My comment today perhaps misses the point of this article. But that only seems to be the case. Because in the stress of our times, we have forgotten to think about the essential roots of human dreams and longings.
Yesterday, my wife and I spent a whole day in the old, beautiful cultural city of Weimar. The city that was shaped by Goethe, Schiller, Pushkin, Friedrich List, Johann Sebastian Bach and many other outstanding personalities.
The first place we visited was the "Duchess Anna Amalia Library". There, at the very beginning of our tour, we stood in front of the original of the first printed edition of the Bible, translated from Latin into German by Martin Luther.
My wife is a devout Catholic and I am an atheist. Here's what I mean metaphorically. I ask the rhetorical question that if Jesus Christ came back to people in the present to the earthly, how long would his life expectancy be? No matter under which pope or governments.
The depressing answer to be expected is based on the fact that after the murder of Jesus, everything for more than 2000 years consisted only of lies, hypocrisy and deception.
Why is my marriage to a devout Catholic so happy and full of love? Because my wife is incredibly empathetic, loving towards people, animals, plants, yes, towards all life. Her soul and heart are in a time and place when Jesus was still preaching and speaking to people. That makes her absolutely authentic as a Christian.
An episode. We had already finished at a petrol station and I got into the car. Behind me, someone was waiting for me to drive away. But my wife walked back in front of our car, carefully picked up a grasshopper and brought it to safety on the grass at the side. I asked her why she had done that. She replied, "It's a life, given by God and we don't have the right to take that animal's life". This is my wife.
Why am I telling you all this? Because we also need to reflect on why we actually see "being human" as a privilege. If we see it as a privilege, then we also have to give it content.
It's not enough to think about what type of person should be president. People who don't feel that respect, regard and care for life. That is not enough.
Yes, life is priceless. Your wife's views are more consonant with Orthodox than Catholic Christianity as are my wife's views non-Baptist in reality. People that value material things like money over the corporeal and spiritual IMO is at the root of Humanity's troubles which began many thousands of years ago.
The logical outcome of a century + demonising socialism and scaring people with manufactured horror stories about the establishment of socialist economic systems and communist governments. Everyone was exposed to relentless propaganda and Western show trials and intimidation until the left became silenced to a large extent. Now the playing field is almost entirely occupied by extreme right ideologues undertaking a genocide here and there.
The Cheney/Clinton scumbags are on a roll with the Donald entirely in step but presenting an entertaining distraction by attracting celebrity endorsements. Do you remember the people in the last Trump administration ? they were evil rsoles on the same scale as the Cheney/Clinton rsoles. Will the mesmer be broken this time or ever?
It's been ongoing for our entire lives, uncle. And the struggle will continue after we leave as those in control of the West will be hard to eliminate. I'd be happy to live to 100 and see it done.
G'day Karl, yes true but what is the average US resident afraid of in Medicaid or trade unions struggle for a fair wage, people like Arlo Guthrie, Bruce Sprinsteen have been on the bandwagon for my adult life. Is reading or know.edge so foreign to them. Propaganda is all pervasive but in this modern age of the www it is all there to be had as you lay out for us.
Is it the complete supplication of the masses for a little bread and circus or the proud role they play as constant consumer for what little mercantilism that remains In the West. Your comments will be greatly appreciated.
The greatest obstacle US citizens need to overcome are all the divide and rule mechanisms that've been employed since WW1 when mass media exploded onto the scene. The few times a challenge was mounted was due to gaining a good degree of solidarity, the best example being what the People's Party accomplished, while it's also the best and most pertinent example of how the basic issue of race was used to divide and rule--and that mechanism was installed before the USA existed. What are called/known as the Culture Wars exist to keep people from talking to each other, with a huge wave crashing down on citizens after WW2 when worker and ex-military were seen as a very serious threat, so The Anti-Communist Crusade and McCarthyism were established to destroy that threat. The cooptation of Labor Union heads is an old story that shows how effective bribery was and is.
There's much more to the above history--many books exist on the topic. It's rather amazing that the USA became the industrial power it did while having an explicit anti-labor policy at the national level and deindustrialization has effectively killed what little remained. Sure, there remain teacher's and other unions, but the last several decades of political history show how ineffective they've been. Now we have a Duopoly consisting of two LLCs which the courts have ruled can do whatever they want when it comes to nominating a candidate for POTUS--public opinion be damned. Few know of that genuine development. So, what we have again is the Oligarchy that began with the 1787 Constitutional Coup--Yes, a Coup. History's been painted to show it as some sort of democratic action, but it wasn't that whatsoever. How many historians have you read that described that event in that manner?
Twenty-two years ago, the excellent journalist Greg Palast wrote "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy," and others have written in similar vein, but BigLie Media has greatly limited their effectiveness. Look at how Howard Zinn was vilified when he passed, and the many War Criminals praised. Currently there's plenty of ferment within the USA but it has no direction as people talk past each other instead of to each other. We shall see what occurs. At least one political faction of the populous--Arab-Americans--have determined to support Stein and dump both Harris and Trump, which shows that some folk can see and think. I recall lots of songs from the 60s-70s asking people to open their eyes and minds and oppose the status quo. Some of us did, but we weren't nearly enough.
Right on the mark, imo. The PNAC cause is comparable to radical Zionizm. Where will it take us? Yet, Trump part deux is not the anyone-but-hilary choice as he was in '16.
I was about to say that Dick Cheney would be break-dancing in his grave if he knew his own family was voting for Harris. Oh.
The fact that war criminal dick Cheney is still a free man and is highly regarded by the mainstream news media to pontificate to Americans despite his role in manufacturing the endless Iraq War illustrates the abject masochism of Americans to tolerate this Nazi punk.
"She (Kamala) will be prepared beautiful meaningless speeches and boring correct answers to questions, which she, laughing contagiously, will read from a teleprompter."
Put quite simply, the Cheney party want to be the teleprompter that she uses. They would choose whichever party could be turned into their OWN means of "governing".
If Cheney has left his hidey hole in Dubai (Emirates) then it must seem to be personally profitable and the one that is most in line with the aims of "aprés-9/11". He took over the "shadow" government in the immediate aftermath, so he knows what strings to pull and the power he might get has hands on.
Unfortunately it also shows who is planned to be the "winner" of the US elections.
(Confession, I am not an American so would not be a "voter". However, having seen the uselessness of voting in France, Germany and the UK up close, welcome to the club.)
Voting in the USA actually mattered until Watergate when Ds were more pro-labor than the Rs. But that all flipped with Carter and Volker as Fed Chair when a concerted war on labor began and the Duopoly was cemented. I voted Perot in 1992 and 96, then worked and voted for Nader in 2000 & 2004, and have voted alt-party ever since. I then become genuine opposition to the Duopoly instead of continuing to support one of its parts, which isn't opposition at all.
If women had been allowed to vote in national elections during the People Party Era, then our current crisis probably wouldn't be happening as a very different path would've been taken from 1888 onward.
I think this more nails it. Never really like Caitlins interps. Shes an aussie talking about us politics. Ive always usa politics is flipping a coin. It never matters which side wins the coin is the same.
I do believe she has been resident stateside quite a while, also partaking the ancient regimes games sucks all down to the bottom of the swamp. Outsider observers of the strange conundrums that US citizens refer to or think of as democracy or a democratic process are completely disillusioned as the founding fathers built in the monster gerrymander of the electoral college to stop the plebeians having a say plus no one comments on this in the US not even the revisionist socialist look over here parties!!!! Also the oxymoron of having a gameshow participant becoming the President sure is defining and the ones who put him there are detested by him which defines his narcissism to a tee along with the talking in tongues mob pentecostalists seeing no wrong in his pussy grabbing woman is ing behaviours. This is all part of the show that the world looks at, you do have to wonder how Putin thinks when he looks at the US with his Atlanticists view and pines to be one with them.
Over the several campaigns he waged for POTUS, Ralph Nader exposed all the demons within the political system. He was heard by those willing to listen, but we were not nearly enough to overcome the Duopoly and its system.
Putin has ZERO "Atlanticist views" and has no desire to become one of those attempting to control the world.
G'day Karl, Atlanticist views, I was of the opinion he always wanted to join the West and it's organisations hence his years of fruitless negotiation. Yes he doesn't want war which US neocons thrive and grow on so he tried and tried to avoid it but if he was not of that mindset then why not seriously step in years earlier in the Donbass and save 10000 or so Russian speakers lives. He is a great men to be admire but surely he wanted to be a part of the West. Maybe I am taking the wrong g view on Atlanticists.
I'm in Wisconsin and will vote for Stein. The Dem Party here tried hard to keep Stein and Cornel West off the ballot. The WI SC intervened to prevent the Dems from pulling off this scheme. The Dems are afraid of "too much democracy". Bastards.
i call it the war party - both parties are looking after the energy, banking and military sectors in spades.. call it what you want, that is how i see it..
I always both admire and dislike Caitlin's pieces. She projects a view that posits an untouchable, all-powerful elite against whom We The People have no chance.
For example, in the current US election, if we look at the drama mainly at the We The People level, the alignment of Trump with Kennedy has the potential to be a veritable gamechanger in that they are forming a new party of sorts against both the Democrat and GOP Establishment and carving out a common sense middle trying to get the country back to some semblance of sanity.
Are they pro-Zionist? Yes.
Will they get rid of the Fed? No.
But are than anti the neocons? Yes.
Are the pro Peace and anti War? Yes.
Do they want to stop the weaponization of the DOJ? Yes.
Do they want to greatly curtail Big Intelligence? Yes.
Do they want to greatly curtail corporate capture, esp Big Ag and Big Pharma, of USG agencies like DHS, NIH etc? Yes.
Do they want to get rid of illegal aliens with criminal records? Yes.
Do they want to boost manufacturing in the Homeland? Yes.
There hasn't been a platform like this in generations.
And yet according to Caitlin the Maudlin it's all a complete waste of time because They control Everything and We The People have zero agency in the Body Politic.
Even if it turns out she is technically correct, which obviously I doubt, still I refuse to accept so unacceptable a worldview. (Indeed, in more cynical moments I sometimes imagine she is a paid Intelligence asset whose mission is to demoralize, something she is very good at.)
Where Caitlin falls short is not mentioning the primary other choice--Jill Stein--so she focuses on the negatives of both but especially the Ds. Putin's being pragmatic by going with the enemy you know, plus Team Putin knows its the Deep State actors that need breaking. Medvedev on his Telegram today put a different polish on Trump:
"Donald Trump is offended by the current administration and threatens to lift sanctions against Russia. Will he remove it if elected?
"Of course not. For all his seeming "non-systemic" nature, Trump is ultimately a systemic character. Yes, he is an extravagant narcissistic type, but at the same time he is a pragmatist. Trump, as a businessman, understands that sanctions are hurting the dollar's dominance in the world. However, not enough to stage a revolution in the United States and go against the anti-Russian line of the notorious deep state, which is much stronger than any Trump.
"And what about Harris? Moreover, you should not expect any surprises from her. She is inexperienced and, according to her enemies, simply stupid. She will be prepared beautiful meaningless speeches and boring correct answers to questions, which she, laughing contagiously, will read from a teleprompter.
"There were sanctions against the USSR throughout the XX century. They returned to the twenty-first on an unprecedented scale. Therefore, sanctions forever for all of us. Or rather, until the collapse of the United States in the course of an imminent new civil war. After all, it is not for nothing that Hollywood makes films about her😂." [Emoticon Original]
How many of Team Putin share Medvedev's assessment?
"There were sanctions against the USSR throughout the XX century. They returned to the twenty-first on an unprecedented scale. Therefore, sanctions forever for all of us. Or rather, until the collapse of the United States in the course of an imminent new civil war."
Medvedev understands America more than Americans themselves, as he has not been propagandized since birth that the USA is a "democracy" or a "Force for Good" in the world. The only way that the American threat ends is if the disUnited States of America collapses as a nation with a 2nd Civil War, as he implies.
America is a world empire and is essentially the bastard progeny of the British Empire and Nazi Third Reich.
As such, America will continue its totalitarian ambitions for "Full Spectrum Dominance" of the planet, as the Pentagon would put it, regardless of what US regime is in power.
American wars--not only military but also hybrid, economic, political, legal, and information wars--are driven by this primordial impulse of American grand strategy.
Kamala Trump or Donald Harris. It makes no difference who is the War Criminal-in-Chief.
American regime leaders are servants of the American Empire--although some of them are disguised as Controlled Opposition figures like Donald Trump, who is a White Conservative version of Barack Obama. A false political messiah.
Both Trumpism And Anti-Trumpism Are Fake, Decoy Revolutions
G'day Karl, Jill Stein you hold up as an exemplar. If she had any ability to change something she would have become an accident , it truly surprises that you can be consumed by the show looking for titbits but suggest Caitlin with her ever present correct analysis over and above all the s.... and propaganda can stay true to the correct line. Please be advised anyone coming near the reins of power will be made to disappear now think Jeremy Corbyn and his total besmirchment as antisementic as opposition leader likely to being PM yet you refer to Jill Stein in the same light. Are you focussed some much stateside and West Asia and Russia to miss that in reference to Jill Stein as a possible candidate let alone a future Prez. Love to hear your thoughts.
It's entirely possible to observe the scene and properly describe what's happening while still advocating what one would like to see. At 68, I'm no spring chicken.
G'day RR, how is it someone so clearly above the s.... and propaganda can stay true to her analysis of the genocidal nature of the Evil empire and be scorned as negative in today's genocidal world sure misses me. An all encompassing brief comment after rereading your comment a few times suggests you have no class analysis and look at all from a libertarian individualistic perspective. The power use to be in the hands of the owners of the means of production or the mercantile class but with a wholly financialized economic system the Black Rock and Californian big tech is all today and think Musk and his weird ways and try and orientate one's self and hey presto todays present situation. Negativity comes from a realists analysis of the US and it's powerbase and that no inconsequential power that includes the Kennedys and now think Dallas Texas and JFKs demise could impinge let interrupt their plans without incorporating the whole of society and an uprising and you now understand the reactions to Jan 6 and the judicial response. Maybe as a foreign alien from the stateside psych you could reorientate me to your logic.
Not sure I understand all your points, but as to being libertarian without class analysis, I enjoy that one since I am a rather old-fashioned monarchist type who values class systems greatly (grew up in England). That said, there is a huge difference between nations with good values versus nations with bad values. And, yes, I think I like nations, especially when they have their own particular language, history and geography.
My objection to Caitlin, again, is that she projects this wicked world wherein we are ruled by Jack and James Elites with each being as evil as the other and We the People having no ability to resist or overthrow them, just accept that They are Running Everything and There Is Nothing We Can Do About It. I sense that the alignment of Trump and RFKJ, even if either or both are not entirely as they seem or up to the job, represents a growing sea-change in the American Body Politic not so much on the leadership as the We the People level. The coming together of reasonable lefties and righties is no small thing if for no other reason than it very, very rarely happens. Although it will probably be skilfully deflected, co-opted or crushed, I hope something good comes from it.
I also guess that Trump sincerely believes he was shot and miraculously survived and he is now sincerely motivated to do a good job and they are going to make some good reforms if they get in despite any resistance. But of course, maybe I'm just 'being fooled again!'
G'day RR, do you consider RF!to be left and wou,d do something positive for anybody outside the elites? In England Labor is supposed to represent workers, when Jeremy Corbyn was leader and likely be PM he was unturned by a false antisementism campaign and replaced by a drop knee Starmer.
Caitlin is not fatalistic she sticks with a correct analysis of the situation, there is not anyway of changing things through the proffered candidates particularly in the US let alone in the UK or Australia. If times were more advanced towards civil society breakdown and organisations existed to espouse of she would but her role of informing the masses of the constant propaganda they are marinating in is what she is doing.
Thanks for the heads up about your affection towards the royals, now that Elizabeth is gone who did do a tremendous job over nearly 70 years how do you perceive their role remaining relevant I this changing world. That is besides being head of state in the Commonwealth.
Not a fan of the British Royals who are more ceremonial than authentic monarchs. Ancient Roman Kings seem much better; each one had to be picked from outside the nation with no ties inside but was given full authority. Rule by committee is easier to factionalize and corrupt.
Kennedy left? Probably. I don't find those labels relevant any more. It's more like those who want to reform the system versus those who want to profit from it. I think RFK is a sincere reformer as his real world track record dealing with large corporations and govt departments in the fields of health and environment demonstrates. I've given up trying to understand Trump, either what he says - which is often bafflegab to me - or what he does or doesn't do. He is a shark swimming in shark-infested waters which I know almost nothing about.
G'day RR, your reference to reformers of the system says it all. When they only offer to tinker on the periphery then that defines their acquiesce of the whole, well maybe you see something I can't. As for the relevance of left and right well I believe that stems from the top to be able to implant their man and say wow look how different he is when they are a puppet playing the game they have been permitted. Left and right will always be defining of the politics of the candidate in that left represents social democracy or stronger which values healthcare education for all and a fair wage over corporate profits and a complete regulation of that corporate profit via tax. Note never has that been allowed in the US unlike in Britian and Australia where NHS and Medicare exist though now quite watered down in respect NHS a little less with Medicare. Anything outside of that is right wing and the fact that someone like Trump or any other populist demagogue can get votes from poor blacks/whites says it all in that he represents his own class interests of lowering taxes and killing subsidised healthcare as he did in his first term. RFK could not possibly reform anything will a hostile congress and from any objective analysis he is quite right of centre.
You made no comment in regards Corbyn and the fact he was the first left of centre politicians within coooeee of being PM since maybe never and look at all the lies used by the Zionazis that got him ousted purely for fear of his desire for human rights of the Palestinians. Think where Britian would be if Corbyn was PM. Certainly not supporting WW111 and genocide in Gaza and the West Bank.
I didn't mention Corbyn because don't live in UK and missed most of his career, but from what little I can tell he was the best left-leaning politician of his generation and he was suppressed by the Powers that Be.
In which regard I understand what you are saying about the left versus right being a setup, but that is from the point of view of those on top. Every once in a while those on the bottom can think to themselves and it is from that bottom-up We the People POV that I am expressing hope that the Kennedy-Trump alliance will bear fruit. Chances are it won't, but they are making good noises. Trump just published a 9 point plan which is pretty radical. One of them has Kennedy heading up national health services to clean it up and make it fly straight. Other similar things too. Maybe it's all a con. But the joining together of both left and right populists rarely happens and is the ONLY way for some sort of authentic reform thrust to get going, at least from the We the People level. IMO.
I was voting Green once again, but this should give you even more reason to.
My comment today perhaps misses the point of this article. But that only seems to be the case. Because in the stress of our times, we have forgotten to think about the essential roots of human dreams and longings.
Yesterday, my wife and I spent a whole day in the old, beautiful cultural city of Weimar. The city that was shaped by Goethe, Schiller, Pushkin, Friedrich List, Johann Sebastian Bach and many other outstanding personalities.
The first place we visited was the "Duchess Anna Amalia Library". There, at the very beginning of our tour, we stood in front of the original of the first printed edition of the Bible, translated from Latin into German by Martin Luther.
My wife is a devout Catholic and I am an atheist. Here's what I mean metaphorically. I ask the rhetorical question that if Jesus Christ came back to people in the present to the earthly, how long would his life expectancy be? No matter under which pope or governments.
The depressing answer to be expected is based on the fact that after the murder of Jesus, everything for more than 2000 years consisted only of lies, hypocrisy and deception.
Why is my marriage to a devout Catholic so happy and full of love? Because my wife is incredibly empathetic, loving towards people, animals, plants, yes, towards all life. Her soul and heart are in a time and place when Jesus was still preaching and speaking to people. That makes her absolutely authentic as a Christian.
An episode. We had already finished at a petrol station and I got into the car. Behind me, someone was waiting for me to drive away. But my wife walked back in front of our car, carefully picked up a grasshopper and brought it to safety on the grass at the side. I asked her why she had done that. She replied, "It's a life, given by God and we don't have the right to take that animal's life". This is my wife.
Why am I telling you all this? Because we also need to reflect on why we actually see "being human" as a privilege. If we see it as a privilege, then we also have to give it content.
It's not enough to think about what type of person should be president. People who don't feel that respect, regard and care for life. That is not enough.
Yes, life is priceless. Your wife's views are more consonant with Orthodox than Catholic Christianity as are my wife's views non-Baptist in reality. People that value material things like money over the corporeal and spiritual IMO is at the root of Humanity's troubles which began many thousands of years ago.
I'd vote for Jill Stein if I was American.
The logical outcome of a century + demonising socialism and scaring people with manufactured horror stories about the establishment of socialist economic systems and communist governments. Everyone was exposed to relentless propaganda and Western show trials and intimidation until the left became silenced to a large extent. Now the playing field is almost entirely occupied by extreme right ideologues undertaking a genocide here and there.
The Cheney/Clinton scumbags are on a roll with the Donald entirely in step but presenting an entertaining distraction by attracting celebrity endorsements. Do you remember the people in the last Trump administration ? they were evil rsoles on the same scale as the Cheney/Clinton rsoles. Will the mesmer be broken this time or ever?
It's been ongoing for our entire lives, uncle. And the struggle will continue after we leave as those in control of the West will be hard to eliminate. I'd be happy to live to 100 and see it done.
G'day Karl, yes true but what is the average US resident afraid of in Medicaid or trade unions struggle for a fair wage, people like Arlo Guthrie, Bruce Sprinsteen have been on the bandwagon for my adult life. Is reading or know.edge so foreign to them. Propaganda is all pervasive but in this modern age of the www it is all there to be had as you lay out for us.
Is it the complete supplication of the masses for a little bread and circus or the proud role they play as constant consumer for what little mercantilism that remains In the West. Your comments will be greatly appreciated.
The greatest obstacle US citizens need to overcome are all the divide and rule mechanisms that've been employed since WW1 when mass media exploded onto the scene. The few times a challenge was mounted was due to gaining a good degree of solidarity, the best example being what the People's Party accomplished, while it's also the best and most pertinent example of how the basic issue of race was used to divide and rule--and that mechanism was installed before the USA existed. What are called/known as the Culture Wars exist to keep people from talking to each other, with a huge wave crashing down on citizens after WW2 when worker and ex-military were seen as a very serious threat, so The Anti-Communist Crusade and McCarthyism were established to destroy that threat. The cooptation of Labor Union heads is an old story that shows how effective bribery was and is.
There's much more to the above history--many books exist on the topic. It's rather amazing that the USA became the industrial power it did while having an explicit anti-labor policy at the national level and deindustrialization has effectively killed what little remained. Sure, there remain teacher's and other unions, but the last several decades of political history show how ineffective they've been. Now we have a Duopoly consisting of two LLCs which the courts have ruled can do whatever they want when it comes to nominating a candidate for POTUS--public opinion be damned. Few know of that genuine development. So, what we have again is the Oligarchy that began with the 1787 Constitutional Coup--Yes, a Coup. History's been painted to show it as some sort of democratic action, but it wasn't that whatsoever. How many historians have you read that described that event in that manner?
Twenty-two years ago, the excellent journalist Greg Palast wrote "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy," and others have written in similar vein, but BigLie Media has greatly limited their effectiveness. Look at how Howard Zinn was vilified when he passed, and the many War Criminals praised. Currently there's plenty of ferment within the USA but it has no direction as people talk past each other instead of to each other. We shall see what occurs. At least one political faction of the populous--Arab-Americans--have determined to support Stein and dump both Harris and Trump, which shows that some folk can see and think. I recall lots of songs from the 60s-70s asking people to open their eyes and minds and oppose the status quo. Some of us did, but we weren't nearly enough.
Right on the mark, imo. The PNAC cause is comparable to radical Zionizm. Where will it take us? Yet, Trump part deux is not the anyone-but-hilary choice as he was in '16.
I was about to say that Dick Cheney would be break-dancing in his grave if he knew his own family was voting for Harris. Oh.
The fact that war criminal dick Cheney is still a free man and is highly regarded by the mainstream news media to pontificate to Americans despite his role in manufacturing the endless Iraq War illustrates the abject masochism of Americans to tolerate this Nazi punk.
"She (Kamala) will be prepared beautiful meaningless speeches and boring correct answers to questions, which she, laughing contagiously, will read from a teleprompter."
Put quite simply, the Cheney party want to be the teleprompter that she uses. They would choose whichever party could be turned into their OWN means of "governing".
If Cheney has left his hidey hole in Dubai (Emirates) then it must seem to be personally profitable and the one that is most in line with the aims of "aprés-9/11". He took over the "shadow" government in the immediate aftermath, so he knows what strings to pull and the power he might get has hands on.
Unfortunately it also shows who is planned to be the "winner" of the US elections.
(Confession, I am not an American so would not be a "voter". However, having seen the uselessness of voting in France, Germany and the UK up close, welcome to the club.)
Voting in the USA actually mattered until Watergate when Ds were more pro-labor than the Rs. But that all flipped with Carter and Volker as Fed Chair when a concerted war on labor began and the Duopoly was cemented. I voted Perot in 1992 and 96, then worked and voted for Nader in 2000 & 2004, and have voted alt-party ever since. I then become genuine opposition to the Duopoly instead of continuing to support one of its parts, which isn't opposition at all.
If women had been allowed to vote in national elections during the People Party Era, then our current crisis probably wouldn't be happening as a very different path would've been taken from 1888 onward.
Dick Cheney ?
I actually thought that old gieser had past on.
Just like Snoop Dog.
Did they start cloning bad guys?
I think this more nails it. Never really like Caitlins interps. Shes an aussie talking about us politics. Ive always usa politics is flipping a coin. It never matters which side wins the coin is the same.
https://x.com/CollinRugg/status/1830778848038011272
Yes, that's how it is now, but it wasn't always that way, and examples exist as to the path to overturn the current paradigm.
I do believe she has been resident stateside quite a while, also partaking the ancient regimes games sucks all down to the bottom of the swamp. Outsider observers of the strange conundrums that US citizens refer to or think of as democracy or a democratic process are completely disillusioned as the founding fathers built in the monster gerrymander of the electoral college to stop the plebeians having a say plus no one comments on this in the US not even the revisionist socialist look over here parties!!!! Also the oxymoron of having a gameshow participant becoming the President sure is defining and the ones who put him there are detested by him which defines his narcissism to a tee along with the talking in tongues mob pentecostalists seeing no wrong in his pussy grabbing woman is ing behaviours. This is all part of the show that the world looks at, you do have to wonder how Putin thinks when he looks at the US with his Atlanticists view and pines to be one with them.
Over the several campaigns he waged for POTUS, Ralph Nader exposed all the demons within the political system. He was heard by those willing to listen, but we were not nearly enough to overcome the Duopoly and its system.
Putin has ZERO "Atlanticist views" and has no desire to become one of those attempting to control the world.
G'day Karl, Atlanticist views, I was of the opinion he always wanted to join the West and it's organisations hence his years of fruitless negotiation. Yes he doesn't want war which US neocons thrive and grow on so he tried and tried to avoid it but if he was not of that mindset then why not seriously step in years earlier in the Donbass and save 10000 or so Russian speakers lives. He is a great men to be admire but surely he wanted to be a part of the West. Maybe I am taking the wrong g view on Atlanticists.
Interested to be corrected.
I'm in Wisconsin and will vote for Stein. The Dem Party here tried hard to keep Stein and Cornel West off the ballot. The WI SC intervened to prevent the Dems from pulling off this scheme. The Dems are afraid of "too much democracy". Bastards.
Like the Rs, the Ds want a Duopoly and no more.
i call it the war party - both parties are looking after the energy, banking and military sectors in spades.. call it what you want, that is how i see it..
I always both admire and dislike Caitlin's pieces. She projects a view that posits an untouchable, all-powerful elite against whom We The People have no chance.
For example, in the current US election, if we look at the drama mainly at the We The People level, the alignment of Trump with Kennedy has the potential to be a veritable gamechanger in that they are forming a new party of sorts against both the Democrat and GOP Establishment and carving out a common sense middle trying to get the country back to some semblance of sanity.
Are they pro-Zionist? Yes.
Will they get rid of the Fed? No.
But are than anti the neocons? Yes.
Are the pro Peace and anti War? Yes.
Do they want to stop the weaponization of the DOJ? Yes.
Do they want to greatly curtail Big Intelligence? Yes.
Do they want to greatly curtail corporate capture, esp Big Ag and Big Pharma, of USG agencies like DHS, NIH etc? Yes.
Do they want to get rid of illegal aliens with criminal records? Yes.
Do they want to boost manufacturing in the Homeland? Yes.
There hasn't been a platform like this in generations.
And yet according to Caitlin the Maudlin it's all a complete waste of time because They control Everything and We The People have zero agency in the Body Politic.
Even if it turns out she is technically correct, which obviously I doubt, still I refuse to accept so unacceptable a worldview. (Indeed, in more cynical moments I sometimes imagine she is a paid Intelligence asset whose mission is to demoralize, something she is very good at.)
Where Caitlin falls short is not mentioning the primary other choice--Jill Stein--so she focuses on the negatives of both but especially the Ds. Putin's being pragmatic by going with the enemy you know, plus Team Putin knows its the Deep State actors that need breaking. Medvedev on his Telegram today put a different polish on Trump:
"Donald Trump is offended by the current administration and threatens to lift sanctions against Russia. Will he remove it if elected?
"Of course not. For all his seeming "non-systemic" nature, Trump is ultimately a systemic character. Yes, he is an extravagant narcissistic type, but at the same time he is a pragmatist. Trump, as a businessman, understands that sanctions are hurting the dollar's dominance in the world. However, not enough to stage a revolution in the United States and go against the anti-Russian line of the notorious deep state, which is much stronger than any Trump.
"And what about Harris? Moreover, you should not expect any surprises from her. She is inexperienced and, according to her enemies, simply stupid. She will be prepared beautiful meaningless speeches and boring correct answers to questions, which she, laughing contagiously, will read from a teleprompter.
"There were sanctions against the USSR throughout the XX century. They returned to the twenty-first on an unprecedented scale. Therefore, sanctions forever for all of us. Or rather, until the collapse of the United States in the course of an imminent new civil war. After all, it is not for nothing that Hollywood makes films about her😂." [Emoticon Original]
How many of Team Putin share Medvedev's assessment?
"There were sanctions against the USSR throughout the XX century. They returned to the twenty-first on an unprecedented scale. Therefore, sanctions forever for all of us. Or rather, until the collapse of the United States in the course of an imminent new civil war."
Medvedev understands America more than Americans themselves, as he has not been propagandized since birth that the USA is a "democracy" or a "Force for Good" in the world. The only way that the American threat ends is if the disUnited States of America collapses as a nation with a 2nd Civil War, as he implies.
America is a world empire and is essentially the bastard progeny of the British Empire and Nazi Third Reich.
As such, America will continue its totalitarian ambitions for "Full Spectrum Dominance" of the planet, as the Pentagon would put it, regardless of what US regime is in power.
American wars--not only military but also hybrid, economic, political, legal, and information wars--are driven by this primordial impulse of American grand strategy.
Kamala Trump or Donald Harris. It makes no difference who is the War Criminal-in-Chief.
American regime leaders are servants of the American Empire--although some of them are disguised as Controlled Opposition figures like Donald Trump, who is a White Conservative version of Barack Obama. A false political messiah.
Both Trumpism And Anti-Trumpism Are Fake, Decoy Revolutions
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2024/08/26/both-trumpism-and-anti-trumpism-are-fake-decoy-revolutions/
Donald Trump is NOT a ‘threat to the deep state’. Here is his warmongering record.
https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/07/15/donald-trump-threat-deep-state-war/
Medvedev is priceless. He and Caitlin should do a collab.
G'day Karl, Jill Stein you hold up as an exemplar. If she had any ability to change something she would have become an accident , it truly surprises that you can be consumed by the show looking for titbits but suggest Caitlin with her ever present correct analysis over and above all the s.... and propaganda can stay true to the correct line. Please be advised anyone coming near the reins of power will be made to disappear now think Jeremy Corbyn and his total besmirchment as antisementic as opposition leader likely to being PM yet you refer to Jill Stein in the same light. Are you focussed some much stateside and West Asia and Russia to miss that in reference to Jill Stein as a possible candidate let alone a future Prez. Love to hear your thoughts.
It's entirely possible to observe the scene and properly describe what's happening while still advocating what one would like to see. At 68, I'm no spring chicken.
G'day RR, how is it someone so clearly above the s.... and propaganda can stay true to her analysis of the genocidal nature of the Evil empire and be scorned as negative in today's genocidal world sure misses me. An all encompassing brief comment after rereading your comment a few times suggests you have no class analysis and look at all from a libertarian individualistic perspective. The power use to be in the hands of the owners of the means of production or the mercantile class but with a wholly financialized economic system the Black Rock and Californian big tech is all today and think Musk and his weird ways and try and orientate one's self and hey presto todays present situation. Negativity comes from a realists analysis of the US and it's powerbase and that no inconsequential power that includes the Kennedys and now think Dallas Texas and JFKs demise could impinge let interrupt their plans without incorporating the whole of society and an uprising and you now understand the reactions to Jan 6 and the judicial response. Maybe as a foreign alien from the stateside psych you could reorientate me to your logic.
Not sure I understand all your points, but as to being libertarian without class analysis, I enjoy that one since I am a rather old-fashioned monarchist type who values class systems greatly (grew up in England). That said, there is a huge difference between nations with good values versus nations with bad values. And, yes, I think I like nations, especially when they have their own particular language, history and geography.
My objection to Caitlin, again, is that she projects this wicked world wherein we are ruled by Jack and James Elites with each being as evil as the other and We the People having no ability to resist or overthrow them, just accept that They are Running Everything and There Is Nothing We Can Do About It. I sense that the alignment of Trump and RFKJ, even if either or both are not entirely as they seem or up to the job, represents a growing sea-change in the American Body Politic not so much on the leadership as the We the People level. The coming together of reasonable lefties and righties is no small thing if for no other reason than it very, very rarely happens. Although it will probably be skilfully deflected, co-opted or crushed, I hope something good comes from it.
I also guess that Trump sincerely believes he was shot and miraculously survived and he is now sincerely motivated to do a good job and they are going to make some good reforms if they get in despite any resistance. But of course, maybe I'm just 'being fooled again!'
G'day RR, do you consider RF!to be left and wou,d do something positive for anybody outside the elites? In England Labor is supposed to represent workers, when Jeremy Corbyn was leader and likely be PM he was unturned by a false antisementism campaign and replaced by a drop knee Starmer.
Caitlin is not fatalistic she sticks with a correct analysis of the situation, there is not anyway of changing things through the proffered candidates particularly in the US let alone in the UK or Australia. If times were more advanced towards civil society breakdown and organisations existed to espouse of she would but her role of informing the masses of the constant propaganda they are marinating in is what she is doing.
Thanks for the heads up about your affection towards the royals, now that Elizabeth is gone who did do a tremendous job over nearly 70 years how do you perceive their role remaining relevant I this changing world. That is besides being head of state in the Commonwealth.
Not a fan of the British Royals who are more ceremonial than authentic monarchs. Ancient Roman Kings seem much better; each one had to be picked from outside the nation with no ties inside but was given full authority. Rule by committee is easier to factionalize and corrupt.
Kennedy left? Probably. I don't find those labels relevant any more. It's more like those who want to reform the system versus those who want to profit from it. I think RFK is a sincere reformer as his real world track record dealing with large corporations and govt departments in the fields of health and environment demonstrates. I've given up trying to understand Trump, either what he says - which is often bafflegab to me - or what he does or doesn't do. He is a shark swimming in shark-infested waters which I know almost nothing about.
G'day RR, your reference to reformers of the system says it all. When they only offer to tinker on the periphery then that defines their acquiesce of the whole, well maybe you see something I can't. As for the relevance of left and right well I believe that stems from the top to be able to implant their man and say wow look how different he is when they are a puppet playing the game they have been permitted. Left and right will always be defining of the politics of the candidate in that left represents social democracy or stronger which values healthcare education for all and a fair wage over corporate profits and a complete regulation of that corporate profit via tax. Note never has that been allowed in the US unlike in Britian and Australia where NHS and Medicare exist though now quite watered down in respect NHS a little less with Medicare. Anything outside of that is right wing and the fact that someone like Trump or any other populist demagogue can get votes from poor blacks/whites says it all in that he represents his own class interests of lowering taxes and killing subsidised healthcare as he did in his first term. RFK could not possibly reform anything will a hostile congress and from any objective analysis he is quite right of centre.
You made no comment in regards Corbyn and the fact he was the first left of centre politicians within coooeee of being PM since maybe never and look at all the lies used by the Zionazis that got him ousted purely for fear of his desire for human rights of the Palestinians. Think where Britian would be if Corbyn was PM. Certainly not supporting WW111 and genocide in Gaza and the West Bank.
I didn't mention Corbyn because don't live in UK and missed most of his career, but from what little I can tell he was the best left-leaning politician of his generation and he was suppressed by the Powers that Be.
In which regard I understand what you are saying about the left versus right being a setup, but that is from the point of view of those on top. Every once in a while those on the bottom can think to themselves and it is from that bottom-up We the People POV that I am expressing hope that the Kennedy-Trump alliance will bear fruit. Chances are it won't, but they are making good noises. Trump just published a 9 point plan which is pretty radical. One of them has Kennedy heading up national health services to clean it up and make it fly straight. Other similar things too. Maybe it's all a con. But the joining together of both left and right populists rarely happens and is the ONLY way for some sort of authentic reform thrust to get going, at least from the We the People level. IMO.
Who is the Bigger Dickhead???