That's depressing. Here in Australia it's also quite common for newsrooms to be raided. When the state broadcaster revealed crimes in Afghanistan the federal police raided them with an illegal warrant that they got a crooked judge to sign off on. More recently, the federal police raided the home of a journalist, Annika Smethurst, for reporting on the ASD (our NSA) planning to spy on Australian citizens (they currently don't legally have that power, but I'm sure they're still doing it :P)

Posted by: Firestarter | Aug 14 2023 13:36 utc | 1

@3, 5

I think b is very subtle and sometimes raises subjects to encourage further investigation. In this instance, perhaps into the death of the co-owner of the newspaper ? Per the Guardian—

“Joan Meyer, 98, collapsed on Saturday afternoon and died at her home a day after she tearfully watched officers who showed up at her home with a search warrant cart away her computer as well as an internet router, reported the Marion County Record, which she co-owned. After officers also photographed the bank statements of her son, Record publisher Eric Meyer, and left her house in mess, Meyer had been unable to eat or sleep, her newspaper said.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/13/marion-county-record-co-owner-joan-meyer-dies-kansas-police-raid

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Aug 14 2023 14:29 utc | 2

Bernhard, what is this recent tendency of yours of devoting articles to irrelevant Amerikastani claptrap?

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Aug 14 2023 14:02 utc | 3

If the internal situation of imperialism became destabilized that would have a massive impact on the world and certainly on the war on Russia. Just because you don't care for the country doesn't mean it's internal affairs are not critically important and require careful monitoring.

I think B knows what he's doing.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Aug 14 2023 14:37 utc | 3

This Big Brother manifestation has been going in the West since the 50's; its just that now it more obvious to us old cynics.

https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/18/books/how-the-cia-played-dirty-tricks-with-culture.html

Posted by: canuck | Aug 14 2023 14:52 utc | 4

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/14/revealed-neo-nazi-active-club-us-military-members

Another interesting bit on the decline of imperialism. Interesting on two levels. First, there are officially no Nazis in Ukraine, but plenty in California apparently. Secondly, this sounds like a divisive political purge is underway within imperialism's military, which would further destabilize it, especially since all of these alleged Nazis are certainly the most ardent supporters of the war on Russia in the ranks.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Aug 14 2023 14:55 utc | 5

Even a restaurant owner is enough to get the police to conduct searches against the media, interesting.

Then many people say the bourgeoisie doesn't control the media and that the proletariat enjoys freedom of speech, curious.

Posted by: Colin | Aug 14 2023 15:04 utc | 6

thanks b and arch bungle for the posts...

i was told a bizarre story yesterday from some friends who visited a restaurant in 'state college' pennsylvania.. apparently they were asked for id! when they showed their canadian id, it wasn't good enough and they had to call the manager... the whole thing reeks of twilight zone dynamics... i would've gone to another restaurant myself, but as they were visiting with a friend who lives their - also a canuck - the whole story reminds me of this draconian police state type mentality that i heard this story about yesterday...

Posted by: james | Aug 14 2023 15:17 utc | 7

Editors are fully aware that most "readers" browse the headlines and maybe 1st paragraph to see if there is news of interest.
We do not read the paper through to absorb the wisdom and nuances of its content - perhaps a full skim, if warranted.
Generally at this point, people of any insight do not bother to read newspapers at at since it is generally disinformation - and what is the point in that. There is an element of "You get what you pay for" in play.
I see various techniques (of disinformation in use):
- dishonest headline to shock/capture readers interest, followed by body which provides desired propaganda
- reasonably accurate headline, followed by body which instead provides desired propaganda
...

The interesting bit would have been to discuss why they bother to tell the truth at any point.

Sometimes the propaganda is sneaky - may be mostly nearly accurate, but with isolated points of disinformation to plant a seed of indoctrination

There are many methods Logical Fallacies and Rhetorical Devices - it's a science.
It's about to get much more sophisticated and pervasive - if that is really possible.
The only way to maintain sanity is to disregard the MSM - once I recognize that someone is prone to dishonesty, I no longer seek their input. For example I dont ask car dealers "Should I buy a car? or What is the right car for me? or Is this car reliable?"

In short: It's is excrement. So people find it comforting to wallow in it and some people make a career of creating it and/or analyzing it.

If one were to look into it, one would find this is not something new.
The remarkable thing is the psychology that causes us to still follow these serial abusers.

Posted by: jared | Aug 14 2023 15:23 utc | 8

As their narratives continually collapse and the people lose faith in mainstream media, those who rule are forced more and more to take totalitarian measures in order to maintain their control and power. The America I remember from my youth is long gone and is never coming back. The future is as George Orwell nicely put it, will be like a boot heel stomping on your head forever. Ignorance is Strength, War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery and if you disagree then they will come for you too. Welcome to the new world.

Posted by: JustAMaverick | Aug 14 2023 15:29 utc | 9

Trubind1 no. 6

I liked no. 3. What a laugh.

Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Aug 14 2023 16:46 utc | 10

Bevin no. 8

Me too can't access. But probably some ridiculous reason.

Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Aug 14 2023 16:50 utc | 11

Well, b., I'll agree that they'll look pretty stupid if the reader reads the whole piece and pays attention to what's being said

Posted by: Jeff Harrison | Aug 14 2023 17:04 utc | 12

Once they let them censor Alex Jones, it was all over!!

he was the canary in the coal mine, and the public let it happen.

Posted by: Oldcutlas | Aug 14 2023 15:51 utc | 20

Southfront was deplatformed before Alex Jones.

That says a ton about the true intentions of the ruling elite.

Posted by: UWDude | Aug 14 2023 17:09 utc | 13

i was told a bizarre story yesterday from some friends who visited a restaurant in 'state college' pennsylvania.. apparently they were asked for id! when they showed their canadian id, it wasn't good enough and they had to call the manager... the whole thing reeks of twilight zone dynamics... i would've gone to another restaurant myself, but as they were visiting with a friend who lives their - also a canuck - the whole story reminds me of this draconian police state type mentality that i heard this story about yesterday...

Posted by: james | Aug 14 2023 15:17 utc | 14

It is a bit outrageous on james side to post about a city (formally, a borough) with putting the name in quotes and skipping capitalization. As an inhabitant of the same postal code, I feel peeved. Moreover, when alcohol is served, id can be requested, and id's from other countries can puzzle less experienced waiting stuff, what is draconian about it?

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Aug 14 2023 17:15 utc | 14

Having lived through the trebling of the prison population, invasion and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, the destruction of Libya, and the repudiation of women's reproductive rights, Americans now know what it is like to live in a society which has transitioned into totalitarianism. So do the publishers of the Marion County Record.

Posted by: Wilikins | Aug 14 2023 17:16 utc | 15

@ Arch Bungle - 31.

What perverse namesless sense of *something* beyond mere masochism, would cause a person to inflict *that* Clockwork Orange style torture on themselves?

The headlines in a video thread are bad enough.

Posted by: Urban Fox | Aug 14 2023 17:24 utc | 16

@ Piotr Berman | Aug 14 2023 17:15 utc | 14

these are people in their 60/70 piotr... that doesn't cut it..

Posted by: james | Aug 14 2023 17:24 utc | 17

One name contradicts the NYT's item--Assange. And one place adds to it--Gitmo. Soon, a negative review of a movie will be defined as Hate Speech and no longer be considered free speech.

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 14 2023 17:42 utc | 18

When Officials from the British intelligence agency GCHQ raided The Guardian 's offices to destroy hard drives related to the newspaper's stories about National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden you knew then what the direction of travel was going to be.

When they closed down proper education

https://academic.oup.com/cje/article/44/2/319/5550923?login=false

Annualised increase in real GDP per capita of post-war governments

Government Years Annualised growth rate

Conservative 1951–64 2.82%
Labour 1964–70 2.22%
Conservative 1970–74 2.59%
Labour 1974–79 2.31%
Conservative 1979–97 2.09%
New Labour 1997–2010 1.37%

Coalition (Cons./Lib.Dem) 2010–15 1.32%
Conservative 2015– 1.13%

Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 14 2023 17:47 utc | 19

Man, this sounds like a serious infringement of civil rights and violation of the First Amendment. The DOJ better investigate this government action.

Lol. What a fucking banana republic we live in.

Posted by: Sentient | Aug 14 2023 17:49 utc | 20

these are people in their 60/70 piotr... that doesn't cut it..

Posted by: james | Aug 14 2023 17:24 utc | 18

You’d be surprised, james. A lot of businesses here are so scared of the penalties for serving the underaged, and so skeptical of their employees’ ability to exercise proper judgment, that they impose a “card everyone, no exceptions” rule when it comes to alcohol.

Police state mentality for sure, but more restricted to a specific case than you might think.

Posted by: malenkov | Aug 14 2023 17:51 utc | 21

As the saying goes..."free speech isn't free". Unless it's bought and paid for "free-speech" is sent down the rabbit hole until it's no longer relevant.

And with editors, at all the major media outlets, now stealth editing their released news stories WITHOUT RETRACTION NOTICE the term "journalism" and "journalist" are labels intended for ironic or, satirical usage. The only journalists I know can't find work in major media outlets, their work must take place as free-lance writers working in dark obscure corners of the web, completely hidden from/by the 3LA's media minder..Googles search results.

Posted by: S Brennan | Aug 14 2023 17:57 utc | 22

1979 and all that: a 40-year reassessment of Margaret Thatcher’s legacy on her own terms.

" There is a growing disaffection with mainstream politics in the world’s liberal democracies. In particular, the UK has become an increasingly divided nation; as evidenced by, for example, increasing inequality, an emphasis on individualism, the so-called North/South divide and the polarised debate about the UK’s leaving the European Union. Many leading UK politicians claim their inheritance of the “Thatcher legacy” to legitimate their proposed policies, yet it is not clear what is that legacy. Thatcher’s policies, instituted in the 1980s and broadly pursued by subsequent governments, changed the economic and social outlook of the UK. Criticism of her record is taken to indicate one is a left-wing ideologue. Our contribution in the following is that we judge Thatcher’s policies by no standards other than her own. Utilising a holistic approach, we consider whether neo-liberal policies facilitated or undermined the UK’s achieving Thatcher’s stated moral outcomes: the growth of democratic capitalism and the strengthening of the moral economy. We demonstrate, in contrast to contemporary narratives of her “saving the country”, the neo-liberal economic experiment has failed to deliver, even on Thatcher’s own terms. This analysis has contemporary domestic and global implications as generally Thatcherite policies continue to be applied in the UK and in other nations around the world. "

Economic growth, national income, Household income, Poverty, Labour market,Modernisation of the welfare state,The ‘missing’, housing, privatisation,Making business more efficient, Spreading share ownership, Marketisation, crime, Philanthropy and community, The oil unshock and TINA.

Measured in Thatchers terms....

https://academic.oup.com/cje/article/44/2/319/5550923?login=false

The media and academic coup played a HUGE role in it. They treated economics the same way they treat this Ukraine war. It's all BS.

Populists from Trump, Farage to Germany, Italy and Le Pen in France want to take everybody back to 1979 and all that. As if the laffer curve supply side shite is going to work a second time around. How many generations are they going to destroy before they realise their religious texts don't work?

The reason they got away with it was it was totally new and caught everybody like a rabbit in the headlights. The media lied, universities lied everybody lied.

People are waking up but Populists from Trump, Farage to Germany, Italy and Le Pen in France are just another set of disco lights playing the same old boring out of date tunes. Amazing that so many people who fell for it all first time around think that these people are their saviours.

Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 14 2023 18:08 utc | 23

[email protected]'s one huge 'if' for mankind...its internal affairs are well managed, theatre for the masses. Anyone looking in, hoping for an implosion.....the dog barks.

Cheers M

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Aug 14 2023 18:30 utc | 24

Why is mentioning of Julian Assange removed in a thread about freedom of the press? If anyone has suffered from press censorship it is Julian Assange.

Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 14 2023 18:31 utc | 25

Adults who act like Children will defend these psychopaths and are more than willing to die on that hill.

Rather than admit to themselves that they were completely fooled and brainwash by the media and education coup that took place.

It's a sickness that causes all of the problems. What is so fascinating to watch for me is watching many people attack the fools who fell for the war propaganda in Ukraine driven by the western media and education coup. Yet fell for the exact same coup that took place in economics. Neither camp will admit it.

There's no way out of it as there is nobody to vote for to get us out of it.

What has allowed these morbid symptoms’ to emerge as the dominant reaction to neoliberalism and globalisation, however, is simply the fact that right-wing forces have been much more effective than left-wing or progressive forces at tapping into the legitimate grievances of the masses disenfranchised, marginalised, impoverished, and dispossessed by the 40-year-long neoliberal class war waged from above.

The one party nation state that caused it are offering same old same old but calling it something new.

In particular, they are the only forces that have been able to provide a (more or less) coherent response to the widespread – and growing – yearning for greater territorial or national sovereignty, increasingly seen as the only way to regain some degree of collective control over politics and society, in the absence of effective supranational mechanisms of representation. Given neoliberalism’s war against sovereignty, it should come as no surprise that ‘sovereignty has become the master-frame of contemporary politics’.

After all, the hollowing out of national sovereignty and curtailment of popular-democratic mechanisms – what has been termed depoliticisation – has been an essential element of the neoliberal project, aimed at insulating macroeconomic policies from popular contestation and removing any obstacles put in the way of economic exchanges and financial flows. In this sense, neoliberalism and globalisation have not entailed a retreat of the state vis-à-vis the market, as most left analyses contend, but rather a reconfiguration of the state, aimed at placing the commanding heights of economic policy ‘in the hands of capital, and primarily financial interests.

Given the nefarious effects of depoliticisation, it is only natural that the revolt against neoliberalism should first and foremost take the form of demands for a repoliticisation of national decision-making processes.

The fact that the vision of national sovereignty that was at the centre of the Trump and Brexit campaigns and that currently dominates the public discourse is a reactionary, quasi-fascist one – mostly defined along ethnic, exclusivist, and isolationist lines, aimed at ensuring the security and protection of the ‘national community’ against the threat posed by a variety of internal and external enemies and based on an even more exploitative and authoritarian form of capitalism – should not be seen as an indictment of national sovereignty as such. History attests to the fact that national sovereignty and national self-determination are not intrinsically reactionary or jingoistic concepts – in fact, they were the rallying cries of countless nineteenth- and twentieth-century socialist and left-wing liberation movements. Even if we limit our analysis to core capitalist countries, it is patently obvious that virtually all the major social, economic, and political advancements of the past centuries were achieved through the institutions of the democratic nation state, not through international, multilateral, or supranational institutions, which in a number of ways have, in fact, been used to roll back those very achievements, as we have seen in the context of the euro crisis, where supranational (and largely unaccountable) institutions such as the European Commission, Eurogroup, and ECB used their power and authority to impose crippling austerity on struggling countries. The problem, in short, is not national sovereignty as such, but the fact that the concept in recent years has been largely monopolised by the right and extreme right, which understandably see it as a way to push through a xenophobic and identitarian agenda.

What what Is so desperately Needed Is A different Vision Of National Sovereignty below.

https://www.socialeurope.eu/needed-progressive-vision-national-sovereignty

To do that we need to reclaim the state for ourselves. For each and every one of us. For the many not just the few.

https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745337326/reclaiming-the-state/

Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 14 2023 18:31 utc | 26

Posted by: malenkov | Aug 14 2023 17:51 utc | 21:

You’d be surprised, james. A lot of businesses here are so scared of the penalties for serving the underaged, and so skeptical of their employees’ ability to exercise proper judgment, that they impose a “card everyone, no exceptions” rule when it comes to alcohol.

You're absolutely right about business being scared into practices that don't make sense. I'm 75 but each time when I have bottles of wine at checkout counters at supermarkets, I've been invariably asked to produce ID, my totally white headful of hair not making no difference :-).

This has been the unspoken malaise of America since the 80's, as I recall. In every state; in every business, not just groceries/restaurants/whisky bars/government office buildings/blah,blah,blah. People responsible for granting passes/admissions don't think anymore. Thinking is not American, chanting USA, USA, USA is.

It is sad to slowly witness the brain death of America, personally speaking. This could have been infatuated here since before the 80's, but myself was personally struck by the foolishness and robotic nature of ID checking since the 80's. What adds humor to the routine is that most often the ones checking your ID don't even bother to compare faces to ensure that you are indeed the person on that ID. As long as you present an ID, you're good.

America is BRAIN-DEAD!!! You see it in Brandon; in Trumpo; in Harrisma; in McConnel; ---. I mean to say, in ALL POLITICIANS and people associated with the legal/law enforcement professions, or those under the threats of law enforcement professions such as hospitals and public/social enterprises. The consequences of such malaise is horrid--the Lahaina Fire is the latest example; low level state offcial too scared to trigger siren alarms without Mayor's order; police blocked traffic in and out of the only passageway to escape incineration, in the name of ensuring order during emergencies, etc. etc.

Goodbye Lahaina!

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Aug 14 2023 18:45 utc | 27

@ malenkov | Aug 14 2023 17:51 utc | 21

thanks.. aside from oriental voice's response to you, it just seems to me that this concept of interference in ordinary people's lives is now being taken to an extreme... this story on the marion paper being invaded by the police and etc - and the elderly owner - 98 - dying from all the tension this has brought seems embedded into the usa system of things today... it's no longer being seen as a huge flaw... it is sort of different here in canada at present.. but canada tends to follow the usa over a cliff in everything, so i am sure its coming...

Posted by: james | Aug 14 2023 18:53 utc | 28

#7

I actually live in the State College area. With the university(Penn State) population of dumb, sheltered kids on their own for the first time, the community faces enormous drinking related problems. Underage drinking is pursued aggressively and business owners have faced being tested by local police using underage folks trying to purchase booze. Many businesses with liquor licenses pursue aggressive age verification policies. Many of these policies have been in effect for years. There are many stories of drunken underage students ending up with alcohol poisoning or even dying. These rile up the permanent, and in many cases uptight locals and university parents also demand their little darlings be protected from their own potential misdeeds. If the US was not a disfunctional mess and the young people learned to have a healthy relationship with alcohol this wouldn't be necessary. Like so many other aspects in this society the symptoms are treated and the root cause is allowed to continue to undermine societal health and cohesion. We just do it wrong, from allowing obscene wealth differentials to military interventions to failing to teach future generations to think. We just do it wrong.

Posted by: jjb | Aug 14 2023 20:18 utc | 29

#14

Piotr(sic?)

As all of us that live around here know, lots of folks are confused by the name. It is a weird name for a town and every once in a while a local gets wild hair and wants to change it.

Posted by: jjb | Aug 14 2023 20:25 utc | 30

jjb@29
'Under age'in Pennsylvania being under 21?

Posted by: bevin | Aug 14 2023 20:39 utc | 31

@ bevin | Aug 14 2023 20:39 utc | 31

“Underage” *everywhere* in the USA is under 21.

Officially—and constitutionally—this is a matter for states to determine, but the federal government withholds highway funds from any state that sets a lower legal drinking age.

Posted by: malenkov | Aug 14 2023 21:02 utc | 32

My suspicion is that this incident of the Kansas local paper being shut down is part of a trend that will become more and more frequent across the US. As more newspapers are shut down, we can expect there will be arrests and incidents of police violence against newspaper owners, employees, reporters and all their supporters. There will be legal challenges against the police but we should not hold high hopes that local county and state courts will champion First Amendment rights if the trend of shutting down local papers has been instigated from above.

People will be forced to rely more and more on the New York Times, the Washington Post and other large newspapers, already under CIA influence and infiltrated by the CIA, for all their news. As the large newspapers continue to lose readers and revenues, they will start plundering the readership of smaller, more local newspapers. We should not be surprised if the NYT and WaPo start portraying their smaller rivals as pro-Trump supporters in the coming US Presidential election cycle, in an ongoing and expanding effort to shut them down.

Posted by: Refinnejenna | Aug 14 2023 21:04 utc | 33

[email protected]'s one huge 'if' for mankind...its internal affairs are well managed, theatre for the masses. Anyone looking in, hoping for an implosion.....the dog barks.

Cheers M

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Aug 14 2023 18:30 utc | 24

I don't get it, Leprechaun, but cheers to you.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Aug 14 2023 21:34 utc | 34

IIRC there was some censorship on this very site during the “pandemic.” Hypocrisy much?

Posted by: norecovery | Aug 15 2023 1:40 utc | 35

Goodbye Lahaina!

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Aug 14 2023 18:45 utc | 27

True. I'm currently in Lahaina, the only decebt road is closed to mere peons, and the authoritah are... putting large boulders on the side of Lahaina Bypass (a road which goes above Lahaina downtown with wide dirt shoulder used by locals and tourists as a sight-seeing place). This is apparently to discourage people from parking on the side of the road and looking down on the burned-out town.

What exactly do these corrupt fsckers have to hide?

Posted by: averros | Aug 15 2023 1:42 utc | 36

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Aug 14 2023 18:30 utc | 24

I don't get it, Leprechaun, but cheers to you.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Aug 14 2023 21:34 utc | 34

The dog barks, the narrative moves on in the morning.

Posted by: Bemildred | Aug 15 2023 2:01 utc | 37

Ahenobarbus, Refinnejenna and others:
the increasing censorship and the criminalization of anything that the RC (ruling Class) considers a deviation from the official 'truth' is discussed in greater detail in the Scott Ritter piece on Gonzalo Lira - with the socio-political underpinnings in 'academic' circles of the truth-holders. A task force of finding 'information terrorism' is already established, according to S. Ritter.

Posted by: fanto | Aug 15 2023 2:42 utc | 38

The posters seemed affronted, yet totalitarianism has been the rule for centuries. Democracy, a recent Capitalist trick, and Free Speech about what the rulers allow, has lulled the masses into complacency. After a flirtation with "democracy" and "free speech", reality is back. You will be confused, fearful, angry and impotent but you will obey. They know you well. Get used to it. It'll get worse.

Posted by: jgarbo | Aug 15 2023 2:59 utc | 39

I'm sure that the Kansas local newspaper's investigation (not yet published) into their town's new chief of police and his having resigned his previous job to avoid allegations of sexual assault had nothing to do with the raid. /sarc

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 15 2023 4:09 utc | 40

Everybody should read CJ Hopkins' most recent Substack post. I think barfly Scorpion linked to it in another thread today; I'm on CJ's mailing list.

He makes a subtle yet very important point. The Twitter Files was a limited hangout. Now that the government has been exposed requesting censorship, they'll just do it differently. Effective immediately at lEon sKum's "X" and all over social media, you'll just be shadowbanned for expressing inconvenient/dissenting opinions. That way they avoid the usual bad publicity of actually banning someone (and the resulting good publicity it gives the banned) and you continue to shout into an empty void where nobody hears you. How clever. De-amplification rather than overt censorship. The allegedly information totalitarians in the CCP could learn a thing or two from the public-private partnership of American/UK GloboCap.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 15 2023 4:14 utc | 41

WOW... a comment on an article about censorship, gets (wait for it)... CENSORED!!

the irony alone knocks me down.

Well I guess MOA just lost a customer...

Good night, and good luck.

Posted by: Oldcutlas | Aug 15 2023 4:28 utc | 42

After 2 weeks of limbo, it has been firmly established that the rest of Africa, especially Nigeria, will NOT go to war against Niger!

Headline:

>Muslim Clerics: Niger Junta Now Ready to Dialogue with ECOWAS - THISDAYLIVE

https://www.
thisdaylive.com/index.php/2023/08/14/muslim-clerics-niger-junta-now-ready-to-dialogue-with-ecowas

Looks like France will end its 500 year raign of terror in Africa, whether it wants to or not!

Posted by: Hot Carl | Aug 15 2023 5:05 utc | 43

Posted by: Oldcutlas | Aug 15 2023 4:28 utc | 42

You should try again. It's not always intentional. I've had to use proxy servers several times in the past and we've had a bunch of identity thieves here over the last couple years coinciding with the NATO war on Russia. I doubt you were intentionally censored, but if you're a NAFO Bro concern troll, it's possible you were.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 15 2023 5:09 utc | 44

Posted by: Oldcutlas | Aug 15 2023 4:28 utc | 42

Also you can always ask for your money back. /sarc

Nobody is making much of a profit at this bar, dude.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 15 2023 5:10 utc | 45

@averros, #36:

Sorry to hear about your present predicament. Hope things will turn better for you ASAP. But pray don't hold your breath for that; Hawaii workers are not known for efficiency nor competence.

But they are known for not letting a crisis pass without squeezing out a profit. Who was that joker who quipped that cliche? That Chicago gangster Emmauel? Whatever. Hawaii bureaucrats are pros at that kind of thing. I heard that 2,200-2,500 buildings are burnt or severely damaged. I also heard that the rebuilding price tab is presently estimated at $6 Billions. $6 fvcking BILLIONS!!! For 2,000+ houses! Being 70+ years old abodes, the average living square footage is likely about 1,500 sq. ft each. So they are projecting rebuilding cost of $1500+++ per sq. ft.!!!! Wooden houses!!! Now, I took liberty in assuming that the ground was not burnt to uselessness so there wouldn't be any cost to restore that. If I'm wrong on that I apologize to Hawaii government for being ignorant.

I don't know how much of that pie you'll end up getting a piece of, but I believe lots of Hawaii professional/government bureaucrats/politicians et al will be laughing, not crying to the bank!

Best of luck to you averros, and hope you too get a BIG piece of that pie.

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Aug 15 2023 5:16 utc | 46

Hawaii workers are not known for efficiency nor competence

Who the fuck from Hawaii screwed your wife or stole your girlfriend, dude? Why should "Hawaii workers" cater to you imperialist assholes anyway? Do you think they wanted to be a part of the Empire? Talk about a real asshole comment at a bar. Lucky for you he's not here in person to deal with that kind of disrespect.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 15 2023 5:20 utc | 47

Gee, and I've been flattered every time I'm asked to provide ID to purchase alcohol since I turned 35. Guess not a lot of people "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" to quote Monty Python. It's not exactly the same as "show me your papers, citizen!" and I'm fully against a police state, whether corporate or government managed. But at my local store if someone looks at me and asks for ID, to buy beer, I take it as a compliment.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 15 2023 5:27 utc | 48

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 15 2023 5:20 utc | 47

Hey Tom, no big deal but I thought I should share this with you, it kinda made me do a double take because, well, here it is:

When I saw your above post to averros ending with, "Lucky for you he's not here in person to deal with that kind of disrespect."

I read it like this:

"Lucky for you he's not here in prison to deal with that kind of disrespect."

You're on a roll so take it in stride!

Posted by: jonku | Aug 15 2023 5:32 utc | 49

Local newspapers, on the whole, tend to be increasingly dependent on the newswires for almost all information. It's very difficult to make money as a local paper these days, so they've downsized their newsrooms as badly as, if not worse than, the national papers. As a result it is usually not necessary to censor or intimidate them into silence. It would be interesting to learn what is different about these cases. However, the fact that there is not a lot of active censorship of the local media does not mean that the local media is in good health. After all, the New York Times does not have an official FBI censor on its staff -- its staff know what to say without orders from Washington.

Posted by: MFB | Aug 15 2023 8:34 utc | 50

For me the telling point in this is that at least 3 of the perps/instigators of this belonged to the same half of the national political duopoly. It gets back to what I was rabbiting on about in another thread about a national DC situation which reeked of corruption on the part of the other half of the national political duopoly.

As long as every government job in amerika from Marion, Kansas dog-catcher, to president of the nation is awarded on the basis of what political party the applicant belongs to these corrupt cliques will continue to form. By all means keep parties for politicians gigs but every mid-level and up government position being appointed also is craziness.

The chief of police, the dui convicted bar owner, the mayor, plus highly likely the magistrate judge all belong to the same party; considering the local paper, a weekly has a circulation of 2900, this is not a large town so party meetings are not going to be large affairs, nearly the smokey back-room of a bar that Dashiell Hammet alleged small town amerika was run from.

All of the problems amerika is suffering from are the result of corrupt conspiracies between politicians, business people, lawyers and law enforcement, yet amerikans seem unable to discern that a system designed around every important job in government and law enforcement being filled by political appointment, usually based upon which of the two acceptable parties Dim or Rethug the applicant belongs to.

IMO this lies at the root of everything fucked up amerika has done in the last 250+ years. Political appointments should be kyboshed while political appointments of judicial positions is utter madness, an invitation to be robbed & lied to.

Posted by: Debsisdead | Aug 15 2023 9:13 utc | 51

Whoa has @GeromanAT been deleted by the xmen?

Nitter can’t find him?

Posted by: DunGroanin | Aug 15 2023 9:46 utc | 52

There are not many local journals left or actual journalists starting at the bottom, learning the trade, the Hatch, Match and Despatch pages. The courts, the police station and emergency service radio monitors. The excuse is the inter web has made it untenable. But the rot started back in the late 90’s and the job was pretty much done by the noughties. Here in the U.K. there were hundreds and hundreds of local papers, covering small towns and villages, some with multiple ones even! Mostly weekly or twice weekly. Towns and cities had more, the regional heavyweights. Dailies, twice or more dailies. They were equal to any national paper and had scoops that matched any from the News of the Screws (sorry that’s a Murdochisation of the Now! Long May it rest in pieces now, the sacrificial goat for the evil ones empire building with hacking and lies).

These massed journalistic schools that gave every respected journalist the path to the top of that profession are no more.

All bought up by monopolists and then job lot sold, regional news agencies also now hollowed out - yes the inter web did finally arrive to kill the hard copy, the small ads that oiled local buy and sell, disappeared. School athletics summer finals not acknowledged, atomisation of locality to drive us away from our neighbourhoods.
Most are just wisps of their formal lives. The London Evening Standard, edited by the ex-chancellor! (Just a gimmee job and million £ salary stream, for doing his bit to deliver Austerity, that led to disaffection that led to BrexShit. Not being a reall toff he still has to ‘work’ for his billionaire lifestyle. Russkie thieves in London as bosses! Lol.

Some locals hang on, by successfully adapting to the inter web, hard copies and paperboys a thing of the past.
Dorset Echo is one in the U.K.

Kensas sounds like a good ‘un, as did the Miami Herald that chased down Epstein and Lady Ghislain , that worked with honest cops who paid attention to the dozens of abused young girls recruited to provide for the Lolita Express frequent fliers.

The stench is visible as swarms of flies over the battlefields.

We are the battlefield. That’s us that’s rotting.

Posted by: DunGroanin | Aug 15 2023 10:13 utc | 53

My understanding of what happened is that some Trumpists were having a party and some uber-woke "Trump Derangement Syndrome" victims crashed the party and tried to shit in the punch bowl. They got kicked out of the party and threatened to retaliate by using their bully pulpit to air any dirty laundry they could dig up about the Trumpian party-goers.

[Aside: TDS is self-inflicted. One can choose not to participate in the self-destructive stampede of mass hysteria]

Is it normal for a small town advertising circular to go on a jihad against a local feeding trough owner, trying to embarrass her and wreck her standing (and thus business) in the village by dragging up something like a DUI conviction from her past and using all their presstitution skills of yellow journalism, cheap innuendo, and sensationalist framing of the narrative to tar this individual as a threat to all and sundry? No, that's crazy bullshit and they deserved to get slapped down. It isn't journalism when someone uses their platform to settle vendettas.

Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 15 2023 10:44 utc | 54

Ah it looks like it’s Nitter that’s currently nixed!
Maybe it’s just temporary.
Where will I get my twatterati fix from now?

🤔😱

Posted by: DunGroanin | Aug 15 2023 10:50 utc | 55

re William Gruff | Aug 15 2023 10:44 utc | 54
FFS billygoat, the paper refused to publish that scuttlebutt because they didn't want to takes sides in this petty dispute yet the cop's boss, town DA and local magistrate judge turned them over anyway. This isn't about whatever side of the amerikan empire party V the other side, it's about small town corruption ignoring the law. It don't matter which side each was on nearly as much as the blatant abuse of power matters. Even when the paper was maligned at the local party meeting the fishwrap published no identifying details, the cop boss has issues and used the mess to find out who gave him up - wrong, no matter whether they're trumpists or tds types.
If journos cannot protect sources then all people get is approved propaganda.

Posted by: Debsisdead | Aug 15 2023 10:57 utc | 56

Debsisdead @56

They are not "journos". We are talking about a weekly advertising circular. It doesn't even rise to the level of tabloid.

"...they didn't want to takes sides in this petty dispute..."? The entire "staff" of this "newspaper" (all one of them) was one of the two "sides" of the petty dispute, and was in fact the initiator of that dispute. This "small town corruption" of which you speak has the advertising circular up front and center in that corruption. If the sole editor, chief writer, investigator, and reporter had not gone full retard with his TDS he'd have never have found himself opposed to the other minor village tin-pot dictators.

Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 15 2023 11:29 utc | 57

Re:
" " " Gee, and I've been flattered every time I'm asked to provide ID to purchase alcohol since I turned 35. Guess not a lot of people "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" to quote Monty Python. It's not exactly the same as "show me your papers, citizen!" and I'm fully against a police state, whether corporate or government managed. But at my local store if someone looks at me and asks for ID, to buy beer, I take it as a compliment.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 15 2023 5:27 utc | 48 " " "

= = =

I remember telling people about my trick to make my wife happy by giving a tip to a cashier clandestinely, and ahead of the register running - with a request to ask her for an ID. And scrutinize it. Not in every establishment the ID was _always_ required. In some stores they indeed just look at you, notice the years gone by, at your face, than the grey hair . . . That's was it.
So I hed to augment the cashier's suspicion.

Posted by: LogosApplied | Aug 15 2023 13:07 utc | 58

Interesting discussion 'Denying liberty, eroding democracy' between Alexander Mercouris, Thierry Baudet, John Laughland.

https://rokfin.com/post/145164/Denying-liberty-eroding-democracy-with-Thierry-Baudet-John-Laughland-and-Alexander-Mercouris

for anyone interested.

Posted by: Lantern Dude | Aug 15 2023 13:10 utc | 59

Look. I am 69 and I get I'd in California sometimes. I just make a joke about it and move on.

Posted by: Morongobill | Aug 15 2023 13:53 utc | 60

This is a case of police outstepping their boundary. The newspaper will likely get the upper hand. But this is the way the world - and law and justice - works. I took a class once with Howard Zinn who noted the First Amendment grants freedom of speech but if authorities want to harass, the aggrieved can take it all the way to the Supreme Court and win. But the next day there is still nothing to stop the harassment from happening again to someone else at a different location. Cops know this.

Posted by: WG | Aug 15 2023 15:01 utc | 61

the other hitch is that although they showed their canadian drivers license and had passports, they were refused service on the basis of this.. apparently canuck id ain't good enough, lol..

Posted by: james | Aug 15 2023 15:17 utc | 62

apparently canuck id ain't good enough, lol..
Posted by: james | Aug 15 2023 15:17 utc | 62

Yeah, so who are you really, james? Jeremy Taggart?
I dunno but the two have never been photographed together.
Mighty suspicious...lol

Posted by: waynorinorway | Aug 15 2023 15:45 utc | 63

[email protected] sure of the need to gawk....there is no shortage of UV vid feeds, very disturbing to say the least. All those burned out abandoned cars on the highway, prayers for the occupants and what happened to them. Good luck to you...all the best.

Cheers M

...barking dogs....wishful thinking for something that may, or may not, happen.....which at times carries people away.

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Aug 15 2023 17:05 utc | 64

re William Gruff | Aug 15 2023 11:29 utc | 57 who makes his usual entirely unsupported by evidence claim that the local newspaper deserved to be turned over by stormtroopers because the newspaper hated Trump. Even if that were true and I've yet to see evidence of such, the billy-goat makes the same error that the hated dims he so loathes makes; that is if a newspaper or social media platform dares to publish something that the other side doesn't like they are perfectly entitled to smash the first amendment to pieces. As per usual the stubbornly stupid goat refuses to acknowledge that as long as these ignorant rationalisations continue there is no chance for anyone to indulge in amerika's much vaunted 'freedom of speech', in this case because the fishwrap practised 'tds'.

FFS I really didn't conceive that you were that damn foolish goat, maybe the first amendment shouldn't apply when the speaker is bone stupid, that would certainly stop any more rubbish from you.

Posted by: Debsisdead | Aug 16 2023 0:38 utc | 65

Debsisdead @65

Your middle class liberalism is showing. There is no "freedom of speech" in capitalist society. Only delusional fools think so. 100% of the capitalist media is capitalist, and it ain't free, at least not for the working class. Never has been and never will be. Now, maybe capitalist media sometimes represents your interests and throws you a bone, but that is understandable because you are not working class. You are a middle class sycophant of the elites. Yeah, you moan about capitalism's excesses, but in the end the last thing you want to see is the dictatorship of the lords of capital replaced with the dictatorship of the working class. At the end of the fray those are the only options, and when push comes to shove you will abandon your fantasies of a "third way" and throw your lot in with big business.

You are a liberal fraud nursing delusions and you don't fool me.

Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 16 2023 1:00 utc | 66

That is the best you have? You are ignoring the fact that I pointed out the simple hypocrisy of your statement in favour of accusing me of being 'middle class'. It may have not occurred to you but I really don't give a damn about your simplistic judgement, coming as it does from a man who claims to be socialist but values private property above human life "it's mine and if you use it when you need to I will shoot you" were your words at the time.

Keep up the ignorant abuse all you like goat, I can see that is just hiding the logical hole in your argument. I briefly considered that your inevitable response would be 'freedom of speech doesn't exist' as a cover for your schoolyard "but they started it" statement but then I realised no there is no point, you will still make the issue on phoney terms anyhow.

I look forward to you telling me how it is that the editor of this local fishwrap suffering from trump derangement syndrome makes it permissible for the local cops to collude with the mayor, congressman and magistrate to invade this 'private property' you rate so highly. My concern is all the other humans who got bulldozed in the process. What's your's? Private property only matters when it is owned by billygoat only, anyone gets invaded?

Posted by: Debsisdead | Aug 16 2023 1:31 utc | 67

Posted by: LogosApplied | Aug 15 2023 13:07 utc | 58

Ha! Thanks that's amazing. I will do it for sure.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 16 2023 5:23 utc | 68

Look. I am 69 and I get I'd in California sometimes. I just make a joke about it and move on.

Posted by: Morongobill | Aug 15 2023 13:53 utc | 60

I'm jelly. I haven't been carded since I was 43.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 16 2023 5:29 utc | 69

Debsisdead @67: "... "it's mine and if you use it when you need to I will shoot you" were your words at the time."

Fascinating how the delusional, "woke" mind of the middle class individual shies away from what is actually said to make what's observed fit their delusional view of the world. The problems with the world all derive from working class white supremacists; from the "deplorables", at least according to your alienated middle class paradigm for reality. This is necessary for people like you to maintain the illusion of moral superiority while being lickspittle for the captains of capital.

I'll try to simplify things for the delusional, sheltered, middle class freaks like you: It isn't about possessions. That is the last thing on the mind of someone facing home invasion. After all, when you blast a lumpenized junkie thug in your living room, your possessions will get ruined by the spray of blood and chunks of brain and gore that get splattered everywhere, right? It is all about the physical and tangible threat to one's personal safety and well-being. If I were to have no possessions at all beyond a shipping carton for a refrigerator that I fished from a dumpster and set up under a bridge to act as a home, I would still perforate any thugs who violently forced their way into it while I was sleeping there. What "possessions" would I be fighting for then, you insulated middle class clown who is divorced from reality? I mean, aside from my life itself... but then, your world is so sheltered and removed from the real one that you would offer your throat to a crazed assailant. As you are drowning in your own blood you will revel in what a supreme virtue signal your last living act was.

You are a fool. An old fool, apparently, and that's the worst kind since you've squandered a lifetime that you could have used to learn better.

As for the squabble in Kansas, that is just some minor local capitalists vs minor local capitalists. I guess it comes as a shock to some old middle class fools that when capitalists fight, the forces of the "state" will often side with or the other. This is a true in a village as on the international stage. This is just a feature of the capitalist system that you align with. It isn't "bad capitalism", as there is no such thing, it is just capitalism. You can't have just the pretty parts, you have to take the warts too, as they are built-in.

Finally, as you well know, "freedom of the press" is cover the CIA uses for many of its operatives in the world. I in no way view "freedom of the press" as some sort of absolute like simple-minded and delusional middle class fools do. The Marion County Record is just another business like the town barber shop or the local greasy spoon. Your effort to elevate one business to something special reveals your foolish middle class adherence to capitalism. Indeed, after the revolution, and after we've dealt with the lawyers, we're coming for the "journalists".

Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 16 2023 11:04 utc | 70

Gruff has a point: Even in places like the old USSR, where private ownership of real estate did not exist, the home was considered inviolable — except perhaps between 3 and 4 in the morning.

This much said, and even given that the newspaper in question is only a business, certainly it merits the same protections against illegal search and seizure that are afforded other businesses.

As for this —

Indeed, after the revolution, and after we’ve dralt with the lawyers, we’re coming for the “journalists”

—well, talk about “delusional”!

Posted by: malenkov | Aug 16 2023 12:24 utc | 71

malenkov @71: "...well, talk about “delusional”!"

Not really. After a socialist revolution upends society's hierarchy, one will need a "cultural revolution" to rehabilitate those whose status and livelihood hinged on enthusiastic and proactive service to the former ruling class. They cannot just keep the same role in society and switch to serving the new ruling class because the new ruling class will be the working class. Can you imagine someone who partied their way to a law or journalism degree willingly subserviating themselves to people with dirt under their fingernails and who indelicately hoist their drinking vessels in their grubby paws without even extending their pinky fingers as their more sophisticated betters would? Oh, the horror!

A few years shoveling literal shit can help build in those "journalists" a perspective grounded in the real world and help them develop some character based upon genuine achievement rather than fey artifice. Who knows, perhaps they could even learn some skills useful to society.

Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 16 2023 13:05 utc | 72

“Not really. After a socialist revolution”

Repeating a delusion doesn’t make it any less of a delusion.

Posted by: malenkov | Aug 16 2023 13:10 utc | 73

@ waynorinorway | Aug 15 2023 15:45 utc | 63

lol... not yet anyway!

Posted by: james | Aug 16 2023 13:49 utc | 74

malenkov @73

You do know where I sourced the term "cultural revolution", right?

Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 16 2023 14:52 utc | 75

@ If the occurrence of a cultural revolution is predicated upon the success of a prior socialist revolution, and if there is no socialist revolution — well, certainly you can finish a syllogism as simple as this one.

It would also seem to follow that examining the nature of such a cultural revolution would be a nice theoretical exercise right up there with counting dancing angels on pinheads.

This ain’t Maoist China. It’s more like Germany ca. 1930 — but without the Communist and Social Democratic parties!

Posted by: malenkov | Aug 16 2023 16:22 utc | 76

malenkov @76

So you're basically saying Europeans and Americans are too stupid (or cowardly?) to take the next step up the human development ladder from capitalism? You could be right, but the Russians did it, even if they stumbled in that unfamiliar territory and backslid into a more primitive economic arrangement. The Chinese did it too, and are still making a pretty good run of it.

Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 16 2023 16:53 utc | 77

Gruff: Recall that even with Russia’s long history of radical leftism and some awfully charismatic leadership, it took the Bolsheviks half a decade to consolidate power. Took Mao a lot longer than that. Where’s your charismatic leadership on the American radical left?

It’s not a matter of American proletarian stupidity at all, and much less cowardice than unawareness. The USA did have bits and pieces of a radical past, but its memory has all but been erased, and virtually the entire capitalist/state apparatus makes sure it stays that way. Debs is well and truly dead.

Finally, it does not help matters that the most vicious enemies of today’s socialists are . . . other socialists. It’s impossible to read WSWS for more than two days in a row without having to wade through the eternal butthurt over Pabloites and Schachtmanites (etc.), to say nothing of Stalinists. First you form a united front, then you take power, then you consolidate power, and then and ONLY then do you decry and (if so inclined) liquidate heretics. Is that really so difficult a recipe to follow? Apparently it is, especially with a movement doomed by the presence of too many precious egos vying for the top.

Posted by: malenkov | Aug 16 2023 17:14 utc | 78

malenkov @78: "Where’s your charismatic leadership on the American radical left?"

Well, if we are talking the real left in America, as in people who have some working class consciousness, who've at least studied a few books from primary sources on the matter, and who have done some real workplace organizing, today that would, for the most part, just be me. Not a very broad field to draw a charismatic leader from, I know, but that's what we have.

As for WSWS, its leadership (particularly the ones with mysterious "family money" that they keep the organization financed with) are CIA infiltrators. Those CIA infiltrators love steering the half-blind into collisions with each other. Kinda like "Smash the piñata!" only with multiple players and no piñata.

The problem with socialism (the kind that is conceived as a stage of development leading to modern communism) is that it is really ideologically difficult. To supplant capitalism (destroying it isn't good enough), you have to know what has already been tried, and why it failed, all while being bombarded from all sides by deliberate disinformation from capitalists and their lackeys trying to protect the system that serves their interests from you. So it is no surprise there are so few in capitalism's own `hood, and why some who might otherwise make good members of a "vanguard party" never make it there.

But revolution has been done before, so it can be done again.

Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 16 2023 17:50 utc | 79

But revolution has been done before, so it can be done again.

Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 16 2023 17:50 utc | 79

Well, never say never, I guess, but in addition to mass support Lenin and Mao had another thing that American socialists don’t: organized firepower.

Posted by: malenkov | Aug 16 2023 19:22 utc | 80

malenkov @80: "Lenin and Mao had another thing that American socialists don’t: organized firepower."

Sure, but they were not born with it.

Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 16 2023 19:39 utc | 81

@ William Gruff | Aug 16 2023 19:39 utc | 81

I’m sure that if either of the two were gathering followers in the USA today, their number would have been infiltrated and they themselves would have been neutralized long before rounding up forces the size of even the SLA. Strange as it may sound, measured against today’s challenges, Lenin and Mao had it easy.

Posted by: malenkov | Aug 16 2023 19:45 utc | 82

Strangely oblique confirmation that NordStream sabotage was at hands of U.S:

Is Germany once again the sick man of Europe?
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/08/17/is-germany-once-again-the-sick-man-of-europe
Its ills are different from 1999. But another stiff dose of reform is still needed

//
Another difficulty comes from the energy transition. Germany’s industrial sector uses nearly twice as much energy as the next-biggest in Europe, and its consumers have a much bigger carbon footprint than those in France or Italy. Cheap Russian gas is no longer an option and the country has, in a spectacular own goal, turned away from nuclear power. A lack of investment in grids and a sluggardly permit system are hobbling the transition to cheap renewable energy, threatening to make manufacturers less competitive.//

Yes, the option was removed. Hmm.

So, what might the required "dose of reform" involve?...

//
Instead of running scared, politicians must look ahead, by fostering new firms, infrastructure and talent. Embracing technology would be a gift to new firms and industries. A digitised bureaucracy would do wonders for smaller firms that lack the capacity to fill out reams of paperwork. Further permit reform would help ensure that infrastructure gets built speedily and to budget. Money also matters. Too often infrastructure has suffered as the government has made a fetish of its balanced-budget rules. Although Germany cannot spend as freely as it might have in the 2010s, when interest rates were low, forgoing investment as a way of reining in excess spending is a false economy.
//

"U.S. COMPUTERS" PAID FOR THROUGH CORPORATE WELFARE!

Posted by: Arrnon | Aug 18 2023 10:01 utc | 83

What has occured at the FBI and other US institutions has it began to rear it's ugly head at the local level. Is this a case of "Hey you guys don't agree with us so you must be against us so now we are out to get you"? Hell Google has finally shut down South front because the US Attorney General says Southfront is Russian propaganda and it does not jive with the US narrative.

Posted by: WT Baker | Aug 18 2023 20:25 utc | 84

"So you're basically saying Europeans and Americans are too stupid (or cowardly?) to take the next step up the human development ladder from capitalism? You could be right, but the Russians did it, even if they stumbled in that unfamiliar territory and backslid into a more primitive economic arrangement. The Chinese did it too, and are still making a pretty good run of it."

Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 16 2023 16:53 utc | 77

How about if we take a shoddy concept like 'woke' and transform it into "awakeness", as in "Sleepers, awake!"??

Not only is it better grammar; it's better policy. We could and should consolidate worker energy together with actual classical reformation of woke-ness. It is do-able since as you say both Russia and China transformed their socialist heritages into separate but equal amalgamations that retain what was good in their pasts with the goodness that socialism represented - they did this in order to unify their countries and are able to keep moving forward because we now, all of us have this amazing educational machinery at our fingertips. They did this bottom up, not top down, with meritocracy the ultimate goal. It's do-able!

I say 'transform wokeness' because everyone sees that this distortion of individual freedom has gone too far, and everyone is concerned with its effect upon future generations. It doesn't need to be cancelled; it needs to be honed, smoothed, incorporated into our own 'better' ideas. Which is what both China and Russia did.

Like it or not, this 'woke' deal is the US heritage. We are stuck with it, just as those countries were stuck with the nastiness that brought down their previous attempts to make a new world for themselves. I am sure there are folk from both the traditionally argumentative and the quieter sadly passive streams of American thought that would be flagbearers in the struggle. Who can study, for instance, Maria's speeches on the subjects of woke and cancel culture for inspiration -- but also past western writers and speakers -- keep bringing their words to the attention of the current generation. Educate our coming citizenry - enliven the debate!

For, it already has begun as an issue in the coming election as our online instruments of free speech are under attack from those who would see us divided. Which is our US version of sanctions writ large in this country. Free speech is ultimately free education, and it exists in the many diverse forums the internet provides. It isn't in the universities; it is at our fingertips! As we hear from our revisits to Star Trek the Next Generation ---- Engage!

The backlash is a-waiting!

Posted by: juliania | Aug 18 2023 21:04 utc | 85

I have been reading this blog and comments for years now and as much as I admire y'all I can't help but notice that the actual enemy of our civilisation is rarely nominated.
Observe the current power within the White House, Secretary of State and his deputy, Secretary of Treasury, Attorney General, etc, and reflect on what is common between them.
Is there a link with those and the present leadership of Ukraine?
Go back to the last crisis, the covid psy-op, and look at the leadership in Govt, in health institutions and in the pharmaceutical industry........same thread.
Look at the too big to fail banks and mega money managers........are you with me?
Here is what they do.
In non crisis times they let the captured goyim take the positions of power.
When things get serious, they do it themselves.
This is true at least as far back as 1917.
Is it not the responsibility of this blog to point out the bloody obvious?
If not here, then where?

Posted by: Little Black Duck | Aug 21 2023 9:25 utc | 86

Little Black Duck | Aug 21 2023 9:25 utc | 86
"...the actual enemy of our civilisation is rarely nominated...If not here, then where?"

Any mirrors in your household?

Posted by: nudge | Aug 21 2023 11:15 utc | 87

PBS Newshour covered the raid on this particular newspaper in their August 2 broadcast. At the end of the report a printed message screen said:

"The US is losing an average of two newspapers per week. At this pace, by 2025, the country will have lost a third of the newspapers that existed in 2005."

SOURCE: Northwestern Medill Local News Initiative (2022)

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 21 2023 14:10 utc | 88

...
If not here, then where?

Posted by: Little Black Duck | Aug 21 2023 9:25 utc | 86

Good question.
The "Israel" Lobby is extremely powerful in EVERY nominally Christian (cough cough) country on Earth. In Oz, AIJAC or I refer to them HIJACK, are on the warpath against Oz universities, whom The Lobby has determined are breeding grounds for "antisemitism" which is, as usual, unsupported by any EVIDENCE.

Oz MSM regularly reports the frequent IOF raids into Palestian enclaves and has begun citing the disparity of the resulting death toll of Jews vs Palestinians. So universities are probably the softest targets The Lobby could dream up.

Unsurprisingly Albanese/Labor chickened out of their stated intention to recognise Palestine as a sovereign state with its capital in E Jerusalem at their National Conference. Oz Foreign Minister Penny Wong bored everyone shitless with a meaningless word salad intended to 'prove' that Labor hadn't betrayed our trust.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 21 2023 14:54 utc | 89

The latest on the Marion County Record story:

Jeff Charles, An Awful Pundit🏴 @jeffcharlesjr on Twitter

BREAKING: Live footage of Kansas police officers raiding the home of the 98-year-old co-owner of the Marion County Record newspaper.

She died the day after this unjustified raid.

Posted by: Petri Krohn | Aug 24 2023 22:40 utc | 90

The events at the FBI and other US institutions have signaled the beginning of a similar trend at the state and municipal levels. Is it a case of "Hey, you guys don't agree with us, so you must be against us, and now we are out to get you"? Because the US Attorney General claims Southfront is Russian propaganda redactle unlimited and does not fit the US narrative, Google has finally taken it down.

Posted by: Ben Pollard | Sep 13 2023 6:39 utc | 91