Cultural Marxism. Where to start?
The infamous Illuminati (or whatever they call themselves today) gave that name to the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century,which claimed that human progress must abandon “superstition,” meaning Christianity, in favor of “reason.” Thus the Illuminati succeeded in bringing about the French and American revolutions, which instituted the separation of Church and State and then sponsoring the mythical ideals of Communism and Marxism that would give them total control of global wealth and its people. Contrary to popular belief Marx did not invent the idea of Communism
To achieve their ends society must be controlled. This brings us to the field of Cybernetics. According to one of Cybernetics pioneers, anthropologist Gregory Bateson,an approach to controlling societies, is “the biggest bite out of the Tree of Knowledge that mankind has taken in the last 2,000 years.” Bateson was a leading member of the Cybernetics Group, a CIA project that both directed the evolution of the personal computer, and contributed to the CIA “mind-control” program, known as MK-Ultra. MK-Ultra was imported to the US from the eugenic practices of the Nazis with the help of Operation Paperclip.
MK-Ultra, begun in the 1950s, developed from the behavior control research project coordinated by the Tavistock Institute, with the Scottish Rite Masons, the CIA, and other British, American, Canadian and United Nations agencies. Formed at Oxford University, London, in 1920 by the Round Table’s Royal Institute for International Affairs (RIIA), the Tavistock Clinic, whose members referred to themselves as an “invisible college,” became the Psychiatric Division of the British Army during World War II.
The Tavistock Institute’s projects were a follow-up on the work of the Frankfurt School established shortly after WWI to determine why Marxist revolutions did not spread to the West following the revolution in Russia. To understand the roots of Cultural Marxism today one must understand the Frankfurt School thinking.
A key member of the Frankfurt School was Herbert Marcuse
Marcuse’s criticism of capitalism was built on a synthesis of Freud and Marx. He agreed with Marx that capitalism dehumanized workers by turning them into objects, resources to be used for production. Marcuse took this further, arguing that workers had begun to see themselves as extensions of the things they made and thus had adopted a consumerist view of the world where life does in fact consist in the abundance of possession.
This, in turn, meant that the working classes have bought into the capitalist system which provides them with the goods they pursue. From this it was concluded Social Marxism was the missing ingredient
During the Third Reich they had relocated to New York and began preparing the way for the imposition of “Social Marxism,” from its home base , which was Columbia University and other nearby Universities and Think Tanks/Institutes/Foundations. Social Marxism as it was called then, was necessary, in order to inject a new meaning into the failed Marxist philosophy, which had proven to be a total disaster in the Soviet Union and which would need dramatic changes before the ‘Free West’ could be blindly lead into the same trap.
Lord Bertrand Russell, a member of the Round Table, is considered one of the founders of analytic philosophy . Russell offered a glimpse into Frankfurt School’s mass social engineering efforts, in his 1951 book, The Impact of Science on Society:
 
“I think the subject which will be of most importance politically is mass psychology… Its importance has been enormously increased by the growth of modern methods of propaganda. Of these the most influential is what is called “education.” Religion plays a part, though a diminishing one; the press, the cinema, and the radio play an increasing part…. It may be hoped that in time anybody will be able to persuade anybody of anything if he can catch the patient young and is provided by the State with money and equipment.
…Although this science will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated. When the technique has been perfected, every government that has been in charge of education for a generation will be able to control its subjects securely without the need of armies or policemen.”
Thus they began the work towards the psychological change necessary to force an unwilling public, particularly a White male public, to accept that they should be prepared to surrender control over their societies
To achieve their surrender they had to undermine the Judeo-Christian legacy through an “abolition of culture” and to determine new cultural forms which would increase the alienation of the population. Their net effect is to divorce us from truth, social cohesion and our cultural heritage.
Funds to do so came from various German and American universities, the Rockefeller Foundation, and several American and British intelligence services (Marcuse worked for the OSS and State Department before becoming the Father of the New Left in the 60’s)
The supplementation of Marxism with its modern cultural focus, taking care to disassociate itself from Communism , corrects the failures of those whom had used the myth of Marxism for their own ends in Soviet Russia and is again being used as a front to further the aims of Corporate Elite, whom actually did and do control Russia, just as they now control China. At the same time they have taken control of that other system which is Democracy, and more myth than reality today, and they are taking the West along the road to serfdom that Marxism in its original form was designed to achieve.
Todays Russia, China and the West all have in common neoliberalism which is a synthesis between Feudalism and Monopoly Capitalism where the owners of production and property (1% corporate elite) control government (one or both parties), media and education. In effect they control our reality. In essence, New Communism.
This New Communism that is not called Communism, yet really is Communism, calls itself Democracy or claims they are striving toward True Socialism , but they are neither and yet the same. Orwellian Newspeak at work.
Conflict between the New Communist States is like Fake Wrestling. Entertaining and Distracting the proles with external threats makes it easier to control them, as does Cultural Marxism which divides the people with its internal threats pitting race, gender, religion, etc against each other. Divide and Rule. Its so easy for them.

Posted by: Pft | Jun 11 2019 0:08 utc | 104

donkeytale | Jun 10, 2019 8:40:05 AM | 79
Right on and can I add that if we are to have open borders and free roam of citizens then lets have open unionism for all. All workers in a union and only that union to negotiate with management.
Can I add open elections: where everyone is automatically enrolled to vote (like in many other countries)and is subject to fine for failing to vote. Perhaps I could add heavy fines for any contrivance to impede a voter from fair and prompt access to polling stations.
Why not exclude corporate purchasing power from election activity. Paper ballots immediately should be a high priority demand (it works mighty fine in other nations and gives prompt results).
The cultural Marxism debate is a distraction, open participation for all citizens should be front and foremost. The right will have trouble arguing that as they prefer gobbledygook debates.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 11 2019 0:55 utc | 106

@109
Thanks NemesisCalling, great rebuttal.
“* THIS ONE IS IMPORTANT: Defenders of this practice argue that these are jobs which whites and other nationals “don’t want.” Well, that is partially true, but only because they don’t PAY SHIT! If options were limited for cheap labor, employers would be forced to increase wages to attract help and suddenly those jobs like a lot more rosey. Hell, I would sew Nikes everyday for $25/hour and three breaks. So don’t give me the Obama (globalist) line that “THESE JOBS AREN’T COMING BACK! Horseshit. Bring them back and pay people.”
Anybody who works in the service industries, like I do, know how excessive immigration has gutted wages over the last 30 years. Yes, many of these jobs are dirty and dangerous, but they used to put a roof over peoples heads. Now the only roof you will get from working 40+ hours is a bridge or interstate overpass. West Coast USA is an absolute disaster, the cities looking more and more like those of a banana republic.
Self-preservation isn’t racism, although the harsh realities imposed by excessive immigration on the working class creates a fertile environment for racism.

Posted by: Hasaan | Jun 11 2019 1:45 utc | 108

Nemesis: … blacks have a much higher statistical probability of engaging in violent crime.
There are a lot of reasons for this that you could easily educate yourself about. I suggest that you actually talk to a black person and learn their perspective directly.
<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>
The US middle-class got shafted so the wealthy could make MOAR from the China-US wage differential (bonus: break the unions). China’s “peaceful rise” was also in the cards as part of the US NWO strategy.
NOW that the NWO strategy is in tatters and all the easy money was made, the Deep State has initiated Cold War II and a trade war and touts it’s intention to return jobs to America. But NO ONE talks of the clusterf*ck that got us here. That embarrassment to the establishment is memory-holed.
There was no “peace dividend” because there was no peace after Cold War I. US continued to pursue it’s NWO aspirations and “greater Israel” was a large part of that (judging by what has occurred). But the spoils of war were distributed to the wealthy elites in the form of Open Season on the middle-class. Apparently showcasing a middle-class to prove the superiority of the West/capitalism was no longer necessary when the Cold War ended.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 11 2019 3:26 utc | 110

Still an open thread? Here is something I saw at a milblog:
The U.S. Navy Could Soon Embrace What Amounts to Laser ‘Shields’
My concern is that this massive shift from kinetic energy defenses to lasers is going to kill a lot of sailors. Supposing they actually manage to make a super-laser, what are they going to do when a rainstorm comes along. Or a spell of heavy fog? I’d imagine today’s sea-skimming missile bodies are made of some aluminum alloy, but what’s to keep an enemy from making them of something really resistant to heat? Say, nose cone material, or tungsten?
From where I stand this scheme looks like another way to bilk taxpayers, not to protect ships.

Posted by: Zachary Smith | Jun 11 2019 3:41 utc | 112

@110 hasaan
Respect, brother. One laborer to the next.
Great point at the end of your post.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jun 11 2019 4:57 utc | 114

This is what I’ve been patiently waiting for since the last Malaysian elections overturned the corrupt previous regime:
The Downing of Malaysian Airlines MH17: Mahathir Opens a “Ukraine Political Pandora’s Box” by Engdahl. I saw a brief quote from Mahathir a few days ago but this article gives much more details and pulls them together – this could be the ticking time-bomb on Ukraine, Kolomoisky and Biden.

Posted by: BM | Jun 11 2019 7:32 utc | 116

Nemesis @ ……..
Thank you for your ‘in-depth’ and very wordy insight into your psychology ! Which I oppose 100%
Your view is a small sample of all that is wrong in this brutal uncaring and greedy world ! A call for a ‘were all right jack the devil take the rest’ point of view.
The US is not the center of the universe ! But a small loud insignificant part of the world, and needs to be put back in it’s place. For the good of all man kind.

Posted by: Mark2 | Jun 11 2019 8:18 utc | 118

MSM revisionism at full speed, even when they pretend they are criticizing
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-48582559
We now learn that the infamous Janjawid militias were just the
“ruthless force that was used to terrorise civilians in Darfur”
no more genocide in Darfur? no more ICC conviction for Omar Beshir? no more South Sudan, that great Qatar-sponsored project?
finally in the three last paragraphs, the journalist lets a bit of truth in the open; his editors know that a tiny percentage of people will read until the end

Posted by: Mina | Jun 11 2019 10:20 utc | 120

@114 I am reminded of the Battle of Savo Island, where the US Navy was convinced that its radar-equipped cruisers and destroyers held a decisive advantage against anything the radar-less Imperial Japanese Navy could do.
Only the radar-less IJN paced themselves behind a rain-squall that played havoc with radar-returns. Until, that is, they entered Ironbottom Sound, whereupon it was much too late for the US cruisers to know what the heck was happening.
Quite a bit was happening, as it turned out, none of it good for the Americans and the Australians.

Posted by: Yeah, Right | Jun 11 2019 10:49 utc | 122

Ohs noes! The “Big frickin` laser beams!” are back.
It is simple. Weapon systems all boil down to some mechanism to transfer energy to a target. Traditional guns and artillery transform the chemical energy in the propellant into kinetic energy in the projectile which then unloads that energy on the target. It doesn’t matter to the basic point here if the projectile contains some chemical energy of its own to deliver. The point is that is is easy to store a good deal of energy in a compact package using chemistry and unleash that energy quickly. Chemicals go “Boom!” and projectile goes “Woosh!” and target goes “Aaargh!” Very simple and straight forward.
Now infotainment consumers want to talk about “Big frickin` laser beams!” We still need to transfer a big batch of energy to the target, whether it is kinetic energy in a chunk of lead or EM energy in a stream of photons. Where to get that energy? While it is possible to power lasers directly from chemical reactions, allowing you to use chemical cartridges in your laser guns much like you do in your traditional guns (an approach I believe the Russians are pursuing), the more typical approach is to power lasers with electricity. But for a weapons grade beam of coherent light we are talking massive amounts of electricity delivered very quickly. That’s fine and dandy if you happen to have a nuclear power plant and a really big bank of capacitors handy. Not so fine if you want to carry your laser cannon around with you.
Of course, the Zumwalt class destroyers use a nifty gas turbine turning big generators to give it electrical drive power. All that electricity could be used to charge up a big bank of capacitors to power a laser system, at least in theory. Of course, then the captain has to choose between making his ship move and firing his lasers. Can’t really do both at the same time. Not quite the kind of trade-off that impresses the Navy types.

Posted by: William Gruff | Jun 11 2019 11:11 utc | 124

Leaked recording reveals Trump’s plan to stop Jeremy Corbyn becoming prime minister

Posted by: vk | Jun 11 2019 12:33 utc | 126

@ Gruff 124
Exactly. The whole threat of hypersonic missiles is that you don’t have time to jack around. Even a lowly, “barely” hypersonic missile is traveling over a mile per second. So if under average weather conditions you have an effective range of 5 miles or so, you have less than five seconds to aim, lock on your tracking, and burn through whatever anti-laser defenses the missile has. Now, let’s say the opponent has the gall to fire TWO missiles at once! Or a mix of hypersonic and conventional (but still supersonic) missiles?
Hell, even the Pantzir systems, which apparently have a real world effectiveness of over 80% kills (roughly 10 times better than the US Patriots), have still on an occasion or two been knocked out by swarm attacks. But hey, the US defense industry has become far more about how to win the battle for taxpayer dollars than winning against an armed opponent.

Posted by: J Swift | Jun 11 2019 12:48 utc | 128

john 96
Magic mushrooms are exactly that: magic.
Ive noticed how in large parts of Asia most drugs, including alcohol, are illegal and carry huge, sometimes drastic penalties for possession, and yet Psilocybins are fine, and have somehow managed to escape litigation. In fact, the only two countries I know of that actively prosecute for possession are Australia and the US.
How the DEA managed to convince most of the world that weed was worse than alcohol, mushrooms were dangerous, and ibogaine worse than the nasty drugs it helped cure addiction from, is simple. They gave them money to legislate, and, having become the behemoth it became by the 80s, continued to lose [and even encourage] the war on drugs in order to receive increasingly large amounts of money from congress, reducing massive to swathes of America to little more than a glorified crack den, and facilitating the creation and distribution of methamphetamine around the world, not to mention monopolizing the global herion trade. The last thing they want are drugs on the market that could help with or even cure many of these afflictions, with little or no negative side effects… It might threaten their reason to exist.
AOC couldn’t give a shit about us, but spouts ideas that appeal to idealistic naivety.
Better than the existing powers that be, I guess, if I had a vote I would go for Gabbard any day…

Posted by: dan | Jun 11 2019 14:44 utc | 130

That arsehole Luke Harding is back with one of his bullshit exclusives in the Guardian.

Leaked documents reveal Russian effort to exert influence in Africa
Exclusive: Kremlin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin leading push to turn continent into strategic hub, documents show
by Luke Harding and Jason Burke

The only thing you really need to know about the exposé:

The leaked documents were obtained by the Dossier Center, an investigative unit based in London. The centre is funded by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the Russian businessman and exiled Kremlin critic.

The Guardian obviously has no shame for publishing such an article but then it has never explained the claims of Manafort meeting with Assange in the Ecuadorean embassy. As for the article, my reaction was “so fucking what?”. The British French and Americans have fucked up large parts of Africa while the Soviet Union/Russia was indirectly responsible for eradicating that cancerous growth, the apartheid state of South Africa, a single act that was better than all the good things that the United Kingdom, France and the United States have ever done in Africa

Posted by: Ghost Ship | Jun 11 2019 15:01 utc | 132

Behind Boeing’s offer to settle with victims’ families in the 737 Max crash is a hardball legal strategy that could leave them with nothing
Boeing is playing with fire. In a “normal” airliner crash the manufacturer is seldom as obviously guilty as Boeing is in both crashes. Paying huge awards to the families of the victims ought to be part of the punishment for such outrageous corporate misbehavior.

Posted by: Zachary Smith | Jun 11 2019 15:14 utc | 134

So first, I’m about to piss off Trump bootlickers, whitewashing appeasers and enablers, and even conspiracy theorists who like to trash Sanders as a sheepdog and maybe even Russia-only, f-the-rest of the world, always-Trump bots, and Americans who dumped Trump on the rest of us either by voting for the Ay-hole himself or supporting right-wing and Democratic, Hillary/Obama foreign policy that brought us the Hidenburg Trump karma. I warn you all in advance: I am not into ass-kissing, but rather ass-kicking and didn’t join the human race to win a popularity contest rather to battle ignorance, propaganda and those who exploit feeble-minded complacency and screw the world and try to own it for their narrow, selfish gain.
Let me start with that interview Trump gave Fox at the D-day commemoration. As usual Trump led with his snout instead of with wisdom, smearing his shnoz in all the dung he could sniff against the backdrop of the fallen and heroism he so abjectly lacks and sacrifice he runs from in the most cowardly and depraved manner as displayed in his past interviews with Howard Stern. Never has a man, if one deigns to call him that, so publicly humiliated himself as he did on that solemn day.
But here’s the kicker: everyone is praising and or giving Trump credit for that speech he made to the veterans in their nineties who having reached the 75th anniversary of the time when they risked their lives to defeat fascist supremacy didn’t deserve to be subjected to words that emerged hollow in monotone from the orifice of such dereliction in the service of mankind and even to his own country! How could the basest specimen of mankind honor the best no matter the expression of gratitude and honor contained in words that he most certainly did not author but merely read off a teleprompter like a blathering, trained oaf. He’s a disgrace and all Americans should be ashamed to have him represent them anywhere!
You know what I find incomprehensible around here? How little support there is for Sanders who is the only viable Democratic candidate capable of defeating Trump who is totally anti-war and has sane, rational and intelligent policies that would benefit this planet. Recently, he called Saudi Arabia a murderous regime that is generating the worst human catastrophe of our time in Yemen. He stated that KSA is not our ally. He is not a hawk on Russia either so why the hell is he not getting attention here? Why is Jeremy Corbyn not getting attention here either? MAGAbot financial matters claims it’s Corbyn’s Neoliberal economics. My ass! What a malarkey smear! Both Sanders and Corbyn are on the cusp of elections, and have the best platforms and Jeremy Corbyn is also against turning Assange over to the U.S. I speak to the MAGA propagandists here, like nemesis, hoarsewhisperer, and too many others. There can be only one explanation you are focusing all your attention on Trump the poor Neocon hostage, or peddling his policies without naming him because his name is losing its shine—either you hang on, because he’s a rabid Zionist or because he’s supposedly good for Russia only. WTF else??? There is no other logical justification for supporting this menace to the planet so come out with the truth!
And the first lady, as queen of the East Wing, is also fair game for scrutiny. Melania, the high-priestess of silence and mystery, is putting on a good show, cause that’s all there is there…SHOW, as in FASHION show– don’t care how many languages she speaks—she’s nothing more than a trophy wife who tolerates that orange blob for the billion-dollar lifestyle and now, unfortunately, the Presidential power trip. She expressed herself transparently one time with her billboard overcoat. I really don’t care, do you? translation: you little people: EAT CAKE. Nothing more to see here. SHE AIN’T THE SPHINX OR THE MONA LISA GUARDING A PROFOUND MESSAGE ON ALTRUISM! She’s the wife of the orange capitalist SLOB and that spells it out clearly: birds of a feather stick together. She’s not the secretly longsuffering rebel wife, i.e. the people’s first lady. She relishes the privileged inner circle and the look of superior disdain is for those, like myself, who see through her well-heeled pretense at caring for the poor, unwashed masses.
So here we are, hardly a bad word written here about Trump, while he destroys Venezuela’s independence and sets the stage for invading Iran amongst all the other shet he’s pulling to strengthen U.S. Zionist domination and screw the rest of the world while he also dines with royalty.
I’m so pleased that Corbyn refused the invitation–that’s called integrity!
It’s really discouraging that even with all Trump is doing you’re still pushing this egomaniac who doesn’t deserve even to tie the shoelaces of those WWII veterans let alone subject them to his phoniness and still you continue putting lipstick on this PIG and his magashet.
Meanwhile silence on two candidates who can turn this disaster around, who are the only hope left for empowering the average, working class, raising millions out of poverty, especially, making the powerful heel, promoting diplomacy and peace and trying to save the planet from climate disaster.
Your continuing promotion of MAGA and protection of the hostage orange baby, pretending he suffers from Neocon stockholm syndrome, and silence regarding the policies and platform of the only two politicians who could help turn this madness around is a reprehensible hypocrisy.

Posted by: Circe | Jun 11 2019 15:45 utc | 136

united tech,ratheon to join together.

Posted by: dahoit | Jun 11 2019 16:24 utc | 138

Looks like a color revolution is in the cards for Moldova. A few will remember that couple years ago an invasion force of NATO troops was positioned at the border to support a coup but was blocked.
https://www.fort-russ.com/2019/06/major-moldovas-beleaguered-president-dodon-pushes-back-against-u-s-coup-attempt/
NATO will continue to expand by any means. For example member of the government of North Macedonia were bribed to vote to join NATO even thouth the majority of the people were against this action.

Posted by: Krollchem | Jun 11 2019 16:32 utc | 140

@ Jackrabbit | Jun 11, 2019 12:27:57 PM #141
My searches found the original WP story, an approving one by Fox, and a Jewish site saying they’re looking very hard for the person who recorded and leaked the comments. Otherwise it’s just bloggers.
Why the WP reported this is a mystery to me. Perhaps the source threatened to give it to somebody else? But who could that possibly be?

Posted by: Zachary Smith | Jun 11 2019 16:45 utc | 142

dan @ 132 says:
The last thing they want are drugs on the market that could help with or even cure many of these afflictions, with little or no negative side effects
yeah, or even that could turn you into a jazz musician.
p.s. the only thing i see that AOC has going for her is her age.

Posted by: john | Jun 11 2019 17:04 utc | 144

You know what I find incomprehensible around here? How little support there is for Sanders who is the only viable Democratic candidate capable of defeating Trump who is totally anti-war and has sane, rational and intelligent policies that would benefit this planet. — Circe 138
From the outside (not US citizen or connected) one sees that Sanders did not win the Dem. primary last time, could not be a candidate, and the next election is shaping up as copy-pasta.
Sanders is maybe a sincere opponent, within the Dem party struggles, and that says it all!
It is naive to imagine that ‘support’ (in what form?) for Sanders would change anything?
As for him being anti-war, see for ex. (not that I agree with all in that article, not a fan of Counter Punch.. but some of the points..)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/04/12/no-bernies-not-anti-war/
Sanders is not seen as anti-war internationally, or credited at all in any way, just part of the ‘pretend’ pol. US scene, which has to bruit some contradictory voices to keep up the myth of plurality of opinion, genuine elections, etc.

Posted by: Noirette | Jun 11 2019 17:24 utc | 146

More on BRI and the Russia/China Partnership. Brian Cloughley offers “Belt and Road Harmony – and Hostility”, where the following frames the essay:
“The foreign and domestic policies of the US Administration appear to be guided by a combination of financial greed, the desire to exploit weakness for the sake of doing so, a partiality for malevolence, and determination to be spiteful. In no manner, domestically, has the last been more effectively demonstrated than by Washington’s treatment of the children of illegal immigrants.”
Ultimately, TrumpCo threatens the wellbeing of children globally while Putin/Xi and their partners have announced their intention to act as saviors, which I see as good framing.
Pepe Escobar provides a further post-SPIEF report: “The Unipolar Moment is Over.” In his essay, Pepe floats an idea Korybko’s written quite a lot about and recently promoted: The Golden Ring which was floated in this article 15 months ago. The problem with this concept is the unpredictability of Modi’s India, although TrumpCo’s deranged Trade War may finally jolt Modi enough to see India’s future is best served by becoming an integral part of BRI.
Next up is the annual SCO Summit followed by the G-20 to cap June. In the interim, we can watch the circus that’s the Biden campaign which has just launched its own projection onto Trump:
“The former Vice President will target the current president as an existential threat to decency, America’s standing in the world, and democracy.”

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 11 2019 17:37 utc | 148

This is the blogger’s introduction:

Warning: This post is very long. Much longer than anything else I have ever done on this blog, clocking in at just over 16,000 words. It took me quite awhile to finish, but although I felt compelled to write it, you are not compelled to read it. I’m also certain that if you do read it, you will find a typo or three that I missed since my Writer Brain has not yet had time too cool off and switch over to my Editor Brain.

She is writing about the career of Mr. Michael Gerson: former George W. Bush chief speechwriter, senior Republican policy adviser and reliable Beltway Republican stalactite who now exists in a perpetual state of shock that his Republican Party is full of Republicans.
Also: “Mr. Gerson is a member of the Can-Never-Be-Fired-No-Matter-How-Fucking-Wrong-They-Are Pundit Guild. (Mr. David Brooks of the Neocon York Times is another of those types.)
It IS really long, but I enjoyed skimming the piece to see what a perpetual recipient of Wingnut Welfare has written over the years.
Helping after helping after big, steaming helping of Beltway Both Siderist Bullshit.***Mr. Gerson is untouchable because he is a useful cog in a machine which rigidly enforces and relentlessly reinforces this biggest corporate media lie of all.

Posted by: Zachary Smith | Jun 11 2019 17:51 utc | 150

Zachary Smith @149
Thanks for the links – I hadn’t heard about this.

Posted by: spudski | Jun 11 2019 17:56 utc | 152

Zach @149–
I have years of direct experience with Alzheimer’s as a care giver and researcher. I don’t care for Pfizer one iota, but I seriously doubt the substance discussed would do anything to deter the onset of Alzheimer’s, which appears to be almost 100% random as its caused by the dysfunctioning of proteins which then become known as prions. The doctor/researcher who discovered prions is Dr. Stanley Prusiner, whose autobiographical book about his arduous voyage of discovery is detailed in Madness and Memory. The work on finding out how debilitation begins and spreads is very slow. But people are working hard and further discovery progress was just published last May, which may point to a way in which these proteins can be encouraged to remain normal.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 11 2019 18:25 utc | 154

Circe@155
Upton Sinclair in 1904 called the duopoly Republican/Democratic dictatorship two wings of the same bird of prey. Please consider reading this article on Sanders and war.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2015/11/13/bernie-war-the-empires-pie/

Posted by: Krollchem | Jun 11 2019 18:55 utc | 156

IMPORTANT program on radio four bbc U.K.
8 pm today !
A must listen program on phone hacking by governments!!!
There’s hope for the bbc yet ‘

Posted by: Mark2 | Jun 11 2019 19:22 utc | 158

Circe @155
We’ve debated Sanders many times now.
Apparently we have to agree to disagree on Sanders because those who love him refuse to see the merits of those who criticize him and vice versa.
<> <> <> <> <>
But I’ll just note that IMO the Democratic Party is an arm of the establishment and there will not be any real change until the people are pissed off enough to form mass Movement(s) that are independent of the Democratic Party. Sanders is NOT independent of the Democratic-Party and the organization he founded is essentially Democratic-Party astro-turf with Sanders branding.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 11 2019 19:35 utc | 160

Caitlin rightly calls out Trump administration for threatened interference in U.K. elections.
Trump administration push back against Corbyn
Here’s the guy Trump wants that I’ve read some of you here want too!
Boris Johnson allowed arms sales to Saudis
Now go hide your shame UNDER A ROCK!
@158 Krollchem
Did you read that article you linked??? Since it was written before the 2016 election it proves how stupid, false and short-sighted it is. It proves my point all the way. Bernie has done more to oppose U.S. support for Yemen than anyone in Congress. Tulsi Gabbard quit her post at the DNC to support Sanders and devote time to speaking at his rallies. Do you think she would have done that if she bought half of the garbage spewed in that article??? Do you think she’s stupid and naive??? Do you think I am? I’m anti-war and a purist but I ain’t stupid because of it! I, unlike the author of that article, who must be a stealth Trump supporter–live in REALITY. Trump is counting on left purists to bring him back to power! I know about the duopoly! I’ve written about the duopoly! Are you hating Ron Paul too for running within the Republican Party??? HELLO! It’s called trying to make lemonade out of the lemons you’ve been dealt! So if Tlaib or Omar were to run in 2024 or 2028 on the Dem side, they too would be part of the duopoly???
Thanks to people like Sanders those two women dared to run for Congress. I’m a purist but right now it’s IMPERATIVE TO KEEP BIDEN AND ESPECIALLY TRUMP FROM WINNING IN 2020 – SO THE AUTHOR OF YOUR LINK AND ALL PURISTS PISSING ON SANDERS CAN GO STRAIGHT TO HELL.

Posted by: Circe | Jun 11 2019 20:22 utc | 162

Jackrabbit

there will not be any real change until the people are pissed off enough to form mass Movement(s)

Yeah, and with a half-cocked Zionist lunatic in the White House salivating to get back the White House so he can pounce on Iran and finish his regime change in Venezuela we have the luxury of time to wait for the rest of the dumb American mass to smell the coffee and mobilize for that change…NOT
My @163 applies to you too.

Posted by: Circe | Jun 11 2019 20:38 utc | 164

Kayfabe wins again.
Trump (probably) safe from impeachment as Nancy Pelosi huffs, puffs and gives him a pass: Says She’s “Done” Talking About Trump.
Pelosi’s outburst seems to be a signal that any debate over the issue is over. AFAIK, virtual the entire Democratic Party establishment stands against impeachment, effectively telling the progressives to pound sand.
<> <> <> <> <> <> <>
Memory-holed: Trump’s assistance in getting her elected as Speaker of the House. He gave he an opportunity to show-off during a high-profile meeting with her and Schumer in the prestigious Oval Office before the vote for Speaker to talk about “the Wall”. It was completely unnecessary to do that before the vote.
Also don’t even dare to discuss the possibility that Sanders threw the 2016 Democratic nomination to Hillary (“Enough with the emails!”) or that Hillary threw the 2016 general election to Trump by alienating or ignoring key voter groups and choosing to not campaign in the three states that she KNEW would decide the election during the final weeks. People that love the Trump Show will hate you for spoiling it for them. They may even call you anti-American or something worse (is there anything worse?).

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 11 2019 20:56 utc | 166

@120 121 Mark
It is quite funny that you state your disagreement, but do not identify what you disagree with. Is that supposed to be some sort of worthwhile attempt at refutation?
What about my post was nonsensical, lacking in the observance of the natural order (which leads to less violence), or “Greedy”?
The problem with posters like you is your good intentions, utterly lacking sense where it counts, where the butter meets the bread.
I WANT! the US to start behaving like a normal country. My post could not have emphasized that any more.
I guess not a sufficient amount of boilerplate hate for the US and its fine workers and people in my post?
Bring something better next time.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jun 11 2019 23:18 utc | 168

“As stunning as it may sound, an argument can be made that neither the Nazi Party’s rise to power nor even WWII itself could have happened without the backing of U.S. industry and finance. Cash contributions through the 1920’s and ’30’s helped elevate Hitler’s brownshirts from mere street thugs to a political party and financed “off budget” ops for the SS. Before and after the U.S. entered the war, military equipment and critical technology transfers flowed from U.S. corporations and subsidiaries to the Reich.”
“The record reveals more than just self-serving opportunism. It proves the existence of what sociologist C. Wright Mills called a Power Elite – born to privilege; attending the same prestigious schools; belonging to the same insular, rarified social circles; naturally assuming some God-given right to rule the world and in these particular cases, blinded by fanatical anti-communism and completely unhinged from democracy.”
Excerpt from this TRNN article;
https://therealnews.com/loyal-to-their-class-unhinged-from-democracy

Posted by: ben | Jun 12 2019 0:01 utc | 170

Here’s an example of the attempts being made to try and separate Russia from China by saying China will eventually subsume Russia and conquer it, depriving Russia of its Russianness. It’s an appeal to what White Supremacists within the Outlaw US Empire see as their comrades–Russian Chauvinists. But such comradeship would only last until the disintegration of the Russia/China Eurasian project when once again all Russians would be attacked and vilified as they continue to be by BigLie Media. This is the fourth such article I’ve seen during 2019. But unless they get published in Russian within Russia, they don’t have any chance of being effective, and even then that’s highly questionable.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 12 2019 1:29 utc | 172

Earlier in the evening I ran into a brief piece at the DESMOG blog which left me feeling like a bit of a fool. Obviously wind is intermittent and the sun doesn’t shine much at night, so we need at least some storage. But storage of energy is presently not-so-cheap. What the essayist wrote is so obvious when looking back:
A Radical Idea to Get a High-Renewable Electric Grid: Build Way More Solar and Wind Than Needed
More solar cells are cheaper than more batteries! And it’s not like we won’t be needing that extra capacity for other reasons. Synfuels are one, and the need to start removing the excess CO2 in the atmosphere (which will require lots of electricity) is another.
The point is this: if we survive, it won’t be as peasants shivering in the cold and afraid of the dark. But that’s a mighty big “IF”, especially given the current situation with a president who believes stuff like the Moon being part of Mars.

Posted by: Zachary Smith | Jun 12 2019 5:04 utc | 174

Below is a quote from a Xinhuanet posting about Abe from Japan visiting Iran
”
Media reports also suggest that, in his Wednesday meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Abe is going to invite Rouhani to a G20 summit in Japan at the end of this month.
”
And the worm turns.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 12 2019 5:50 utc | 176

Nemesis @ …..
I disagree with you and all you stand for. To engage with you in discussion would only be seen as giving you credence and plausibility .
Not only do Trump voters have no concept of the outcome of there actions !
But perhaps even more importantly they have no remorse for there actions. I don’t meen to be insulting ! Just stateing a fact ! If the cap fits wear it.
I’v got no time to waist talking to psychopaths. They don’t listen or understand (no insight)
Krollchem @ 179
See above
Circe @ all
Keep up the good work ! Respect !!

Posted by: Mark2 | Jun 12 2019 10:27 utc | 178

NC and others on this thread
Thank you. In 174 I shamelessly attempted to update Whitman through the corrupt decadence of my own heart. And yes Bukowski definitely too whose heart was pure for being so heavily polluted. The enduribg bard of a bygone bohemian Los Angeles that I do recall once upon a time. Although I an not considering myself worthy by any stretch…it is fun to play at it.
John lol. I’d like to think of it as aging rather than limping but I suppose it amounts to the same.
Uncle T. Your short post deserves a much closer look. Yes indeed on each point you raise. Especially the open unionising of the illegals. Isn’t that essential in order to attain the global class struggle against the global oppressors? And why the reactionary forces work so hard to separate themselves through white identity politics?

Posted by: donkeytale | Jun 12 2019 11:12 utc | 180

@179 Krollchem
Look, I read and respect a lot of your posts, and have commented as such, but the stakes are so high right now, I just can’t pussyfoot around with niceties when people who I thought were intelligent use that gift to destroy our chance for decency, peace and humanity in this world by either spinning and fudging facts or nitpicking purity to the extent Hedges and Counterpunch are doing with Sanders and including people circulating this left propaganda to smear the only decent VIABLE candidate right now in this race, and I include Corbyn because we will need both working in tandem to reverse the lunacy of Zionist Trump’s actions. I therefore take nothing back and insist that sane people who I usually respect STOP DOING THIS TO SANDERS AND CORBYN! STOP NOW! Start using your intellect to promote the good these candidates have done, the narrative they offer and the good they have the potential to do when elected in their respective countries. That’s all I care about and everyone should help in their own way to fight the smears against them. The stakes have never been higher. They need every bit of help NOT THIS NITPICKY, PURIST BULLSHET. This is not the time to pounce on Sanders. Purists like Nader and Hedges brought us Bush and TRUMP! I prefer realists like Kucinich, Paul and Sanders, the latter having the most viable chance to make it if everyone on the Left stop cutting off their nose to spite their face.
Mark2
Thanks. I will keep up the good fight for as long as it takes and hope to see you and others continuing to do same.

Posted by: Circe | Jun 12 2019 12:55 utc | 182

And I hasten to add the above comment is not directed at ADKC whose opinions I value greatly or to any individual fir that matter but to a certain blogging mindset. Lol. Im done.

Posted by: donkeytale | Jun 12 2019 13:09 utc | 184

donkeytale says:
Americans dont want war…The system is designed for compromise
yeah, ostensibly, but since compromise is an adjustment of opposing wants, and thus requires input from at least two players, the fact that we’ve been at war for pretty much the last 70+ years kinda suggests that Americans don’t not want war either.

Posted by: john | Jun 12 2019 14:27 utc | 186

I think your statement that migrants “can’t” effect change in their home countries is an excuse, however. How many people died during the American Revolution or the Civil War in America? Did they die for something? Anything?
They can effect change in exactly the same way you and I can effect change. What have we changed, lately?
Canada gained independence from GB without commoners killing other commoners (aka war).

Posted by: fastfreddy | Jun 12 2019 15:01 utc | 188

Circe @143, I expected you’d respond in that vein!
Jared K, Trump are rabid, staunch solid Zionists. No 4D calcs or plots are going on.
What I’m saying is Jared’s ‘plan’ won’t be implemented as judged in anticipation as unworkable. (Whatever it is.)
.. The situation will move forward as usual, meaning that, for the Palestinians, it will slowly deteriorate further, as it has been doing for some 60+ years.
However, the likes of Netanyahou, and his mates, I am certain, see Trump as disruptive, maybe even dangerous. Bibi was imho terrified at the start (see the first joint press conference) and then breathed slow and calmed down somewhat.
What is undeniable is that opposition to ‘Israel’ – Zionism, the Bibi Gvmt, apartheid, etc. is growing, and becoming far harder to stifle or repress. (See attack on Corbyn.. Pompeo saying ‘they’ will prevent his election to some Jewish audience.. > link) Sympathy for Palestinians is edging into being ‘cool’.. just like not buying South African Oranges was in the day.
All this is for a large part due to Trump, because the ‘libruls’, base, and some pols. others who need to pander to the voters are (or pretend to be) against anything that Trump does, proposes, etc. For ex. the latest objections / obstacles to the selling of arms to KSA, an Isr. ally. Which would never, imho, happened under Obama or Bush. ( .. > ?)
This momentum is set to continue and Isr. can do nothing to stop it except wield the usual measures, pay-offs, control of info from the top – MSM – (but what if nobody believes it?) and cashing in, or trading, influence, favors, etc.
These gate-keeping moves concentrated on shoring up the status quo and those in power, in this case based on, in part, for the public, a fabricated theatrical ‘image’ – only ‘democracy’ in the ME, valiant exceptional victim tribe, fighting evil soul-less blood thirsty jihadist killers, etc. — most often yield sudenly after a slow build-up.
Circe @ 155, Sanders is possibly a better cand. or potential Pres. than Trump. I’d actually pick Sanders over Warren and Ocasio-Cortez (if had a vote and forced to choose), but so what my opinion and yours are of no consequence whatsoever. These alternatives are all ‘junk’ in the grand and now catastrophic sweep of history.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/pompeo-us-will-do-its-best-to-stop-corbyn-from-being-elected-as-prime-minister/

Posted by: Noirette | Jun 12 2019 15:36 utc | 190

ADKC @183–
As I’ve been writing/arguing, the 2020 election will pit two very different philosophies of life against each other, which I’ve expressed and spelled out often–the current and longstanding Zero-sum Neoliberal philosophy versus the humanistic, universally uplifting Win-Win with American Characteristics that’s exemplified by the fight for Medicare For All. Sanders expresses it as a Politics that works for the many as opposed to the few–and a good majority agree with that need, not just D-Party members.
For those who have yet to read the speeches Putin and Xi delivered at the SPIEF, they can now be read here, Putin’s followed by Xi’s. You’ll notice that Putin has listened to Xi and has upped his emphasis on environmental related issues as this excerpt exemplephies:
“Exacerbating environmental and climatic challenges that represent a direct threat to the socioeconomic well-being of all humankind are making the crisis even worse. Climate and the environment have become an objective factor in global development and a problem fraught with large-scale shocks, including another uncontrolled surge in migration, more instability and undermined security in key regions of the planet. At the same time, there is a high risk that instead of joint efforts to address environmental and climate issues, we will run into attempts to use this issue for unfair competition.”
Xi touches on the topic often as this epitomizes:
“As we form the global network of interconnectedness and partnership, we will effectively couple the Belt and Road initiative with the sustainable development agenda, ensure harmony between the economy, society and the environment in the interest of green, low-carbon and sustainable development.”
The majority of the planet’s nations agree with Xi and Putin and disagree with Trump and the Empire’s vassals. Escobar and others are correct to write the Unipolar moment’s over, but its Multipolar replacement has yet to gain the reins of global leadership, although that could change by the end of June. Trump’s domestic policies are as shocking as Zionsitan’s as are the twin’s support for terrorism and wonton violations of international law. The G-20 will be tense.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 12 2019 16:09 utc | 192

We’ve already had an economic collapse: the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. But it was papered-over via accounting changes, front and back-door bailouts, and can-kicking. And we’ve already experienced military over-reach in Syria and Afghanistan. These failings are magnified by the moral turpitude and skullduggery of rendition and torture, Jihadi proxy armies, etc.
Asshat control freaks have chosen to ignore these warning signs and push on, doubling-down on their quest for global domination. They marginalize those who oppose them and reward the worst among them. And the rest of us are ‘strapped in’ to our comfy chair watching the show. Can this lead to anything other than hardship and heartache?

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 12 2019 16:20 utc | 194

Here’s a plus for Sanders–
”
Bernie Sanders
‏Verified account @SenSanders
4h4 hours ago
Bernie Sanders Retweeted The Intercept
During his presidency, Lula da Silva oversaw huge reductions in poverty and remains Brazil’s most popular politician. I stand with political and social leaders across the globe who are calling on Brazil’s judiciary to release Lula and annul his conviction.”
The Intercept has found leaked documents showing the corruption that went on in order to imprison Lula.
PS; found on Glen Greenwald’s twitter account

Posted by: arby | Jun 12 2019 17:39 utc | 196

Jackrabbit @ 196
All good points there !!
Except the comify chair bit ! Me ‘I love the smell of tear gas in the morning’ !!!

Posted by: Mark2 | Jun 12 2019 18:16 utc | 198

@ c1ue, prior post #39 Link to comment
Had OT enough on that thread but wanted to point out another source that would sustain your observations in that comment in Charles C. Mann’s 1493 How Europe’s Discovery of the Americas Revolutionized Trade, Ecology and Life on Earth ISBN 978-1-84708-245-9 Granta. As well, David Graeber’s DebtThe First 5,000 Years ISBN 978-1-61219-419-6 Melville House ff parts concerning historical debt and slavery. I generally subscribe your comment but would observe slavery was Constitutionally allowed both as a practical matter and a political compromise needed for successful agreements among differing interests, first there was no alternative at the time for production to replace slavery, secondly those areas south of the Mason-Dixon line were rife with tropical disease which Africans had developed some genetic immunity whereas northern Europeans had not.
I had intended earlier to state those books by the Polish Journalist give insight into traditional cultures of MENA before modern tribulations set in. The observation there was of a stable culture extant that may be the key for their recovery if as much as possible of that culture can be reestablished among the returnees. The three books should establish the writer’s credentials, one contains the best definition of economics I have ever read – it is there for the acute reader to discover for themselves.

Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Jun 12 2019 18:53 utc | 200