Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Convinced Yet? (General Strike Now!)

 

"The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." --Frederick Douglass
 
"The world is dominated culturally, economically and militarily by a regime that just killed women's rights protections because they make Jesus mad." --Caitlin Johnstone

Convinced Yet?

words and protest photos by C. A. Matthews

I hate to say, "I told you so," but I told you so. This is all getting a bit ridiculous. I discussed the history and likely outcome of the Supreme Court's recent ruling a little over a month ago in a piece entitled The Ministry of Truth v. Roe v. Wade. I followed up a week later at the first pro-abortion rights protests with Your Obedience Is Prolonging This Nightmare. Go back and read those two articles and then tell me that I'm not prescient. Go on. I'll wait.

Okay, now that you're back, and scratching your head over what we can do next to protect our human rights, let's get down to brass tacks. It might be too late. The damage has been done, and we can't overestimate the damage enough. Americans have sleepwalked into allowing the oligarchs, a.k.a. the 1%, a.k.a. the billionaires, a.k.a. the true rulers of our country and the world, into doing whatever the hell they want to whomever the hell they want, whenever they want.  Here are a few examples:

Equal rights/equal pay for women? Whatever! Put out the fire and put your bra back on, Grandma.

LGBTQIA rights and marriage? Excuse me? These persons don't exist in our perfect society ruled by white, hetero, cis-gendered males of wealth and privilege. Go back into your closets and shut the f*ck up.

Public schools? Desegregated public schools? To paraphrase a younger Joe Biden, "We aren't going to let our superior white offspring go to school in the jungle with all those brown and black kids." And besides, government school vouchers are good at religious schools now according to the Supreme Court. We only want our children associating with people going to heaven with us, not straight to hell where everyone who is not us automatically goes to upon death, an early death probably brought on by malnutrition caused by childhood poverty.

Yes, they'll be coming for more than just your or your friends' right to have an abortion. Count on it.

So, what are we to do? Voting harder doesn't work. Voting doesn't seem to work period. According to the infamous Princeton study, politicians don't even listen to us little people, the 99%. Money is what influences their actions. We'll never have as much money as the top 1% or even top 10%, so we'll never be able to influence politicians the way the wealthy can. 

Stop wasting your tears on feeling betrayed by "progressives" or "The Squad" or whoever lied to you to get your vote and/or a donation out of you. Their job is to manipulate you into thinking the system works for the poor and struggling of America. But the system is corrupt. It's broken. It's not worth saving.

Get over acting like "temporarily embarrassed millionaires" as John Steinbeck once put it. Even if you consider yourself "middle class," you are desperately poor compared to the billionaires who own everything, including our government. You ain't ever going to be allowed in their club, let alone dictate terms to them.

That means there's only one thing left we can do. We can use our vast numbers to overtake and take down the super-wealthy minority from their position of power. We can even the score and even out the inequalities of our society. We can start by letting them know in no uncertain terms that We The People are in charge.

How do we take charge? Two words: General strike. 

Our super power is our labor. In case you haven't noticed, rich folks don't know how to do shit for themselves. They have slaves--I mean, wage slaves--to do everything for them… Everything from cleaning their mansions to mowing their estates to painting their fingernails to piloting their private planes to wiping their backsides. If We The Workers don't do the work, the one-percenters are effectively dead in the water, particularly if the captain of their yacht abandons ship with them on it in the middle of the ocean.

And a general strike doesn't have to be one big, long, dragged out affair that happens everywhere at the exact same time. A general strike can be a series of shorter strikes done in rapid succession and spread across a wide variety of industries and occupations. Medical workers can strike at the same time as teachers and fast food workers. The next week it can be civil servants, airline pilots, and telecommunication workers. And so on. The main thing is that workers are all agreed to keep inconveniencing the oligarchs until they capitulate to the workers' demands.

What if you're unemployed or retired or disabled? You can help the strikes by boycotting businesses and institutions that treat their workers disrespectfully and cruelly. You can use your voices and wallets to support strikers by helping them stay out on the picket lines for as long as necessary and relieving them from time to time. Just the fact that we are the majority of Americans gives us unspeakable powers over the tiny majority that hoards most of the material wealth on this planet.

So, get creative and stick it to the Man. The Man undoubtedly wants to stick it to us. 

The actions of the 1% wealth-hoarders indicate that they're aware of our great power. It's why they've been militarizing your local police. It's why they continue to build up our bloated military (while simultaneously raking in lots of profits from the military industrial complex). The only way they know how to keep us in line is by force and violence. The oligarchs long have been dreading the day when working class Americans woke up to the fact that they've never lived in a democracy. The US is actually a corporatocracy ruled by those who come into the world connected to great wealth.

There are very few Cinderella stories in reality--it's why it's a fairy tale. Reality is much harsher. Rich kids inherit a ton of cash and get to go to the exclusive schools. They automatically go to the top positions of government and industry upon graduation. Poor kids stay in poor jobs and sometimes become even poorer than their parents' generation.


We The People need not be shy about it any longer. We know we need to redistribute the wealth of our land to all the people. No American should go hungry, or without health care, or a roof over their head. There is more than enough for everyone. It's the distribution methods that are totally f*cked. It's the corrupt distribution of wealth in the US that allows the homeless to die on the streets when there are homes enough for all--and then some.

That's why it's so obvious that our politicians are on the take from the 1%. They gladly perpetuate this screwed up distribution system to keep the majority of us poor and struggling so that a mere handful can enjoy every creature comfort ever invented. Politicians can't wait to be in that top percentage group, too.

So here's a plan: General strike. Stop wasting time voting for those now currently in office backed by the corrupt establishment political parties. Support leaders who aren't in the pockets of Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Ag, etc. Chase the oligarchy away. Tear down the system. Rebuild it back better. Be open to change and a new way of doing things that is truly democratic, not just pretend democratic like the mess we've got currently.

Convinced yet? If you are, get going!

If not, re-read this piece and ask yourself, "Why do I not believe I'm worthy of the human rights the Supreme Court has taken/will continue to take away from me?" Deep down, you know you are worthy. Leave behind the abusive relationships that make you feel unworthy of equality, liberty, and justice.

It's time. We need you on the picket line.


A telling quote:

That’s why America’s authoritarians are out of control. They are reveling in their power so much they’re flaunting it. They’re openly, gleefully saying that, next, they’re going to come for gays, kids, minorities of every kind, everyday marriages, families. When authoritarians are that open, my friends, you had better understand: it’s a message. They’re trying to humiliate you, because they are no longer afraid. They are only this open when they are unleashed to the maximum degree, and unafraid of any form of consequences whatsoever. --Umar Haque, If You're Scared For America, You're Still Not Scared Enough

Related articles:

When Joe Biden Voted to Let States Overturn Roe v. Wade https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/29/us/politics/biden-abortion-rights.html

Just Hurling Money at the Democrats Won't Save Abortion Rights https://www.rsn.org/001/just-hurling-money-at-the-democrats-wont-save-abortion-rights.html

How the Democrats Are Culpable in the Erosion of Abortion Rights https://www.gp.org/democrats_are_culpable 

If You're Scared For America, You're Still Not Scared Enough  https://eand.co/the-end-of-roe-is-the-beginning-of-a-totalitarian-america-c9038f7d1d91  

The Creative Methods Workers Are Using to Stop Bosses' Abuse https://popularresistance.org/the-creative-methods-workers-are-using-to-stop-bosses-abuse/

What Overturning Roe v. Wade Means for Pregnant People in Pollution Hotspots  https://grist.org/health/what-overturning-roe-v-wade-means-for-pregnant-people-in-pollution-hotspots/ 

As Roes Falls, Criminal Defense Lawyers Sound Alarm About Mass Incarceration  https://www.npr.org/2022/06/16/1105291030/scotus-roe-v-wade-abortion-law 

GUIDE: How Will My State Be Impacted by the Overturning of Roe v. Wade? https://therealnews.com/guide-how-will-my-state-be-impacted-by-the-overturning-of-roe-v-wade

Green Party Calls for Mass Mobilizations to Protect Reproductive Rights https://www.gp.org/green_party_calls_for_mass_mobilizations_to_protect_reproductive_rights?

"A Revolutionary Ruling--And Not Just For Abortion"  https://scheerpost.com/2022/06/25/a-revolutionary-ruling-and-not-just-for-abortion-a-supreme-court-scholar-explains-the-impact-of-dobbs/

How Clarence Thomas' Concurring Opinion Suggests Other Rights May Be Vulnerable After Roe  https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/clarence-thomas-2657559336/

Fascist Republicans Kill Roe v. Wade, Useless Democrats Let It Happened https://www.directleft.com/p/fascist-republicans-kill-roe-v-wade

The Ministry of Truth v. Roe v. Wade  https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-ministry-of-truth-v-roe-v-wade.html 

Your Obedience Is Prolonging this Nightmare  https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/05/your-obedience-is-prolonging-this.html

 

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Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Eat The Rich, Feed The Poor (And Other Revolutionary Recipes)

 

"When the people shall have no more to eat, they will eat the rich." —Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1793

Eat The Rich, Feed The Poor (And Other Revolutionary Recipes)

by Redd Phlagg

So many depressing headlines hit my inbox this past week that they not only made my head spin, they made my entire worldview spin. It became ever more apparent to me that we can no longer afford to wait for the bought-off ruling establishment to take action to save our planet and its peoples. It's time. We the Workers, the little people, the 99% must get off our backsides and grab the reigns of our runaway climate catastrophe and social collapse before it's too late.

Americans need to feed our poor, tax our rich, and make certain that the narcissistic behavior that got us in these desperate straits in the first place doesn't ever return. We need to stop allowing ourselves to become distracted by the silly antics of the duopolists in DC who do only as they're told by their corporate masters. And we need to start yesterday.

A recent study found that 338,000 Americans died due to COVID-19 because our government couldn't take steps to implement Medicare For All or a similar universal single-payer system to provide them needed health care. That's one in every three of the one million plus Americans who contracted and died from the coronavirus and its variants. That's roughly the population of many medium-sized US metropolitan areas, including the one where I live, all gone. Needlessly.

COVID-19 has caused a million and counting deaths in the US. Since these deaths are spread across the country, you might not have noticed so many missing persons yourself but future generations most definitely will. American children will ask what happened to their parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, teachers, friends, babysitters, and even siblings as they grow up. What will we tell them?

Out of the one million plus Americans who have died since 2020 because of the pandemic, what percentage of them could have been saved? If the public's health and safety were the main priority of the ruling establishment rather than making profits for shareholders in the health insurance industry, Big Pharma, and the like how many could have lived? I feel that almost every American who caught COVID could have been saved if they could have received immediate treatment, free of charge, and weren't forced into situations that put their health at risk. There was no scientific reason to stop the lockdowns and force workers back out into low-paying service industry jobs (such as restaurant workers and hotel maids) so soon. In doing so, the politician-puppets of the oligarchy also forced these struggling workers' children back into daycares and public schools where the virus is extremely transmissible and proven deadly for teachers and students alike.

Universal Basic Income (UBI) could have been given to all American families to stay home and stay safe with their children until the virus died out. In countries that implemented such policies, the spread of COVID and its variants was much less, and their death tolls practically non-existent. Putting people over profits means that people win at least another day to live.

But, once again, the establishment duopoly sat on their backsides in Washington DC and moaned about how keeping people safe at home was hurting "the economy." They said this with a straight face while spending billions on the most bloated military budget ever passed in the history of humankind. They continued saying this while starting a proxy war to flush even more money down the drain so they could get rid of a natural gas competitor in Europe (i.e., Russia). No matter what label they give themselves--Republican, Democrat, "The Squad", Bernie Sanders even--these politician-puppets demonstrate by their actions that the profits of the military-industrial complex are infinitely more important than the lives of the vast majority of Americans.

Insult upon insult is dumped upon the poor and working classes' shoulders. We're forced to suffer the consequences of the duopolists' bad decisions to take on a fellow nuclear power with oil reserves and resources the Western powers envy. We're paying for it every day at the gasoline pump, grocery store, and pharmacy. But to "red and blue" alike it's okay if the working classes grow poorer trying to survive because… well, "democracy" is at stake. Democracy in an already corrupt corner of the world ruled by fascists who took over in a coup in 2014 with the help of our CIA? What larks!

Why do We The People, the working classes continue putting up with this disgusting behavior? Why are these millionaire-idiots still in office wearing smug smiles on their faces? Could it be they've militarized our local police departments to such an extent that they know they can keep us poor folks in our place if we rise up?

I realize now that not every American realizes who is putting them through each and every fresh hell because our freedom of the press has been seriously curtailed. Revealing the dirty secrets of American war crimes put one Australian journalist, Julian Assange, into jail with a threatened 170 year sentence for treason. Yes, it's treasonous to publish news stories that reveal American politicians and officials for the war criminals they are. And if the war criminals in DC can slap an insane charge of treason on a journalist doing his job, you can imagine the charges they've cooked up to slap on us if we dare take our pitchforks to the streets in protest.

 When the French rose up at the end of the 18th century to protest numerous injustices inflicted upon them, they didn't let the fear of the militarized police stop them from punishing the aristocracy who had created the hell they were living in. Marie Antoinette said, "Let them eat cake!" while the French people couldn't even afford to buy a loaf of bread. (Sound familiar?) The commoners responded with the right idea--they built the guillotine and deployed it. Yes, it's bloody and violent, but the detached head of a obscenely wealthy sociopath made their point quite well, don't you think?

Should struggling Americans do likewise? The guillotine dispatched quite a few members of the French establishment along with Marie Antoinette, but it saved many more who saw it as a symbol of how the workers wouldn't take any more shit from those who thought themselves "superior" to the working classes. These smart aristocrats buckled down and cooperated with the common folks, and France was changed. So the guillotine doesn't have to be used indiscriminately and widely to make its point. Just the thought that the abused people have no problems getting rid of their abusers can bring about change.

It's time for Americans to let the money-grubbing, duopolistic puppet-politicians know that our patience is wearing thin. It's time to stop wasting time arguing over "the lesser evil" and being distracted by their idle rich antics that have nothing to do with us and our lives. Whatever symbol We The People choose--the guillotine, the pitchfork, tar and feathers (our founders' favorite means of singling out sociopaths)--we need to post it everywhere. We need to post it along with the message that we are not inferior to those who hoard wealth and play God with our health and safety--and the health and safety of the planet and everyone else on it.

We The People, the workers, the commoners, the 99% are, in fact, their bosses. They need to do what we say or else. And we let them know in no uncertain terms they're going to be a head shorter if they don't.


Related Articles:

UN Food Chief Says Hell on Earth Looms From Hunger Crisis Triggered By Ukraine War  https://scheerpost.com/2022/06/18/un-food-chief-says-hell-on-earth-looms-from-hunger-crisis-triggered-by-ukraine-war/

"A Chilling Message to Journalists": UK Approves Assange Extradition to US https://truthout.org/articles/a-chilling-message-to-journalists-uk-approves-assange-extradition-to-us/

Medicare For All Could Have Prevented 338,000 Deaths in the US https://truthout.org/articles/medicare-for-all-could-have-prevented-338000-covid-deaths-in-the-us/

100 Million People In America Are Saddled With Health Care Debt https://popularresistance.org/100-million-people-in-america-are-saddled-with-health-care-debt/

"No Place For A Child" (The horrors child immigrants experience when they cross the southern border.) https://scheerpost.com/2022/06/18/no-place-for-a-child/

  "Revolting": Senate Panel Raises Biden's Bloated Military Budget By 45 Billion https://truthout.org/articles/revolting-senate-panel-raises-bidens-bloated-military-budget-by-45-billion/

US Secretly Reviews and Approves Israeli Airstrikes in Syria https://scheerpost.com/2022/06/17/report-us-secretly-reviews-and-approves-many-israeli-airstrikes-in-syria 

Chris Hedges: American Empire Is Finished (video) https://youtu.be/OW52qqlQiJQ 

The State of Politics From An Anti-Establishment Perspective (Direct Left Callin podcast) https://www.callin.com/episode/the-state-of-politics-from-an-anti-gQcWTfYQHQ

The Smear Campaign Against Independent Journalism (video) https://youtu.be/nkoIfWt4Z2k

New Global Movement Against Capitalism For Socialism https://popularresistance.org/international-peoples-assembly-new-global-movement-against-capitalism-for-socialism/


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In a near-future dystopian world, hope blossoms where mutual aid and democracy begins...

Zonta’s world is turned upside down when Jake arrives at the commune to investigate the disappearance of agents of the Authority. Can she persuade him to switch sides before the Protectors (antifascist fighters) take action?

Available now from Extasy Books: https://www.extasybooks.com/Where-the-Bodies-Lie 

Please buy direct from the small publisher and not via Amazon. Why? Amazon takes a huge percentage of the book's price and leaves very little for the publisher and author to share. Thanks.

 

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Tuesday, June 14, 2022

Welcome To The Fascist State Of America

 

Liberals are fascistic tyrants and conservatives are whiny little bitches who run around looking for excuses to get offended. -- Caitlin Johnstone, Study US Foreign Policy By Looking At Oil Reserves


Happy Seventh Anniversary, TRC! It's been seven years since this blog began with a handful of enthusiastic Bernie Sanders supporters. Who knew it would last this long? Not us! Of course, there's been some changes over the past seven years, starting first with a name change in mid-2016 after Bernie dropped out of the race and backed *cough* Hillary. 

We never looked back after that. In fact, we continued to grow, discover, explore, and learn more about neoliberalism, capitalism, and then socialism. It's called just socialism or eco-socialism by us, as the term "democratic socialism" makes it sound as if we're acolytes of the poorly-named party of the duopoly who wouldn't know what democracy was even if it hit them over the head repeatedly. After Bernie's screw over by the DNC, we've never considered returning to either of the corrupt establishment's factions. 

We're loud, we're proud, and we're proudly independent and pro-third party. And this week, we're taking a look at how (once again) our government tramples human rights and expects us to shut up and take it lying down. As if!

Welcome to the Fascist State of America
by C.A. Matthews


You live within 100 miles of Canada, Mexico, a coastline, or an international airport. There is no knock on the door. CBP or Border Patrol agents come bursting into your home without warning, without a warrant, and without fear that they'll ever be held accountable for damages or violating your rights in a court of law. They ransack your domicile and take what they will and you can't stop them--they're within their rights. 

Welcome to America 2022.

Why does Homeland Security believe the US "border" is 100 miles wide? Why does it believe that an international airport in the middle of the country is also "on the border" and so 100 miles around it is also the Border Patrol's domain? Why indeed.

Dr. Reece Jones, author of White Borders (2021) and Nobody Is Protected (2022) tells us more about how this concept of the US border zone came about:

"Preserve Racial Types As It Exists Here Today."   (Yes, our immigration laws are inherently racist. This bill was passed less than 100 years ago and remains on the books. Do you feel better or worse about the US as a "democracy" now?)

The Border Patrol was established two days after the eugenics-derived national origins quotas in the 1924 Johnson-Reed Immigration Act was signed, in order to enforce the new restrictions. The original authorization for the Border Patrol was meant to keep the agents at the border line itself. Senator David Reed explained: "They have no right to go into the interior city and pick up aliens on the street and arrest them."

Nevertheless, the agents did go into the interior. In 1930 Treasury Undersecretary Ogden Mills proposed a new law to stop it. "You will not have a Border Patrol operating 20 miles inside the United States. You will have a border patrol where it belongs, and that is on the border."

Mills' and other efforts to rein in the Border Patrol failed in the 1930s. In 1946, Congress revised the Border Patrol's authorization and clarified (kind of) how far inside the US they could go: “within a reasonable distance from any external boundary of the United States.” At the time, the Border Patrol was part of the Department of Justice. In July 1947, the DOJ released a routine update to its policies in the Federal Register. In tiny print on page 5071, they defined the term reasonable distance.

Without public comment or consultation, the Department of Justice defined the reasonable distance for the Border Patrol as “a distance not exceeding 100 air miles from any external boundary of the United States.” Since 1947, the reasonable distance has remained unchanged at 100 miles from borders and coastlines. If DHS Secretary Mayorkas wanted to change it, he could do so immediately himself.

This 100 mile "border" includes about two-thirds of the population. That's about 200 million Americans. Our largest cities, largest ports, and airports are included in this zone CBP can "police" within its confines. They don't have show a warrant to search or arrest you like your local cops. Why can't Americans protect themselves from a government agency with seemingly infinite powers?

According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU):

The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects Americans from random and arbitrary stops and searches. According to the government, however, these basic constitutional principles do not apply fully at our borders. For example, at border crossings (also called "ports of entry"), federal authorities do not need a warrant or even suspicion of wrongdoing to justify conducting what courts have called a "routine search," such as searching luggage or a vehicle. 

Even in places far removed from the border, deep into the interior of the country, immigration officials enjoy broad—though not limitless—powers. Specifically, federal regulations give U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) authority to operate within 100 miles of any U.S. "external boundary." The regulations establishing the 100-mile border zone were adopted by the U.S. Department of Justice—without any public comments or debate. At the time, there were fewer than 1,100 Border Patrol agents nationwide; today, there are over 21,000. 

That's 21,000 federal cops free to use their "broad powers" to search, harass, and arrest citizens and non-citizens alike. Who keeps these modern-day "American Brown Shirts" in check? Anyone?

"The Constitution-Free Zone of the United States"

ACLU ominously states:

The Border Patrol often ignores this (100 mile zone) regulation and, aside from limiting interior checkpoint locations to within the 100-mile zone, rejects any geographic limitation on agents' authority. At least two federal circuit courts condone Border Patrol operations outside the 100-mile zone, federal regulations and Supreme Court precedent notwithstanding.

Federal border agents are stopping, interrogating, and searching Americans on an everyday basis with absolutely no suspicion of wrongdoing, and often in ways that our Constitution does not permit.  For example, Border Patrol, according to news reports, operates approximately 170 interior checkpoints throughout the country (the actual number in operation at any given time is not publicly known). The ACLU believes that these checkpoints amount to dragnet, suspicionless stops that cannot be reconciled with Fourth Amendment protections. 

The spread of border-related powers inland is inseparable from the broader expansion of government intrusion in the lives of ordinary Americans. For example, CBP claims the authority to conduct suspicionless searches of travelers' electronic devices—such as laptops and cell phones—at ports of entry, including international arrivals at airports. These searches are particularly invasive as a result of the wealth of personal information stored on such devices.

Americans do not have the right to privacy. Border Patrol agents are free to search your personal information. They can confiscate your computer, cell phone, or other electronic devices to look even deeper for juicy tidbits on you or others. You'd better delete those embarrassing personal photos and text messages now--and I mean now.

Seeing the maps and digesting these facts are sobering. Americans might have thought we lived in a democracy--a flawed one, but at least it had its heart in the right place. But think again: the Border Patrol can enter your home, your vehicle, your business and take whatever items it deems "necessary" for their investigation and arrest you without a warrant. The federal courts will back them up as did the Supreme Court in its recent ruling.  

Is the US a democracy? (Was it ever? Ask a person of color.)

Do you feel safe? (I know I sure as hell don't.) 

What can we do about it? Learning more about the powers Customs and Border Protection wields and what legal recourse(s) we may or may not have to prevent them from continuing their fascistic behavior is a good start. Also, not cooperating with the Border Patrol is an action we all can take. We need to emphasize the point to our oligarch leadership that we are not prisoners in a "border zone" without human rights. We need to stand up and demand the protections listed in the Bill of Rights, rights that apply to citizens and non-citizens alike.

Welcome to the fascist state of America in the year 2022. It's not exactly what the founders envisioned in 1776. Perhaps it's time for us to do like they did and start a Revolution.


Related Articles:

Supreme Court Refuses to Allow Bivens Claims Under First Amendment and Against Border Patrol Agents  https://www.abajournal.com/web/article/supreme-court-refuses-to-allow-bivens-claims-under-first-amendment-and-against-border-patrol-agents

A Border Patrol Agent Assaulted a Citizen in His Own Home. The Supreme Court's Ruling Lets the Agent Off  https://immigrationimpact.com/2022/06/10/border-patrol-assaulted-citizen-supreme-court-ruling/

ACLU: The Constitution in the 100-Mile Border Zone https://www.aclu.org/other/constitution-100-mile-border-zone 

ICE Now Holds 25,000 People In Detention, Monitors 266,000 Using Electronic Monitoring Technology   https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/ice-now-holds-25000-people-in-detention?s=r 

We Don't Need More Evidence That Police Can't Be Trusted. We Need Real Safety  https://truthout.org/articles/we-dont-need-more-evidence-that-police-cant-be-trusted-we-need-real-safety/

The Uvalde Massacre Has Exposed the Lies That Once Justified Police Militarization https://www.rsn.org/001/the-uvalde-massacre-has-exposed-the-lies-that-once-justified-police-militarization.html 

Mother of Buffalo Shooting Victims Says This Is Exactly Who We Are https://scheerpost.com/2022/06/09/mother-of-buffalo-shooting-victim-says-this-is-exactly-who-we-are/

Study US Foreign Policy By Looking At Oil Reserves https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/study-us-foreign-policy-by-looking?s=r

Democratic Leaders Call For a Stronger Republican Party. Why? https://www.directleft.com/p/democratic-leaders-call-for-a-stronger?s=r 

Nobody Is Protected: How the Border Patrol Became the Most Dangerous Police Force in the United States (Book)  https://www.counterpointpress.com/dd-product/nobody-is-protected/


Seen on Twitter: 

***

In a near-future dystopian world, hope blossoms where mutual aid and democracy begins...

Zonta’s world is turned upside down when Jake arrives at the commune to investigate the disappearance of agents of the Authority. Can she persuade him to switch sides before the Protectors (antifascist fighters) take action?

Available now from Extasy Books: https://www.extasybooks.com/Where-the-Bodies-Lie 

Please buy direct from the small publisher and not via Amazon. Why? Amazon takes a huge percentage of the book's price and leaves very little for the publisher and author to share. Thanks.

 

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Tuesday, June 7, 2022

Atrocity Propaganda and Narrative Control


Russian propaganda poses a much smaller threat to the western world than the various government agendas that are being rolled out under the justification of fighting Russian propaganda. --Caitlin Johnstone, The US Empire Will Be Defeated By the US Empire

Atrocity Propaganda and Narrative Control

 by C.A. Matthews

There's nothing nasty that's new under the sun. Really, there isn't.

Just when you thought you heard it all, another bit of "disinformation" from the US/NATO proxy war in Ukraine pops up and within a month it's revealed as the grotesque lie that it is.  (More on DHS's Disinformation Governance Board here.)

Human rights ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova was Ukraine's top human rights official until it was revealed that she has been making up obscene stories of Russian soldiers raping defenseless women and children en masse. The Ukrainian parliament found her lurid storytelling to the Western mainstream media to be such an embarrassment and a liability to their cause that they kicked her out of office. 

According to Tyler Durden of ZeroHedge:

As has been the pattern in prior wars, whether in Syria or Libya, the media claims got more and more sensational and over-the-top as the conflict intensified, and as Western powers became more deeply involved, yet with no concrete or definitive proof.

But one consistent detail in the majority of the stories is that the aforementioned Ukraine human rights ombudsman, Lyudmyla Denisova, is often the central figure feeding Western correspondents the shocking rape stories. (...)

"Ukrainian lawmakers dismissed the country’s ombudsman for human rights, Lyudmyla Denisova, in a no-confidence vote on Tuesday, concluding that she had failed to fulfill obligations including the facilitation of humanitarian corridors and countering the deportation of Ukrainians from occupied territory," The Wall Street Journal reported late in the day.

"Lawmaker Pavlo Frolov said Ms. Denisova was also accused of making insensitive and unverifiable statements about alleged Russian sex crimes and spending too much time in Western Europe during the invasion," the report added.

Frolov said in a Facebook post announcing her dismissal as the country's top human rights investigator: 

"The unclear focus of the Ombudsman's media work on the numerous details of ‘sexual crimes committed in an unnatural way’ and ‘rape of children’ in the occupied territories that could not be confirmed by evidence, only harmed Ukraine."

 It's pretty amazing they shut Lyin' Lyudmyla down since she wasn't afraid of dumping "atrocity propaganda." Atrocity propaganda is a very effective weapon in the arsenal of professional propagandists. It has been used to push for increasing amounts of money and weapons to be given to Ukraine with no debate and little expectation of compensation.

Nothing makes Westerners more horrified and ready to open their wallets than a supposed "reliable source" (often an "anonymous" or insider source like Ms. Denisova or the CIA) spinning a narrative about newborn babies being kicked out of their incubators (Iraq War I) or soldiers being given massive doses of Viagra in order to rape the helpless populace to death (Libya) or huge stockpiles of "Weapons of Mass Destruction" (Iraq War II). 

Going back even further to World War I, it was posited that the German Kaiser's troops actually ate babies for dinner as they advanced into Belgium. Rape, child endangerment, and cannibalism definitely make for great attention-grabbing, pro-war headlines.

Why do our corporate-owned politician-puppets and their media lackeys put out such outrageous falsehoods? Why do they constantly whip up hatred of others such as the Russians, a people that most Americans don't see as being very different from ourselves? I think it's simply because the vast majority of Americans don't mind being lied to. Some might even enjoy having a scapegoat to blame for all the world's ills. 

Comfortable Americans will allow their emotions and intellect to be manipulated by the current government because somewhere, somehow they feel it will  benefit them not to go against the status quo.  Or perhaps it's simply because many Americans can't be bothered to double-check dubious tales the mainstream media feeds them since they have more important things to do--like watching professional sports or the latest Marvel movie release.

And so the US government and its cronies will keep lying to the public in order to keep pumping billions of dollars of weaponry into a faltering proxy war. The capitalists rest assured that their lies will never be called out because We the Workers are all too stressed and busy trying to survive to make a fuss. We're too confused to see that we're being played in order to make billionaires even richer.

Other examples of recent atrocity propaganda include newspaper headlines declaring, "Too high wages are causing inflation" which implies that wage cuts and a possible dropping of the federal minimum wage are in the works. Atrocity propaganda can include news stories about how it's good to lock up homeless persons for up to six years for camping because they cannot afford skyrocketing rents, thus creating  more "slave labor" for the for-profit prison system.

Lyudmyla Denisova may have gone the more salacious route with made-up tales of rape and child abuse, but mainstream media pundits casting doubt about who is at fault for our current hard times is every bit as atrocious. Blaming real-life homeless and dispossessed Americans for their current situation is as cruel and evil as labeling them "cannibals." Hatred is stirred up against the most vulnerable. They are turned into scapegoats, blamed and punished, rather than the actual criminals who put all of us into this untenable proxy war/economic meltdown situation. The wealthy one-percent, who profit immensely from the military-industrial complex, are never held responsible for their actions.

The current government narrative spin says it's working class Americans' fault that gasoline is averaging over $5+ a gallon. We're told we're experiencing food shortages because we won't work during a pandemic. Why are they dumping this atrocity propaganda onto our breaking backs? It's simple--the oligarchs want to keep us lowly workers subdued and confused. If we fall for their lies we'll accept ever-worsening conditions. If today things seem bleak and overwhelming, then we will never have the strength to take on these corrupt bastards and change things to make a better tomorrow.
Only by massive amounts of propaganda would people consent to unprecedented acts of economic warfare which directly hurt them and benefit them in no way, shape or form.  --Caitlin Johnstone

The abusive relationship we have with those in power must end. Reject the oligarchs' atrocity propaganda and the status quo's narrative control. Turn off the mainstream media outlets and turn on to the podcasters and independent journalists you can find via Rad Indie Media and the links below to gain a wider perspective. 

Once you know what's really happening in the world, then you can fight more effectively to make it a better place. We owe it to ourselves to take control of the narrative and tell these professional liars where to shove their atrocious propaganda.
 


Related Articles:

Ukrainian Official Behind Western Media Reports of Russian Atrocities Fired by Ukrainian Parliament  https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/ukrainian-official-behind-western?s=r

Ukraine Fires Own Human Rights Chief For Perpetuating Russian Troop "Systemic Rape" Stories  https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukraine-fires-human-rights-chief-perpetuating-russian-troop-systematic-rape-stories 

Guarding Democracy From News https://scheerpost.com/2022/06/03/guarding-democracy-from-news/ 

US State-Affiliated NewsGuard Targets Consortium News https://scheerpost.com/2022/06/03/u-s-state-affiliated-newsguard-targets-consortium-news/

People Who Defend Empire Narratives Are Really Just Defending Their Viewpoint From Destruction https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/people-who-defend-empire-narratives?s=r

The Rulers Are Losing Narrative Control (video) https://youtu.be/JYuSWarS4Pk 

The Power of Lies  https://scheerpost.com/2022/06/03/craig-murray-the-power-of-lies/

US Federal Reserve Says Its Goal is "To Get Wages Down" https://multipolarista.com/2022/05/24/us-federal-reserve-wages-inflation/

Tennessee Makes Public Camping for Homeless a Felony. Violators Could Face Up to 6 Years in Prison https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/tennessee-makes-public-camping-for-homeless-a-felony-violators-could-face-up-to-6-years-in-prison 

The US Empire Will Be Defeated By the US Empire https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/the-us-empire-will-be-defeated-by?s=r 

Mass Psychosis -- How an Entire Population Becomes Mentally Ill (video) https://youtu.be/09maaUaRT4M 

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In a near-future dystopian world, hope blossoms where mutual aid and democracy begins...

Zonta’s world is turned upside down when Jake arrives at the commune to investigate the disappearance of agents of the Authority. Can she persuade him to switch sides before the Protectors (antifascist fighters) take action?

Available now from Extasy Books: https://www.extasybooks.com/Where-the-Bodies-Lie 

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