Mainstream Media Boost 'Independent' Media Which Depend On U.S. Assistance
What is the meaning of 'independent' in English language?
independent adjective (NOT INFLUENCED)
- not influenced or controlled in any way by other people, events, or things
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th Ed.) and others:
independent /ĭn″dĭ-pĕn′dənt/ adjective
- Not governed by a foreign power; self-governing.
- Free from the influence, guidance, or control of another or others; self-reliant.
"an independent mind."- Not determined or influenced by someone or something else; not contingent.
"a decision independent of the outcome of the study."- Affiliated with or loyal to no one political party or organization.
- Not dependent on or affiliated with a larger or controlling entity.
"an independent food store; an independent film."- Not relying on others for support, care, or funds; self-supporting.
- Providing or being sufficient income to enable one to live without working.
"a person of independent means."
Following the recent revelations that many outlets and journalist are financed directly or indirectly by U.S. government organization like USAID or NED the mainstream media have set out to redefine the meaning of 'independent'.
'Independent' now seem to be anyone how gets his paycheck from the U.S. while producing reports or rumors designed to fit U.S. policy narratives.
Consider these recent reports:
- USAID and the Media in a ‘Time of Monsters’ - Columbia Journalism Review, Feb 4 2025
What the aid funding freeze means for independent journalism around the world. - Foreign Strongmen Cheer as Musk Dismantles U.S. Aid Agency (archived) - New York Times, Feb 5 2025
- Strongmen celebrate as Trump aid freeze hits media - Financial Times, Feb 6 2025
- Independent media in Russia, Ukraine lose their funding with USAID freeze (archived) - Washington Post, Feb 7 2025
From the first one:
[A]ccording to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the aid freeze appears to have put a hold on $268 million that was earmarked to fund “independent media and the free flow of information” this year. In the recent past, USAID had boasted of supporting more than six thousand journalists, around seven hundred independent newsrooms, and nearly three hundred media-focused civil society groups in thirty or so countries—and yet, RSF notes, the full impact of the freeze is hard to measure, since many recipients are “hesitant to draw attention for fear of risking long-term funding or coming under political attacks.”
From the NYT report:
Agency grants to promote democracy, human rights and good governance have gone to support election monitoring groups, anti-corruption watchdogs, independent media outlets and human rights organizations — exactly the kind of oversight that leaders like Mr. Putin detest.
From the Post:
The suspension of USAID has had a dramatic effect on both Ukrainian and Russian independent news outlets that relied on the grants to operate and produced work often critical of their governments.
...
Ukraine’s independent media, a collection of small regional outlets, muckraking investigative websites and internet news platforms, have been reeling since the announcement, with some organizations saying that they are just weeks away from slashing staff or closing down entirely.“We risk losing the achievements of three decades of work and increasing threats to Ukraine’s statehood, democratic values, and pro-Western orientation,” Detector Media, a journalism watchdog, said in a statement on its website last week.
The last paragraph seems to be an admission that 'Ukraine’s statehood, democratic values, and pro-Western orientation', which - when you scratch their surfaces are all quite dubious - are the result of U.S. paid propaganda.
One also wonders how the WaPo writers can write of independent media when even a few paragraphs in the Ukrainian Detector Media (also U.S. financed) admits that these are depending on foreign payments:
Detector Media’s head Nataliia Lygachova told The Post that she thought “more than 50 percent” of the media organizations that receive foreign grants were dependent on American assistance.
A more correct headline for the WaPo piece is thus:
"U.S. state-funded media in Russia, Ukraine lose their funding with USAID freeze"
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCPR) has been behind several large stories like the Panama Papers which revealed the dirty offshore businesses of a large number of people the U.S. dislikes. In a (highly recommendable) video reportage about the project its founder and publisher, Drew Sullivan, admits on camera that the 'independent' organization was launched and is financed by U.S. government entities.
The money, more than 50% of OCCPR's budget, comes with strings attached. All major management positions within OCCPR have to be confirmed by the U.S. financing agency. OCCRP reporting about crimes the U.S. is involved in is discouraged if not prohibited. You might want to guess where the selected hacked and leaked material OCCPR reports of is coming from ...
Over the last week we have learned that many 'independent' international outlets are primarily funded by U.S. government entities - directly or through U.S. funded Non-Governmental Organization. Some estimate that 90% of the media in Ukraine is depending on U.S. taxpayer money.
All this came out due to the Trump's administration's freeze of USAID money. But there are many more U.S. government entities, the National Endowment for Democracy, the State Department, the Pentagon and the CIA, who each have likewise funds to spend on 'independent' foreign media and influence organizations.
It is high time to dismantle networks like these:
WikiLeaks @wikileaks - 3:47 UTC · Feb 8, 2025USAID has pushed nearly half a billion dollars ($472.6m) through a secretive US government financed NGO, "Internews Network" (IN), which has “worked with” 4,291 media outlets, producing in one year 4,799 hours of broadcasts reaching up to 778 million people and "training” over 9000 journalists (2023 figures). IN has also supported social media censorship initiatives.
...
Posted by b on February 8, 2025 at 16:58 UTC | Permalink
next page »Nice that we're finally getting to see the actual mechanics of the thing we already figured out was happening. It's so good to finally get the more complete picture.
Posted by: rert | Feb 8 2025 17:09 utc | 3
thanks b...
there is nothing independent about any of this.. it is the desire for usa hegemony, plain and simple.. and it has nothing to do with democracy or freedom either.. it is more enslavement to usa hegemony... an extension or another arm of nato essentially.. keep the war, banking and energy complex all thriving in an environment of maintaining dominance over everyone...
Posted by: james | Feb 8 2025 17:10 utc | 4
what concerns me is the swift takeover of the USAID by marco rubio, he must have a plan in mind surely.
Posted by: pepe | Feb 8 2025 17:22 utc | 5
Correction of all those weeping wailing and teeth gnashing propaganda outlets shedding their tears over loss of those supportive funds...is that the recipients of that U$AID inflow renders those outlets to be correctly described as of having been in a state of being IN DEPENDANCY.
When those dependent entities become financially deplatformed; the worldwide media reality becomes INDEPENDENT.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 8 2025 17:22 utc | 6
A term that had been popular in US politics for media that was silent funded by a political entity to appear as grassroots was astroturfing. In fact the very 'news' outlets linked here have used that term in the past to describe the same arrangements internal to the USA. Of course internally it is not a violation of the UN charter and an act of war as what they are describing now.
Posted by: Badjoke | Feb 8 2025 17:29 utc | 7
What is the meaning of 'independent' in English language?
"It means just what we choose it to mean – neither more nor less."
--- Editorial Board, Washington Post
Posted by: Perimetr | Feb 8 2025 17:31 utc | 8
@ pepe | Feb 8 2025 17:22 utc | 5
you might find jeffrey sachs response on the question of usaid from glenn diesen especially relevant to your interest.. the video is supposed to be cued up to about 26 minutes 10 second mark where sachs comments on these developments..
Jeffrey Sachs: Differentiating Between Strategy and Noise in Trump's Foreign Policy
Posted by: james | Feb 8 2025 17:34 utc | 9
Good catch, b!
But it was becoming obvious that there's a sort of Central Clearing House for the West's Fake News media. The October 7 Gaza jailbreak is universally and uniformly referred to as a "ter'rist attack" when the truth is that it was a REACTION to ~80 years of Jewish Terrorism in Palestine.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Feb 8 2025 17:35 utc | 10
"3LA media minions".
Wholly dependent "3LA media minions" reporting on USAID-dependent "3LA media minions".
PROPAGANDA...we're swimming in it...an ocean filled with the excrement exuded from the anuses of 3LA-English/Anglicized-schoolboys who only know genocide, murder, rape, extortion, embezzlement, thievery, blackmail and all other manner of criminal enterprises.
The 3LAs are the proximate cause for the decline of the western world.
This is less 1984 and more like a USG-sponsored-mafia-organization. 2nd rate, untalented people, flunkies who'd be working for mobsters were it not for the lifeline Langley threw to them.
Posted by: S Brennan | Feb 8 2025 17:37 utc | 11
I've always found the 2 Greek guys on youtube somewhat suspicious. Especially after they started kind of bragging about being endorsed by RFKjr. That was a red flag moment for me.
Posted by: screamingmonk | Feb 8 2025 17:40 utc | 12
Posted by: james | Feb 8 2025 17:34 utc | 9
thanks james.
Posted by: pepe | Feb 8 2025 17:42 utc | 13
Bravo, b!
Speaking of independent, we gotta keep you afloat. It's been a while since your last fundraiser.
You should make some merchandise, too. I know my coffee would taste better in a MoA mug!
Posted by: lex talionis | Feb 8 2025 17:44 utc | 14
This event would be a belly laugh if it were not so serious.
In the USA, we have had part of the media labeled, "yellow journalism"... Now most of the media can be labeled, "the mighty wurlitzer" What is elusive is the central point of origin and the means of transmission. Or, is there such an entity?
As stated before, "yellow journalism" started more-or-less with the printing press. But the latest milestone can be seen with the following main stream article amendment:
The following article is accessed for $49.00 a month. Sign-up NOW!
Then there is this...
Propaganda? So what?
Posted By Matthew Wallin on May 23, 2012Since the introduction of the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2013, there has been a surprising amount of attention to the fear of the American public being subjected to propaganda. The Act would remove the restriction currently in place that bans the dissemination of government material produced for overseas consumption from being made available to the American public. Let’s ask a lot of questions.
For a moment, let’s assume this is true and assert that the American public will be subjected to the same “propaganda” as issued by the U.S. Government overseas. What is it exactly that we are worried about? Are we to assume that the messages we issue overseas are somehow unfit for the American public? If so, why is that? Is the information untrue? If it’s untrue, then it’s disinformation, and I don’t want that broadcast in my name—so let’s fix it.
Edward R. Murrow, the often-quoted father-figure of American public diplomacy and first head of the U.S. Information Agency, remarked on what makes good propaganda:
…truth is the best propaganda and lies are the worst. To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful. It is as simple as that.
LINK: https://www.americansecurityproject.org/propaganda-so-what/
It unbelievable someone with the ability to write would actually believe such drivel.
The real truth of the matter is, "All propaganda is good as long as I am the one doing the propaganda!"
Posted by: MRDMK | Feb 8 2025 17:46 utc | 15
Posted by: pepe | Feb 8 2025 17:22 utc | 5
################
No one who cares about power (as Rubio does) will beat all of his swords into plowshares.
Power rarely surrenders power easily or permanently.
Power must be forced to relent and bow before a mightier force.
Rubio still plans to be President one day. All commentary about him should consider this. Everything he says and every initiative he leads is about putting Foam Party Marco (IYKYK) on the throne.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 8 2025 17:54 utc | 16
@canuk
'Ministry of Truth' -remember that nomenclature in Orwell's ,'1984?
"MinCulPop" - in Italy, established by the Fascist government in 1922
Posted by: luca | Feb 8 2025 17:54 utc | 17
Responsible Statecraft published an article in September on a $1.6 billion US program named the “Countering the PRC Malign Influence Fund”, an information operation directed against China.
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/china-cold-war-2669160202/
Along with USAID, the article mentions the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, but also programs run through the military, including a link to a “vision document” on “psychological operations and civil affairs” generated by the First Special Forces Command (Fort Bragg). As described, these programs are multi-level and distributed through various agencies. The discussion of the "vision document" details an operation quite beyond simple subsidization.
Posted by: jayc | Feb 8 2025 17:58 utc | 18
screamingmonk 12,
Your remark "guys on youtube somewhat suspicious" is spot on but should include the fairer sex as well.
All, one way to spot a 3LA cutout on the 3LA-controled network called Youtube is you go to investigate their background/bio/family-history and all you find is a carefully curated characterture, with large gaps where you might go to find further verification.
And no, if you put yourself onto youtube with a fully equipped studio, moving from time to from country to country without holding a "day-job" you are very suspicious. And if you claim to have "come into BOMBSHELL materiel, developed by your "researchers" 99/100, you are dealing with a 3LA asset/agent.
But, because people don't either verify or wonder why their verification leads back to one curated source the 3LAs get away with their propaganda insertion program on YouTube.
Posted by: S Brennan | Feb 8 2025 17:59 utc | 19
The periphery of empire dies off first, and we are seeing exactly this.
You seem to have gotten hot and bothered by playing with the meaning of words.
The co equal branch of government called the courts have adopted a separate language for themselves as demonstrated by "Black's Law Dictionary". I postulate that the whole US Court system is unfit for purpose because the laws were NOT written for courts to interpret, second guessing after the fact what the people understand as the meaning of a word written into the law by the legislature.
Posted by: Hot Carl | Feb 8 2025 18:13 utc | 20
As Disraeli would have said, there are liars, damned liars, and Federally subsidized media whores....
Posted by: pyrrhus | Feb 8 2025 18:14 utc | 21
S Brennan at 19
Thanks for your reply.
I guess I'm not an all inclusive commenter :)
Might explain why I missed the fairer sex, lol
Posted by: screamingmonk | Feb 8 2025 18:17 utc | 22
USAID is only part of the "soft power" or foreign sedition. Although probably the biggest, there also other government funded institutions in the US, UK, France and other European countries. I think its power and influence is underestimated by Trump and Musk and it's another sign of an empire in crisis.
Professional hog groomer thinks the old ways of soft control are being retired and replaced by new equally aggressive ones.
In all likelihood, new overt and covert strategies are already in place.
- Sentiment influence via A.I. bot swarms?
- Crypto funded terrorist attacks?
- Overt support of fascist political parties?
Posted by: xor | Feb 8 2025 18:19 utc | 23
No, no, guys, you don't understand.
You're all falling for "conspiracy theories" and "distorted facts"!
https://www.occrp.org/en/announcement/report-on-occrp-distorts-facts
https://www.occrp.org/en/announcement/occrps-work-is-not-political
See? How could they be political when they went against Donald Trump?
How could they be dependent on the US government, when a US government agency gave them money but cleared them for being independent?
:-P
Posted by: Roland | Feb 8 2025 18:21 utc | 24
But there are many more U.S. government entities, the National Endowment for Democracy, the State Department, the Pentagon and the CIA, who each have likewise funds to spend on 'independent' foreign media and influence organizations.Subsequent to the colon, the OP quotes from Wikileaks on Internetwork News.It is high time to dismantle networks like these:
That's why hailing the dismantling of USAID instead of NED first, or worse implying that this will stop US manipulation of foreign media, are victory. Insofar as USAID is merely rehoused in the State Department, is it really the case the State Department won't simply put its partisans into board seats and executive suites. The activities of the Pentagon and the CIA and in particular NED remain untouched. The thing of course about attacking USAID instead is that it's about attacking the principle of foreign as some sort of charity, read as thievery by foreigners.
In the larger perspective, the patriotism of US media owners and their executives as well as the buyers of advertising will fairly reliably ensure that most foreign news is largely re-writes of official talking points and private conversations with government officials...in addition to the many relationships between security agencies with executives, editors and journalists in US media. Such agencies will continue to use such contacts in foreign media not officially on anybody's payroll to plant stories aimed at influencing US public opinion.
Last and least, one usage of independent in reference to media is commonly meant to say, independent of funding by the news organization's government. In practice, the concentration of this desirable adjective is reserved to news organization independent of enemy governments. The further practical extension is to deem any news organization subsidized in whole or part by an enemy government, therefore cannot be deemed worthy to be called independent. (RT? PressTV? Al-Jazeera?) The dictionary definitions quoted above are to general/abstract to be relevant.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Feb 8 2025 18:29 utc | 25
Screamingmonk 22,
I'm guessing that a monk in a monastery might forget women exist...eh?
Try researching a "Whitney Webb" and watch how your search lead in circles...always back to a tangled self-curated "web"...no pun intended 😄 That's not to say I don't find cutouts non-de plumes amusing 😏
Posted by: S Brennan | Feb 8 2025 18:32 utc | 26
To #5 Pepe: The State Dept. has been controlled by Soros since 1990s. This will likely continue. Marco Rubio is merely a puppet. Rubio has spent his time since 2011 molding himself to align w. the Bush crowd. After his loss in 2016 Florida primary, WaPo wrote:
3/15/2016, "Rubio’s demise marks the last gasp of the Republican reboot," Washington Post, Robert Costa, Philip Rucker, West Miami, Fla.
"Rubio has been building his base among these Republicans since January 2011, when he began his Senate term. He joined the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and began to speak at think tanks and meet with scholars, most of them former staffers from George W. Bush's administration. He hired a number of them for his own staff.
During his breaks in the Senate, Rubio would often tell colleagues how he was reading papers sent to him from former Republican officials or how he was about to have lunch with another bold-faced name from the Bush years. On his computer, he kept a “drop box” of related policy files compiled by his advisers."...
"Those very elegant papers it published and conferences it held may have been good and smart, but they didn’t really matter,” said William J. Bennett, a conservative talk-show host and former education secretary in Ronald Reagan’s administration. “Instead, everyone who’s been prominent for the last 15 to 20 years finds themselves getting pushed out.”...
.......
Years of carefully laid plans to repackage the Republican Party’s traditional ideas for a fast-changing country came crashing down here on Tuesday when Sen. Marco Rubio suspended his campaign for the presidency after a crippling defeat in his home-state primary."...
......
Posted by: susan mullen | Feb 8 2025 18:36 utc | 27
B: USAID had boasted of supporting more than six thousand journalists
I want the list of the 6200 independent "journalists". But true corrupt liars.
Udo Ulfkotte said it all several years ago and he was assassinated soon afterwards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m6bMhUzB14
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08VUTjuSz04
Posted by: Naive | Feb 8 2025 18:36 utc | 28
Posted by: Roland | Feb 8 2025 18:21 utc | 24
Haha, so true!
And since the public broadcasters are funded directly by the people, they are completely independent!
Nobody cares that the government forces the people to pay amount X to those broadcasters instead of first collecting and then sending it over. Yes, that is independence and none of those John Does or Max Mustermann is asking: "hey, wait a minute"
:D
Posted by: Zet | Feb 8 2025 18:41 utc | 29
I'm sure The Sarawak Papers too. The one that exposed Malaysia's 1MDB payment and run solely by wife of UK politician!! So obvious but suckers fell for it. That brought down a Malaysian PM detested by US for refusing to accusw Russia of shooting down MH17.
Posted by: Surferket | Feb 8 2025 18:46 utc | 30
'canuk
'Ministry of Truth' -remember that nomenclature in Orwell's ,'1984?
"MinCulPop" - in Italy, established by the Fascist government in 1922"
Posted by: luca | Feb 8 2025 17:54 utc | 17
Didn't know about that iteration-thanks for the tutorial!
Reduce the selection of allowable words to a minimum and restrict the remaining words to mean only something that suits The Party. That way ThoughtCrime becomes impossible.
Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 8 2025 18:59 utc | 32
The idea that publishing the Panama Papers or the Sarawak Papers was a BAD THING because they omitted the truth about friends is a perplexing argument...if you could call that an argument. Publishing the truth should be encouraged in my opinion. I must add, you should always be skeptical, or at least never hysterical, about scare articles, whether it's crime waves or woke atrocities or outrageous quotes from insiders or political corruption precisely because such stories could be weaponized. The bigger problem is when the stories are completely fabricated. And in the end, the worst problem is when stories aren't even published.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Feb 8 2025 19:00 utc | 33
I applaud the destruction of a very immoral system of manipulation, but then I recall just how many centuries it's been ongoing, the misinformation and manipulation that is: the several thousand years of turning myth into fact; the lies about the real reason the Crusades were waged; how usury was made into a legal practice, sanctified by the Vatican, and oh so much more. Why were muckrakers called such? Why is it few know who George Seldes was and the great lack of discussion of Upton Sinclair's later works, while "The Jungle" remains required reading? What happened to the well-known fact of unearned income during the 19th century that suddenly disappeared at the beginning of the 20th?
Yes, the slaying of the current lie-machines is welcomed, but there are a host of pre-existing lies that are arguably even more important that continue to be believed and must also be slain, many of which have become dogma and close to immortal.
@screamingmonk | Feb 8 2025 17:40 utc | 12
I've always found the 2 Greek guys on youtube somewhat suspicious. Especially after they started kind of bragging about being endorsed by RFKjr. That was a red flag moment for me.You still have some of that USAID money?
Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 8 2025 19:03 utc | 35
@ karlof1 | Feb 8 2025 19:01 utc | 34 who refers to my favorite hypocrites, the religious folks....Hi Pope Frank!
Those independent media folk are doing God's work..../s
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 8 2025 19:08 utc | 36
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 8 2025 17:54 utc | 16
+++++++++++
as long as it is power thirst and not blood thirst he can be forgiven, however as I previously mentioned; he will be judged by his actions not by his fancy words by the time his 'party' is over.
Posted by: pepe | Feb 8 2025 19:10 utc | 37
Yes, the slaying of the current lie-machines is welcomed, but there are a host of pre-existing lies that are arguably even more important that continue to be believed and must also be slain, many of which have become dogma and close to immortal.
Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 8 2025 19:01 utc | 34
Work is not done until the names of the people and institutions who received the money of corruption will be published.
The 3 biggest lies in history;
1) Yeshua.
2) The ashkenazis came from Palestina,
3) The moon landings.
And indeed they are viewed as dogma.
Posted by: Naive | Feb 8 2025 19:12 utc | 38
Posted by: susan mullen | Feb 8 2025 18:36 utc | 27
+++
he might be the male version of Hillary who sobs over her loss to the throne.
Posted by: pepe | Feb 8 2025 19:14 utc | 39
Does USAID finance contribute to US GDP? Or to the recipient nation’s GDP? Or both???
Inquiring minds want to... nah, forget it!
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Feb 8 2025 19:14 utc | 40
@Zet | Feb 8 2025 18:41 utc | 29
Yeah, especially when - like in Germany - you actually have to make separate payments to an agency that then lies into your face.
The thing is though, even if it were to be not publicly funded, a private "entrepeneur" would just order the same crap to be written.
Just another opportunity to remember Lenin: A Letter To G. Myasnikov.
Posted by: Roland | Feb 8 2025 19:44 utc | 41
The MIC has spent millions upon millions in setting up "independent" outlets from websites to content creators on YouTube.
Recently, I saw UnHerd as a newer independent outlet that even b has referenced.
Well, year or so ago, I noticed UnHerd and took in a little bit of their content. It was very slick even in its infancy. Now, I don't want to say that they take money...that would be very hasty.
However, take it with a grain of salt.
I noticed many posters have astutely wisened-up to the planned shift in tone towards marginalized sub-groups from the Federal Gov't. This gives the impression that something is being done but that no one in the inner-sanctum of the elite actually are hurt. Scapegoat shifting, IOW. Besides a passing comment about trans-ideology, I feel like it is beneath b's and our interest to comment on such matters. But it is greatly important for the Fed and the powerbrokers because it gives the impression that something is being done.
I would say be wary about any audit talk being done on "behalf of the taxpayer" as well. Mere theater. Do you know how many beauracrats take buy-outs regularly and then immediately afterwards land another job in government?
Heck, even local government down to school districts give superintendents and "assistant superintendents" multi-year contracts with golden parachutes the taxpayer is on the hook for.
"It's a big club, and you and I ain't in it."
You will know the shit has hit the fan when the production value on your media intake takes a noticeable face dive. Until then, enjoy the show and keep on believing! Hold on to that special feeling!!!
*fades out*
"Steetlights...peop....whoa-oh..."
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Feb 8 2025 19:49 utc | 42
Bellingcat is a suspect, but the USAID money probably passes through several hands on the way to them.
Posted by: ElmerF | Feb 8 2025 19:51 utc | 43
Wether they are independent or not depends on their editorial policies and terms of funding
Posted by: Sidj | Feb 8 2025 19:53 utc | 44
Dear B,
The acronym for the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project is OCCRP, not OCCPR. Could you correct OCCPR to OCCRP? Thanks so much, if you can do this.
I realise the typo must have repeated itself after an initial mistake, due perhaps to a Wordpress or other bot present on the platform you use.
So many international organisations in the same ideological / narrative space have similar names and acronyms though - no doubt deliberately, to confuse people looking them up on search engines and to lead them astray - that getting the acronyms right for the particular organisations being discussed becomes paramount.
Posted by: Refinnejenna | Feb 8 2025 19:56 utc | 45
Berletic has an interesting video describing which US sgencies are involved in South Asia propaganda operations.
https://youtu.be/SgtAt3s-k-w?si=1XwNVO7i_Nxt7rTp
The point being developed is that multiple US agencies subsidize local organizations and individuals to question local development initiatives along the Mekong river in many countries trying to create divisions.
In another area, not related to the above video, in Azerbaijan, local associations subsidized by the US are sending memos to the US state department claiming that the neighboring Armenia is having commercial relations with Russia thus violating US sanctions. Just to stir trouble...
Posted by: Richard L | Feb 8 2025 19:58 utc | 46
Yes, the 'independent' media is a sham.
But, while we're on this theme, it would be a good time to bring up what independent means in government means. 'Independent' departments like USAID or the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) are supposed to be independent, or quasi-independent. So, who do these departments actually answer to? In theory and in practice, who are they accountable to?
Posted by: team10tim | Feb 8 2025 19:59 utc | 47
Addendum
Not to mention the myriad artists in today's popular culture that are clearly taking money and/or are true believers themselves but that are lampooned behind their back, such as Lady GaGa, who is actually viewed as a total weirdo by most "normal" assholes in Hollywood.
I remember there was/is? an artist (hmmm...artist?) named Hozier that in 2014-ish had that song that was playing in the popular mind, "Take me to Church." Well, anyways, the video for the song showed some gay Russians getting their ass kicked by roving bands of Putlerjugen with blonde hair.
Being only on the cusp of waking up to the west's imperial reality, I thought the guy could frekin' sing! Then I gradually put two and two together and realized he was probably on the CIA payroll.
Another guy I used to like was writer Denis Johnson (Jesus' Son, Tree of Smoke) but realized later he also was from CIA-stock, his dad being involved.
Jim Morrison.
The list goes on and on.
Them chinks eat dogs! Them Afghans rape boys. Them Russians beat-up gays.
We must save the entire planet!
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Feb 8 2025 20:03 utc | 48
Posted by: pepe | Feb 8 2025 19:10 utc | 37
##########
Over time the lust to dominate erodes all moral norms. Blood always flows in the wake of power.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 8 2025 20:07 utc | 49
It seems reasonable that we all keep our distance from and exposure to power while being very skeptical of anyone who seeks power.
The people who fanboy for political movements and personalities behave like retards much of the time.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 8 2025 20:11 utc | 50
Not only would USAID be funding "independennews media organisations in targeted countries like Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Hungary and others, it must also be funding arts and cultural organisations that support art, film and music festivals and tours, and helping those organisations give grants to individual artists and musicians (and artistic and musical groups and ensembles) to pursue projects that espouse particular values, agendas and ideologies.
How much of what passes for an artistic scene or music scene, independent / alternative or otherwise, in certain countries might now disappear as a result of DJT's executive order freezing USAID money?
Another set of potential organisations for targeting might be religious missions and charities supposedly providing humanitarian aid or engaged in Christian evangelism. One thinks of the foreigners who participated in the riots in Hong Kong in 2019 who turned out to be US religious pastors supposedly working among the poor or in the universities and colleges there; where did these people get their money from originally?
Posted by: Refinnejenna | Feb 8 2025 20:13 utc | 51
Intriguing piece in RT: “ Earlier this week, Trump stated that billions of dollars have been stolen by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), highlighting that the lion’s share of the funds were used to pay for positive media coverage of Democrats.”
https://www.rt.com/news/612378-doge-audit-pentagon-trump/
And then there’s this piece on MsN: “Bombshell - USAID, CIA, State Dept. Played Role in 1st Trump Impeachment”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/bombshell-usaid-cia-state-dept-played-role-in-1st-trump-impeachment-top-reporter-in-america/ar-AA1yxvbf
When Musk gets to auditing the Pentagon, something that the military has been “incapable “ of doing forever, it should get really interesting.
The gloves will come off…
Posted by: Jihn | Feb 8 2025 20:18 utc | 52
Intriguing piece in RT: “ Earlier this week, Trump stated that billions of dollars have been stolen by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), highlighting that the lion’s share of the funds were used to pay for positive media coverage of Democrats.”
https://www.rt.com/news/612378-doge-audit-pentagon-trump/
And then there’s this piece on MsN: “Bombshell - USAID, CIA, State Dept. Played Role in 1st Trump Impeachment”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/bombshell-usaid-cia-state-dept-played-role-in-1st-trump-impeachment-top-reporter-in-america/ar-AA1yxvbf
When Musk gets to auditing the Pentagon, something that the military has been “incapable “ of doing forever, it should get really interesting.
The gloves will come off…
Posted by: Jihn | Feb 8 2025 20:18 utc | 53
Norwegian at 35
I used all my USAID money to buy Judge Napolitano gold
Posted by: screamingmonk | Feb 8 2025 20:20 utc | 54
Problem is not with lack of truth but with sheer amount of lies.
Even most shocking revelation will be drowned in tsunami of lies, bs and attention grabbing irrelevant stuff bombardier from all media. Most people have attention span of squirrel on pcp, by design.
Posted by: Abe | Feb 8 2025 20:21 utc | 55
Hoarsewhisperer @ 10
The question is not whether October 7 was a REACTION. The question is did it happen at all. Please, stop believing government propaganda.
Posted by: oldhippie | Feb 8 2025 20:24 utc | 56
The following text was taken from an email from the socalled "Lincoln Project". The people of the Lincoln project don't like Trump and his buddies and don't like Putin. What is here Propaganda and what is the reality ?
Quote (in italics):
In a shocking twist, Elon Musk shut down USAID, the government entity that provides assistance to countries recovering from disaster, not to make our budget “more efficient,” but to save his own ass.
Elon’s company, Starlink, was under investigation after a Russian drone was shot down in Ukraine and found with a Starlink terminal link inside. The company had months earlier provided Starlink terminals to Ukraine to assist them in the war. So naturally, this raised a few eyebrows.
It could either mean that A, Elon’s tech is nowhere near as secure as he says it is, kind of like how his “self driving” cars are nowhere near as safe as he says they are (likely).
Or B, Elon tossed a line to his old buddy Putin, and was trying to assist him in his genocide of Ukraine (also likely).
Regardless, this investigation created a conflict of interest. Elon destroyed thousands of jobs and screwed over millions of people in need of disaster relief just so his company’s name wouldn’t be dragged through the mud.
We know this is a foreign concept to Elon and Trump, but the U.S. Government’s primary mission shouldn’t be doling out favors to billionaires. It exists to benefit the American people. And so far, this administration has not made a singular move that benefits the American people.
If people don’t know by now, they should. Trump and Elon are not here to help us, they’re here to help themselves. While one hand of this administration is pretending to get real things done, the other hand is pulling strings to keep these conmen and criminals out of trouble.
Posted by: WMG | Feb 8 2025 20:38 utc | 57
Grayzone report on the International Republican Institute's sponsorship of trans events in Bangladesh, IRI's funding coming from the National Endowment for Democracy.
So why did transgender people make up a quarter of the IRI program’s participants, in a country of 173 million where a 2022 census found they comprise just 0.007% of the population? The IRI documents suggest it’s because the Institute views gay and transgender people as uniquely disruptive actors who can be deployed to manipulate political realities overseas: “Facing discrimination and prejudice, LGBTI people tend to participate in social change activities to eventually bring changes to politics.”Also:
All told, between March 1, 2019 and December 31, 2020, the Republican group sponsored 160 photographs, 30 paintings, 21 theatrical shows, five short films, three “transgender dance performances,” three documentaries, two rap songs and accompanying music videos, and one book. Meanwhile, IRI staff had “identified over 170 democratic activists who would cooperate with IRI to destabilize Bangladesh’s politics,” they wrote.
Using wokeness in service of a political agenda to overthrow a country's government and install a US aligned regime. Yeh, that sounds about right.
https://thegrayzone.com/2025/02/07/republicans-transgender-dance-bangladesh/
Posted by: Mike R | Feb 8 2025 20:55 utc | 58
The US State Department is using generative artificial intelligence (GAI) to get its message across.
"Degradation in integrity of the digital information realm has already significantly eroded citizen trust in democratic institutions and elections around the world. If this ominous trend continues, the future of democracy is at risk. This in turn will constitute a grave national security threat. It’s time for democracies to come together more effectively to take on the information integrity challenge together, as called for in the Global Declaration on Information Integrity Online. In the context of the blockbuster year of elections 2024, we must find effective, practical ways to address the information integrity challenge.". . .here
Posted by: Don Bacon | Feb 8 2025 21:07 utc | 59
"...the full impact of the freeze is hard to measure, since many recipients are “hesitant to draw attention for fear of risking long-term funding or coming under political attacks.” "
Not really, they just don't want people to know they are corrupt.
"Bellingcat is a suspect"
That made me laugh, thanks :-D
Posted by: Ornot | Feb 8 2025 21:15 utc | 60
"The periphery of empire dies off first, and we are seeing exactly this.
You seem to have gotten hot and bothered by playing with the meaning of words.
The co equal branch of government called the courts have adopted a separate language for themselves as demonstrated by "Black's Law Dictionary". I postulate that the whole US Court system is unfit for purpose because the laws were NOT written for courts to interpret, second guessing after the fact what the people understand as the meaning of a word written into the law by the legislature."
Posted by: Hot Carl | Feb 8 2025 18:13 utc | 20
Excellent post.
What you are describing is the difference between a Republic and a Democracy; the current judiciary are undermining the principles of the US Republic.
J Brennan @ 19
There are a literal shit-ton of "independent" media on the net and my area of interest being wholly honest, moral and very knowledgeable on various alternative media subjects relevant to today's virulent establishment take-down. Does an independent media source that sells mugs, vitamins, T-shirts and bumper stickers like Alex Jones get USAID money you think?? How about guys like MacGregor, Napolitano, the Babylon Bee, Simplicious or Ritter? How about "flakes" like Jim Stone or Tom Renz? Do they get gubmint money to spew their anti-establishment message to the masses? Nobody really knows so we have to take every tidbit of information with a huge grain of salt and I think that this same establishment is helping make our job so much tougher to suss out what's actually happening out there!!
It's really hit and miss where real, truthful info gets collected and analyzed and then gifted to folks that really want to know what's going on, like those that read on this site....
I am going to throw a name out there and I challenge anyone to read for a couple of days and NOT get a sense that there truly is a Plan in place to discredit and debunk those that have an idea and a sure-fire method to find the nuggets and get them to people that need them.
HenryMakow.com
Posted by: bisfugged | Feb 8 2025 21:20 utc | 62
Does any one know to what extend the US funds news media in the Netherlands.
Take for example the news website NU.nl which is one of the main online news site in the Netherlands.
Most reader comments that are not aligned with the narrative Ukraine - good and Russia - bad are censored.
They are definitely not objective but curious to see where the money is coming from.
As a matter of fact I find RT more transparant and open to different views in the comments section.
Posted by: Jacob | Feb 8 2025 21:25 utc | 63
WMG @57
Lmfao!! This is what I'm talking about here people. This HAS to be a perfect example of how the establishment aka the Empire of Lies and Chaos can mess with your brain and send you in a dizzy spin not knowing where up or down is....
There must be a little truth wrapped up in a whole lotta rotten lies!! Nobody can make heads or tails about this whatsoever!!
Henrymakow doesn't spew stuff like this! He shows real documents, real manuscripts, books and articles that help build something in your mind over many days so you see the eventual outcome and KNOW it's real.
Posted by: bisfugged | Feb 8 2025 21:28 utc | 64
Posted by: Refinnejenna | Feb 8 2025 20:13 utc | 51
I wonder how much money has been spent on the Eurosong thing? I don't really follow it. NSBM, National Socialist Black Metal, is also of interest. A lot of the bands are lone weirdos, like Finland's Satanic Warmaster, but some of the other acts could be suspect. Particularly the Ukrainian ones. I can't remember right now which one is big with C14 stuff. And there is the atmospheric folk metal band Drukh.
Drudkh - Ukranian Insurgent Army
I wonder if Chuck D from Public Enemy will get his dough as a global music ambassador now?
It's Laurel Canyon once again!
Posted by: lex talionis | Feb 8 2025 21:38 utc | 65
Don Bacon @59
Lofl that whole paragraph is an obscene belch from the Empire of Lies to combat real people doing great work to uncover the constant, insidious barrage of bullshit spawned by the sickening blob of a Deep State to shut The Truth down!
Posted by: bisfugged | Feb 8 2025 21:42 utc | 66
So what's not to say that the same applies, mutatis mutandis, for companies like Google, Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, obviously vis a vis their definitional function as social media platforms? I mean, how is it conceivable that Zuckerberg, with zero business or even that much tech experience, could raise in a matter of months, regardless of how much money he was loaned by Wall Street, the physical and computational online infrastructure to have Facebook take off with the speed and volume it did, unless most of said infrastructure had already been engineered years before hand?
Posted by: Ludovic | Feb 8 2025 21:42 utc | 67
****
At the Invictus Games right now in Vancouver, BC the group from Ukraine got the longest and loudest applause out of all of the countries except Canada. Most sheep-dipped Canadians have NO idea that they are being hood-winked. As an aside I do NOT understand how some of them escaped the TCC cuz many of them look to be walking normally and with big smiles on their faces!
Posted by: bisfugged | Feb 8 2025 21:48 utc | 68
Now, when some us say to some people, that the Russians are not our enemies. Perhaps they won't be so quick to dismiss that as BS.
BRICS,Chinese,Iranians,Russians,& Venezuela ARE NOT our enemies. Our enemies are pro-war capitalist/traitors who want permanent enemies, endless conflict, wars & huge profits, and use dirty tricks & BIG LIES to get them. The don't know what a moral compass is!
Lines from
1984
Ch1:
On each landing, opposite the lift-shaft, the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU' the caption beneath it ran.
...
The Ministry of Truth — Minitrue, in Newspeak... was startlingly different from any other object in sight. It was an enormous pyramidal structure of glittering white concrete, soaring up, terrace after terrace, 300 metres into the air. From where Winston stood it was just possible to read, picked out on its white face in elegant lettering, the three slogans of the Party: WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH....
Chapter 3
Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible.
If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event, it never happened — that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death?
And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed -if all records told the same tale — then the lie passed into history and became truth. Who controls the past,' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past. And yet the past, though of its nature alterable, never had been altered. Whatever was true now was true from everlasting to everlasting. It was quite simple. All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. 'Reality control', they called it: in Newspeak, 'doublethink'.
The past, he reflected, had not merely been altered, it had been actually destroyed. For how could you establish even the most obvious fact when there existed no record outside your own memory?
To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again: and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself.
That was the ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word ‘doublethink’ involved the use of doublethink.
1984 by George Orwell (1949)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four
Posted by: Will Seymore | Feb 8 2025 21:51 utc | 69
Ludovic | Feb 8 2025 21:42 utc | 67
<[FB]… unless …infrastructure had already been engineered years before hand?
We know this. Pre-farcebook was a DARPA project. One day the DARPA disappeared and voila^, the very next, FB appears.
The very epitome of “here’s one I prepared earlier”.
Posted by: Melaleuca | Feb 8 2025 22:00 utc | 70
A gang of billionaires who own the main French media (widely subsidized by tax-payers money!) and also some important firms in communications just bought the main French...journalism school.
Not a peep from anyone. Surviving as a journalist today in France is has hard as being a painter or a sculptor and hoping to live from that. The survival of the most obedient.
Posted by: Minaa | Feb 8 2025 22:12 utc | 71
Curiosity re the “two greeks on yt”………
Is that “beware Greeks bearing gifts…. Or beware Geeks grifting gifts”?
Posted by: Melaleuca | Feb 8 2025 22:22 utc | 72
Laurel Canyon blew my mind.
A couple of video documentaries lately really got me going...
One proves Paul McCartney is dead. The other exposes Stanley Kubrick's involvement with government chicanery regarding the moon landings.
Sorry, can't recall the titles, but they are free on Tubi. They also carry the Zeitgeist documentaries, which are fun to revisit.
A lot of people search for the truth, which in my mind is facts and reality. In actuality, only the people directly involved in any event will know the facts. Connecting dots is fun, but true revelation is rarely achieved.
I was devastated to learn that my hippie-shit youth was nothing more than a huge psyop. This is why so many people refuse to even engage with "conspiracy theories". The truth hurts, especially if you've been lied to. Some folks just don't want to know.
I ingest information with a large grain of salt. The news I grew up on, the history I was taught...it's all completely suspect now. Why on Earth they gave the Internet to the average person is beyond my comprehension. It's an irresistible tool of commerce and control, and a dangerous weapon of unfettered communication.
That's freedom for ya. I'd rather know than not know, but by now it's pretty much useless to tell me that something is "the truth".
Posted by: A rope leash | Feb 8 2025 22:46 utc | 73
Great update here and an absolute vindication of the bar. If there were a real independent media, nobody would come here.
Cheers to every authentic regular here! You were sensitive and intelligent enough to know you were swimming in polluted propaganda and get out.
Trump is a Zionazi billionaire, but it's highly entertaining and educational to watch him pull back the Imperialist curtain.
We all knew most of the media was Imperialist propaganda, but who could have fathomed the scale of the operation! Hundreds of millions every year for this!
I'm sure USAID helps some needy people somewhere, but just one 70 million dollar tax funded program to find a third gender in Thailand justifies it's annihilation. Let it burn!
As always, organize your neighborhood (antiwar, anticapitalist, pro international working class). Trump will hit the rocks and there will be an opportunity to revolutionary change in the US. Start prepping now.
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Feb 8 2025 22:52 utc | 74
That's freedom for ya. I'd rather know than not know, but by now it's pretty much useless to tell me that something is "the truth".
Posted by: A rope leash | Feb 8 2025 22:46 utc | 73
So you don't like freedom and deny any truth? Looks like we got a USAID grantee here!
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Feb 8 2025 22:56 utc | 75
Regimist Media
Versus
Independent
Are the best descriptions
Posted by: Exile | Feb 8 2025 22:57 utc | 76
So what's not to say that the same applies, mutatis mutandis, for companies like Google, Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, obviously vis a vis their definitional function as social media platforms? I mean, how is it conceivable that Zuckerberg, with zero business or even that much tech experience, could raise in a matter of months, regardless of how much money he was loaned by Wall Street, the physical and computational online infrastructure to have Facebook take off with the speed and volume it did, unless most of said infrastructure had already been engineered years before hand?
Posted by: Ludovic | Feb 8 2025 21:42 utc | 67
Remember Myspace? He just stole the idea, got a ton of finance capital and some elite branding starting with Harvard students. He was blessed by Larry Summers and allowed an imperialist fiefdom.
It wasn't such an amazing undertaking, really.
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Feb 8 2025 23:00 utc | 77
Using wokeness in service of a political agenda to overthrow a country's government and install a US aligned regime. Yeh, that sounds about right.
https://thegrayzone.com/2025/02/07/republicans-transgender-dance-bangladesh/
Posted by: Mike R | Feb 8 2025 20:55 utc | 58
But Mike, think of how critical it is to the project of true human freedom to discover the third gender!
Jokes aside, Taibbi has a good article on all the multimillion dollar bullshit programs USAID was funding. Truly despicable. Hundreds of thousands in living in boxes in the US and hundreds of billions for this shit!
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Feb 8 2025 23:05 utc | 78
USAID Funded Massive 'News' Platform, Extending 'Censorship Industrial Complex' To Billions Worldwide
ZH does a deep dive into the structures, obscene salaries, and more of this system
Posted by: Exile | Feb 8 2025 23:05 utc | 79
And if you claim to have "come into BOMBSHELL materiel, developed by your "researchers" 99/100, you are dealing with a 3LA asset/agent.
@ S Brennan | Feb 8 2025 17:59 utc | 19
99% true that. Quite astute.
We could get together, call ourselves an institute.
But hold on a sec: Where does that leave our buddy Pepe Escobar? You don't suppose any of that StrategicCulture gang have been on the USAID dole, do you?
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Feb 8 2025 23:12 utc | 80
For those without Twitter logins (like me) here's the whole Wikileaks thread b linked in today's MoA post.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1888072129327083979.html
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 8 2025 23:23 utc | 81
@ Ahenobarbus | Feb 8 2025 22:52 utc | 74 with the change is coming meme...thx
I just wish you would add finance as a public utility to the changes you want to see happen.
I see the kabuki from the Trump/Musk billionaires as continuing to hide the global private finance cabal moving the levers behind the curtain to eliminate a whole layer of billionaires and their agents.
When global finance issues are on the global negotiation tables, then I will believe we are getting somewhere in making new social organization sausage.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 8 2025 23:28 utc | 82
The Blob is getting back on its feet, and putting out their spin. The new line used by the dupes that still fall for their bs is:
"That money is only a drop in the bucket, so why complain about it?"
What spin doctor came up with that one? $42 billion/year is not a "drop in the bucket" to the average American, especially Americans stepping over homeless people living on sidewalks, and living hand to mouth themselves. And then there are the homeless people in North Carolina, living in campers and tents, with no help coming from the government who spends their drops from the bucket on bioweapon research, castrating mice, and censoring the internet, instead.
The other narrative they are pushing is that "Follow the money" is a conspiracy theory. Anyone following the money should be shunned by good liberals.
Posted by: wagelaborer | Feb 8 2025 23:34 utc | 83
Hedges interprets impulses like destoying USAID as terminal convulsions of a dying empire. Musk&Trump's goon-squads are too arrogantly oblivious to realize they demolish the buttresses of their own exceptional privilege, like Saturn chewing off his own arm. They so totally don't know what they're doing, it'll be way too late before they find out.
Humanitarian aid, often described as “soft power,” is designed to mask the theft of resources in the Global South by U.S. corporations, the expansion of the footprint of the U.S. military, the rigid control of foreign governments, the devastation caused by fossil fuel extraction, the systemic abuse of workers in global sweatshops and the poisoning of child laborers in places like the Congo, where they are used to mine lithium.
I doubt Musk and his army of young minions in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)... have any idea about how the organizations they are destroying work, why they exist or what it will mean for the demise of American power.
https://scheerpost.com/2025/02/08/chris-hedges-the-empire-self-destructs/
To any barflies who think Trump's intention is to dismantle hegemonic power, all I can say is: Could I please have some of whatever it is you're smoking?
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Feb 8 2025 23:41 utc | 84
[some of] The CIA handiwork around the world - 15sec recap
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YWPQ0KfbZhc
Mockingbird never went away. But now, Cooperation with the CIA is “voluntary”.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hYbNk39QW4I
—-added garnish.
In the Indonesian example. Obama’s mother did her part, by embedding in women’s groups to learn who’s husband needed to be disappeared.
Posted by: Melaleuca | Feb 8 2025 23:45 utc | 85
@ahenobarbus | Feb 8 2025 22:56 utc | 75
No, I am a great proponent of freedom. Chaos breeds invention. I'm just pointing out the nature of freedom. I only believe that facts are true, and no one has all of them.
To imply that I could be a grantee of government slush money would be something that someone that was a grantee of government slush fund money would do. Apply the lable, it becomes what you say.
...or perhaps it's just a sarcastic retort, but you forgot to wink!
;)
Posted by: A rope leash | Feb 8 2025 23:48 utc | 86
“Bombshell - USAID, CIA, State Dept. Played Role in 1st Trump Impeachment”
Posted by: Jihn | Feb 8 2025 20:18 utc | 52
That is hardly a Bombshell.
Anybody who was paying attention could easily see that the 1st Trump Impeachment was a staged event designed to sell the narrative that Russia had invaded Ukraine and was in desperate need of US aid.
Day after day during the impeachment proceedings, witnesses testified that Russia was massacring innocent Ukrainians and they needed immediate help. Gallons of tears were shed by witnesses who were selling this story as if they had personal knowledge of the carnage committed by Russia against Ukraine .
It was a perfect example of the unity in the US propaganda machine as everyone no matter if they were Democrat, Republican, for-Trump or against-Trump deviated from the story that poor innocent Ukraine was being brutally attacked by big bad Russia.
This was a classic example of how the US propaganda machine manufactures consent.
Posted by: jinn | Feb 8 2025 23:53 utc | 87
Lying and deceiving does no good to anyone. Neither the perpetrator nor the victim.
It is that simple, everything else distracts from this basic understanding.
Let's wait see if the new knights in shining armour Trump-Elon et al, with their Republican Party minders, do anything other than replace all of this with their own respective subjective views of the 'truth' and outsourced infrastructure of compromised money and power hungry liars and deceivers. Both parties have created this swamp over many, many, years.
Posted by: George | Feb 9 2025 0:04 utc | 88
re: George | Feb 9 2025 0:04 utc | 88
you wrote:
"Let's wait see if the new knights in shining armour Trump-Elon et al, with their Republican Party minders, do anything other than replace all of this with their own respective subjective views of the 'truth' and outsourced infrastructure of compromised money and power hungry liars and deceivers. Both parties have created this swamp over many, many, years."
Yes, both parties are thoroughly corrupt, but this week I have beeen quite happy to watch everyone in the CIA get buyout offers while USAID gets shutdown with hordes of screaming Democrats tearing their hair out while crying "Fascism!! Dictator!!"
Wikileaks posted this about USAID: "USAID has pushed nearly half a billion dollars ($472.6m) through a secretive US government financed NGO, "Internews Network" (IN), which has "worked with" 4,291 media outlets, producing in one year 4,799 hours of broadcasts reaching up to 778 million people and "training" over 9000 journalists (2023 figures)."
Think of all those poor "journalists" having to look for a new source of income. :)
Posted by: Perimetr | Feb 9 2025 0:19 utc | 89
One would wonder why every major media piece has identical stories by the 'journalists.' No variance! So what are we, stupid? (don't answer that)
Posted by: Don Bacon | Feb 9 2025 0:30 utc | 90
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Feb 8 2025 23:05 utc | 78
The upshot is, the people running the IRI are (or claim to be) the polar opposite of 'woke.' The truth is that neither Dems or Repubs in government give one fig about wokeness, it's just a fervor they can exploit. Looks like the Repubs can do it as cynically as the Dems.
Posted by: Mike R | Feb 9 2025 0:47 utc | 91
Yes, both parties are thoroughly corrupt, but this week I have beeen quite happy to watch everyone in the CIA get buyout offers while USAID gets shutdown with hordes of screaming Democrats tearing their hair out while crying "Fascism!! Dictator!!"
Posted by: Perimetr | Feb 9 2025 0:19 utc | 89
______
However powerless one might otherwise be, there’s always the satisfaction one feels that comes from knitting names in scarves. 😉
Posted by: malenkov | Feb 9 2025 0:54 utc | 92
USAID money given to UN often can't be tracked. Eg, one contractor spent $200,000 USAID money "to renovate his guesthouse:"
4/14/2009, "One U.N. employee told investigators that "about $10 million of USAID grant money went to projects in other countries, to include Sudan, Haiti, Sri Lanka and Dubai." That witness said the Afghanistan country director for the U.N. Office for Project Services (UNOPS), which served as the contractor on the project for the U.N. Development Program (UNDP), spent about $200,000 in U.S. money to renovate his guesthouse. Witness names were withheld by USAID."...https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=7330083&page=1
Posted by: susan mullen | Feb 9 2025 1:03 utc | 93
@90
Very few ideologs are “stupid”.
Most do suffer from cognitive dissonance which prevents them from seeing anything that does not agree with their world view, whether Trump deranged, or US exceptionalism and imperialism….
Posted by: paddy | Feb 9 2025 1:05 utc | 94
Posted by: Jihn | Feb 8 2025 20:18 utc | 52 Since the CIA is untouched and the State Department is taking over something, something, it is a mystery why people are celebrating the end of foreign aid as if that's the end of imperialist media manipulation. Why it's almost as if they were trying to distract attention?
Also, the past I remember had a much more important part played by one Vindman, who was not a USAID traitor. Guess I need to catch up to the new, revised past? Never too late to get with the program, no?
Posted by: steven t johnson | Feb 9 2025 1:30 utc | 95
The so-called Free Press is just like the so-called Free World.
These ideas are Orwellian propaganda phrases for the America-dominated or influenced media and the America-dominated world in general.
Any nation or government that stands against this phony Free World and fake Free Press are Authoritarian Evil-Doers Who Hate Our Freedoms.
This is a fundamental lie that America and its "Free World" allies are based upon as nations--a lie that their regimes and people, including so-called anti-establishment/alternative media critics, do not want to fundamentally question, as this would shatter their inbred belief in their false religion: America/Western moral superiority.
The "Moral High Ground" of the West | Magna Carta, Charter of the Forest, and Broken Treaties
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xyc0J2fQlCY
Posted by: ak74 | Feb 9 2025 1:30 utc | 96
Government is just staged theatre.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FYelj_PMejg
Food Prices rise?
U$ grain harvests significantly below estimates
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qsKg3Bp2i78
Zlielenskyyy still banging on about Ukraine and it’s nuclear weapons. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BqJUTFihuwU
Kiev klown king requires U$ forces in Ukraine
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2zzSSwtF7Kg
“Intelligence” is whatever someone with an agenda wants it to be
Ex Brit spook speaks:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9QoAxGb9Kms
Internet game, geoguesser.
… wouldn’t intel spooks love to have an army of keyboard geeks to geolocate a single image anywhere in the world.
And wouldn’t someone love to train their AI to locate anyone anywhere anytime.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Ft7-02vmmM4
Bishop who used her bully pulpit at Trump’s inauguration a recipient of $53million of U$AID largesse
@6m30s -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIyWuxcuNbQ
Posted by: Melaleuca | Feb 9 2025 1:46 utc | 97
HotCarl@1813
Point of note on the "American": That entity is subject to the Bar (literally) in the basement of the Royal Bar Association of Great Britain...headquartered on the Rottenchild Crime Clan stronghold in the independent city-state of City of London, aka, the Square Mile and The City.
Even King Chuck is obliged to don special regalia and announce his wish to enter that governmentally independent political entity,
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 9 2025 1:51 utc | 98
Should have self edited: "American" should be followed by Bar Association, known as the ABA. In fact, most attorneys, lawyers and mouthpieces are members of the ABA and are subject to its corporate rules. In general, the mass of American mountebanks are subjects of an alien entity.
Posted by: Aristodemos | Feb 9 2025 1:53 utc | 99
Late in the thread, so I thought I'd bring up the helicopter and airliner incident one more time.
https://seanpmccarthy.substack.com/p/continuity-of-government-and-the?
No long excerpt, because the whole thing is short and worth reading. The conclusion, in light of the seriousness of the subject matter is also spot on.
So to circle all the way back to the question of why fly your COG mission at 9 PM instead of 1 AM? Well if you’re practicing for a military coup and martial law you might need to do it at 9 PM instead of 1 AM.With a program so classified I suspect we’ll never get full answers as to what that helicopter was doing and why the crash happened. But hey, at least that leaves more space for theories from those pundits who think our biggest problems are “DEI” and “wokeness.”
Indeed.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 9 2025 2:04 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
'Ministry of Truth' -remember that nomenclature in Orwell's ,'1984?
USAID is much on the same theme.
Posted by: canuck | Feb 8 2025 17:07 utc | 1