys In the Ukraine War?  https://scheerpost.com/2022/04/05/paul-street-who-are-the-good-guys-in-the-ukraine-war/

The Lie of American Innocence (audio article)  https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/listen-to-this-article-the-lie-of?s=r

New Witness Testimony About Mariupol Maternity Hospital Airstrike https://popularresistance.org/new-witness-testimony-about-mariupol-maternity-hospital-airstrike/

Questions Abound About Bucha Massacre  https://scheerpost.com/2022/04/06/questions-abound-about-bucha-massacre/ 

Greek MPs Leave Zelensky Session for Including Message from Neo Nazi Azov https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/greek-mps-leave-zelensky-session-for-including-message-from 

Twitter IS "State-Affiliated Media"  https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/twitter-is-state-affiliated-media?s=r

For Arms Manufacturers the War in Ukraine is a Profits Bonanza https://www.rsn.org/001/for-arms-manufacturers-the-war-in-ukraine-is-a-profits-bonanza.html 

Twitter to Crackdown on Russia-Ukraine Info That Contradicts State Department  https://www.rokfin.com/post/81618 (video)

US Interventionism Always Makes Things Worse https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/us-interventionism-always-makes-things?s=r

The Levers of Power Are Also Triggers (warning: contains link to graphic video of Russian soldiers being murdered)  https://popularresistance.org/the-levers-of-power-are-also-triggers/

Independent journalist Richard Medhurst:  "What EXACTLY Happened in Bucha" featuring UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter (video)  https://youtu.be/klPYYqhqO74

Ukraine: A Conversation with Scott Ritter (video)  https://youtu.be/OdM5Pkyl0_8 

If It Feels Like You're Being Manipulated, It's Because You Are https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/if-it-feels-like-youre-being-manipulated?s=r 

They Admit They're Lying to You! (video) https://youtu.be/CvXVBDs_fKw  

The Revolution Continues' ongoing series on the proxy war in Ukraine: https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/p/ukraine-war-series.html

 Seen on Twitter:

Ukraine: Russia committed war crimes

Russia: We did not and are willing to allow a full UN investigation

The West: No investigation or we wont be able to keep saying Russia did it 🙄

— Michael R. Weinstein, Bookseller #EndTheOligarchy (@fToRrEeEsSt) April 6, 2022

If Russia was trying to hide "guilt in mass killing" then why did they TWICE request a Security Council meeting to call for an INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION? And why did Britain block the requests? This will now be a bogus investigation!

— Kinkajou51 #IStandWithDonbas 🇳🇮 (@Kinkajou5123) April 5, 2022

Everyone stopped talking about the fact that Hunter Biden was funding dangerous zoonotic pathogen research in level 3 Ukrainian biolabs as soon as the bogus allegations of Russian war crimes in Bucha & Kramatorsk hit the headlines.

— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) April 10, 2022

BREAKING NEWS: US State department officials leak that when asked what benefit we gain from freezing and starving the EU with Russia sanctions Victoria Nuland responded "less Europeans."

— Garland Nixon (@GarlandNixon) April 6, 2022

They suspended Scott Ritter? The UN weapons inspector who was right about Iraq not having WMD??? Well that's how you know he's right again.

For shame, @Twitter.

— My Aunt Fanny (@Dienne_7) April 6, 2022

Twitter has locked out @FiorellaIsabelM for reporting the news

The first casualty in every war is the truth 

— Slow News Day (@SlowNewsDayShow) April 6, 2022

The UK blocking the UN investigation into the Bucha massacre is all you really need to know about how propaganda works.

— Mnar Adley (@MnarMuh) April 5, 2022

That link is no longer available.
Here's the video. pic.twitter.com/JlvEqCDEsm

— RoadNotTaken - PalestineSolidarity 🇵🇸🍉 (@RoadNotTaken19) April 7, 2022

Ukraine can't win this war - Everyone knows this.

The longer the war goes on, the more citizens die.
Sending weapons/money only serves in prolonging the war, resulting in more deaths.

Meanwhile, Americans don't have healthcare.

— Hanx Fingers ⏳🇮🇪 (@HanxFingers) April 7, 2022