Damned If We Do,
Charles Hugh Smith:
The unraveling of everything that actually matters is quickening. While every "news" outlet cheerleads the stock market ("The Dow soared today as investor optimism rose... blah blah blah"), our "leadership" and our media don't even attempt to measure what's unraveling, much less address the underlying causes. The hope is that if we ignore what's unraveling, it will magically go away. But that's not how reality works...
Note that the only group that benefited from the past 20 years of speculative bubbles is the top 1%. The whole idea that inflating bubbles creates a "wealth effect" that "trickles down" is preposterous, as evidenced by the decline of the middle 60% of households while the speculators and owners of bubble-assets skimmed the vast majority of income gains...
The only way forward with any chance of success is to start by acknowledging the decay of our economy due to rampant financialization, legalized looting, the pathologies of "winner take most" speculation and the realities of a two-tiered system in which entrenched elites are "more equal" than the rest of us, economically, socially and politically. We have to accept the limits of technology to reverse the unraveling and assess the damage that's already been done to our shared capital.
Acting as if the system is working just fine and the problem is perception/optics is accelerating the unraveling.
Finian Cunningham:
No wonder Democratic Party bosses and mainstream media are trying to bury presidential contender Tulsi Gabbard. She is the only candidate, perhaps the only politician in the US, who is telling the American public exactly what they need to know about what their government and military are really up to: fighting illegal regime-change wars, and to boot, sponsoring terrorists for that purpose... “Donald Trump has blood of the Kurds on his hands, but so do many of the politicians in our country from both parties who have supported this ongoing regime-change war in Syria that started in 2011… along with many in the mainstream media who have been championing and cheer-leading this regime-change war.”
The 38-year-old military veteran went on to denounce how the US has sponsored Al Qaeda terrorists for its objective of overthrowing the government in Damascus.
It was a remarkably damning assessment of US policy in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East. And it was by no means the first time that Gabbard has leveled with the American people on the brutality and criminality of Washington’s so-called “interventions”.
The other 11 Democratic candidates on the stage during the TV debate looked agog after Gabbard’s devastating and calmly delivered statement. All the others have proffered the false narrative that US forces are in Syria to “fight terrorism”.
Helen of DesTroy, via RT (Then her email comment about the real reason Tulsi is not running for re-election to a fourth congressional term):
Democratic presidential hopeful Tulsi Gabbard has abandoned her race for re-election in Hawaii to focus on securing her party’s presidential nomination, kicking the ‘Russian asset’ conspiracy theorizing into high gear. Gabbard announced on Friday that she would not seek re-election to Congress, declaring she would focus instead on the presidential race. Promising to “end our interventionist foreign policy of being the world’s police, toppling dictators and governments we don’t like, and redirect our precious resources towards serving the needs of the people here at home,” she “humbly” asked her Hawaii constituents to support her candidacy, sending social media into a frenzy of speculation.
Helen: "From what I've heard, her Hillary troubles have led the DCCC to throw a big pile of cash behind her rival in Hawaii, Kai Kahele - supposedly a progressive, but if you've ever seen him speak the dude is the biggest stick-up-the-ass corporate centrist this side of Mazie Hirono... Anyway, Tulsi, lacking a massive warchest & having been effectively abandoned by her party, can only afford to do one race, according to people working for her campaign. I don't know what she's going to do when she loses the nomination."
The truth is that in addition to Turkey, the US, the UK, France, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have armed, financed and trained about 250 thousand jihadis from all around the world since 2010 for the purposes of attacking Syria, precipitating a disaster in the region, with repercussions felt in Europe, and committing crimes against humanity.
The Syrian Arab Army, with the assistance of its Russian, Iranian and Hezbollah allies, has managed to overcome the depredations of al-Qaeda and ISIS, confining them to the Idlib region, creating in the process some problems for the countries that armed and supported these monsters.
“We became convinced by the testimony that key information about chemical analyses, toxicology consultations, ballistics studies, and witness testimonies was suppressed, ostensibly to favor a preordained conclusion.”
The testimony further revealed “disquieting efforts to exclude some inspectors from the investigation whilst thwarting their attempts to raise legitimate concerns, highlight irregular practices or even to express their differing observations and assessments.”
Bolton, who some speculated was the original "first-hand" source of the whistleblower complaint which launched the impeachment inquiries, was fired after President Trump says he "disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions." ...
According to sources, while Trump had been growing displeased with Bolton's belligerent recommendations and overall demeanor (recall "Bolton 'Deep in His Heart' Believes Trump Is a 'Moron,' Former Aide Claims"), the tipping point happened when Bolton expressed his displeasure with Trump's impromptu invitation of the Taliban to Camp David on the week of the Sept 11 anniversary, a peace overture which as we reported over the weekend, collapsed in the last moment.
Critics of Trump's far reaching sanctions after the May 2018 US pullout of the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA), which especially hit the energy, banking, aviation, and auto sectors, have long argued the economic punitive measures have only served to make life miserable for the common populace, depriving people of outside food and medicine shipments, as well as safety-related technology, similar to the humanitarian crisis that unfolded in sanctioned Iraq under Saddam in the 1990's.
I hear nothing good about "freedom of speech" these days. Howzabout you?
(If we don't have to hear things that trigger us, we'll be fine. Got that, you grammar-racist Nazi?!)
Helen again:
Some Americans are having second thoughts about the First Amendment, a new survey has found. Over half are calling for it to be rewritten, and some 61 percent believe there should be limits on freedom of speech.
The First Amendment, which guarantees Americans freedom of speech, should be overhauled to reflect current cultural norms, according to 51 percent of the respondents to a survey published on Wednesday by the Campaign for Free Speech. The campaign is hoping to call attention to the dire state of Americans' preeminent civil right with the poll, which breaks down opposition along gender, race, class, and educational lines.
https://www.rt.com/usa/471762-free-speech-survey-americans-hate/ The First Amendment, which guarantees Americans freedom of speech, should be overhauled to reflect current cultural norms, according to 51 percent of the respondents to a survey published on Wednesday by the Campaign for Free Speech. The campaign is hoping to call attention to the dire state of Americans' preeminent civil right with the poll, which breaks down opposition along gender, race, class, and educational lines.
Moon of Alabama on Dirty Uncle Joe:
Biden's Intervention In Ukraine And Ukraine's 2016 Election Meddling Are Matters of Fact
Several mainstream media have made claims that Joe Biden's intervention in the Ukraine and the Ukrainian interference in the U.S. election are "conspiracy theories" and "debunked". The public record proves them wrong. By ignoring or even contradicting the facts the media create an opening for Trump to rightfully accuse them of providing "fake news".
Several mainstream media have made claims that Joe Biden's intervention in the Ukraine and the Ukrainian interference in the U.S. election are "conspiracy theories" and "debunked". The public record proves them wrong. By ignoring or even contradicting the facts the media create an opening for Trump to rightfully accuse them of providing "fake news".
All across the industrialized world retirees are poised to swamp workers in competition for the goods and services which will exist. Not enough servants to go around and provide what retirees are entitled to. Central banks can't fix it.
Plenty of easy to read graphs, country by country. Take care of yourself, cheaply... Thanks Charles.
Over the coming decade, the current growth based system and paradigms will fall by the wayside. The global trickle-down mantra is already failing, and will entirely come apart. The impact will be bad for wealthy nations but even worse for poor nations. The real question is what will replace the current faulty system...and will it be any better?
Guy McPherson, at Nature Bats Last summarizes how the sudden end of industrial civilization, and disappearance of it's lovely smokestack particles, could immediately accelerate global heating, by failing to reflect sunlight back out into space. Sulfur dioxide and clouds reflect solar energy away.. (Chemtrails that cover the sky in similar haze will also presumably go away with the Pentagon budget cuts) Thanks Guy.
Damned If We Don't
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