I heard something of interest on Thom Hartmann's program this morning.
A caller said he could not access Hartmann's Facebook page. Hartmann
told him that not only had Facebook blocked his business account, they
had blocked his personal account that he uses to keep in touch with
family and close friends.
A mistake on the part of Facebook? Or a sign that there is a crack
down, a cleansing or a purge of "undesirables"? If Facebook can
arbitrarily cancel a mild mannered Leftish Leaning democrat like Thom
Hartmann, what does that mean for our "freedom of information"?
Of course I am one of those who has believed for a long time that our
News was being "Managed". But now it looks as if the gloves are off,
and the government is getting down to serious business.
Carl Jarvis
On 11/6/19, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
One has to be intelligent and intellectually curious in order to even
suspect that what one sees on TV, hears on the radio, and reads in the
newspapers and magazines, might not be the truth. And although we may have
been taught democratic values in school, we were not taught accurate
history, at least not most of the time. The only historical truth I remember
being taught in public elementary school is that wars are fought over
natural resources. Those folks who say you should listen to both sides are
repeating really bad advice. The good advice is, listen to as many facts as
you can in relation to an issue so that maybe you'll end up with an idea
approximating the truth. But both sides of an argument? That's like this
media idea of balance so they have a person in favor of intervening
militarily in Syria and someone who is in favor of financial sanctions
instead, and you've been sold the lie that you've heard a balanced
presentation.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Wednesday, November 06, 2019 11:29 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: The Enemy Within
I've been told, on other Lists, that I should listen to all sides rather
than only listening to the Far Left.
In fact, even if I tried to restrict my listening to the Far Left, it would
be impossible. First, much of the news which challenges the Ruling Class,
is blocked. Second, when news negatively effecting the positions held by
the Ruling Class do find their way into the Media, it is distorted to a
point of total confusion.
As a young man, I believed that propaganda consisted of outright lies.
Now I understand that the most effective propaganda distorts, weaves false
information into factual reports, and turns constructive criticism into
attacks on our nation.
The Ruling Class has gone far beyond simply controlling the hard news, it
has influenced our thinking at all levels of Life in America. Our entire
value system has become so distorted that it no longer compares to those
values which were taught to us in grade school.
The attacks on Max Blumenthal is only the latest trashing of outspoken
Citizens. But what is especially frightening is the lack of outrage by
Americans. Of course to a major extent, it is due to the well managed
control of the news, and the failure of public exposure. But it is equally
the lack of the American Working Class to demand a Media that represents the
American Working Class. We have been so conditioned to accept what is being
told us as actual news that we believe much of it, and we make no effort to
question it.
We are left with the impression that "the government" is a bunch of
bumbling, posturing, greedy, self serving buffoons rather than what it is,
the highly effective defender of the Ruling Class. This government is the
government of an Oligarchy consisting of descendants of White male European
Landholders. It is their money and influence that puts their chosen puppets
in place. Compromising is simply a fools mission.
And so, some of our greatest minds will be trashed and forgotten because
they dared to question the stumbling giant called America.
And like Humpty Dumpty, picking up the pieces after our great fall, may be
too late.
Carl Jarvis
Carl Jarvis
On 11/6/19, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Yes, he'll probably be erased from the internet, from history. I've
been posting all these articles about the arrest of Max Blumenthal.
Did you hear that tidbit of news on any of the commercial media or NPR
or PBS? Or was there anything in the media about the fact that part
of the protests in Hong Kong were against the financial inequality
caused by capitalism and the other part was protest against China
financed by the US? The Real News and Democracy Now didn't get that right
either.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx On Behalf Of Roger Loran
Bailey (Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Tuesday, November 05, 2019 9:54 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; Carl Jarvis <carjar82@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: The Enemy Within
Well then, you'd better start teaching them. It's not like the mass
media are going to make sure that they learn.
---
David Hume
??? In our reasonings concerning matter of fact, there are all
imaginable degrees of assurance, from the highest certainty to the
lowest species of moral evidence. A wise man, therefore, proportions
his belief to the evidence. ???
??? David Hume,
On 11/5/2019 9:31 PM, Carl Jarvis wrote:
I can only hope that my grand children will learn about Chris Hedges
as one of America's great minds.
Carl Jarvis
s
On 11/5/19, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
We could have studied English for 20 years, 20 hours a day and we'd
never have been able to learn to write like that because neither of
us has his brain power. Yes, he's incredibly articulate, but he's
also able to understand stuff. He can put his religious studies and
his philosophical reading, and his war experiences, and his
political instincts together, like no one else.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Monday, November 04, 2019 9:44 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: The Enemy Within
Another brilliant piece by Chris Hedges. I studied French in high
school.
I should have studied English.
Carl Jarvis
On 11/4/19, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Here it all is. Hedges has explained our situation clearly and
concisely which is why he's not allowed on any US media anymore,
not even Democracy now, just RT. A man who is a Presbyterean
minister and was a New York Times foreign bureau chief, is teaching
literature to prisoners in New Jersey and his material is on one
alternative website.
Miriam
The Enemy Within
The Enemy Within
Our democracy is not in peril-we do not live in a democracy. The
image of our democracy is in peril. The deep state-the generals,
bankers, corporatists, lobbyists, intelligence chiefs, government
bureaucrats and technocrats-is intent on salvaging the brand. It is
hard to trumpet yourself as the world's guardian of freedom and
liberty with Donald Trump blathering on incoherently about himself,
inciting racist violence, insulting our traditional allies along
with the courts, the press and Congress, tweeting misspelled
inanities and impulsively denouncing or sabotaging bipartisan
domestic and foreign policy. But Trump's most unforgivable sin in
the eyes of the deep state is his criticism of the empire's endless
wars, even though he lacks the intellectual and organizational
skills to oversee a disengagement.
The deep state committed the greatest strategic blunder in American
history when it invaded and occupied Afghanistan and Iraq. Such
fatal military fiascoes, a feature of all late empires, are called
acts of "micro-militarism." Dying empires historically squander the
last capital they have, economic, political and military, on
futile, intractable and unwinnable conflicts until they collapse.
They seek in these acts of micro-militarism to recapture a former
dominance and lost stature. Disaster piles on disaster. The
architects of our imperial death spiral, however, are untouchable.
The clueless generals and politicians who propel the empire into
expanding chaos and fiscal collapse are successful at one
thing-perpetuating themselves. No one is held accountable. A
servile press treats these mandarins with near-religious
veneration. Generals and politicians, many of whom should have been
cashiered or put on trial, are upon retirement given lucrative
seats on the boards of the weapons manufacturers, for whom these
wars are immensely profitable. They are called upon by a fawning
press to provide analysis to the public of the mess they created.
They are held up as exemplars of integrity, selfless service and
patriotism.
After nearly two decades, every purported objective used to justify
our wars in the Middle East has been upended. The invasion of
Afghanistan was supposed to wipe out al-Qaida. Instead, al-Qaida
migrated to fill the power vacuums the deep state created in the
wars in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen.
The war in Afghanistan morphed into a war with the Taliban, which
now controls most of the country and is threatening the corrupt
regime we prop up in Kabul. The deep state orchestrated the
invasion of Iraq, which had nothing to do with the attacks of 9/11.
It confidently predicted it could build a Western-style democracy
and weaken Iran's power in the region.
Instead, it destroyed Iraq as a unified country, setting warring
ethnic and religious factions against each other. Iran, which is
closely tied to the dominant Shiite government in Baghdad, emerged
even stronger. The deep state armed "moderate" rebels in Syria in
an effort to topple President Bashar Assad, but when it realized it
could not control the jihadists-to whom it had provide some $500
million in weapons and assistance-the deep state began to bomb them
and arm Kurdish rebels to fight them. These Kurds would later be
betrayed by Trump. The "war on terror" spread like a plague from
Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya to Yemen, which after five years
of war is suffering one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters.
The financial cost for this misery and death is between $5 trillion
and $8 trillion. The human cost runs into hundreds of thousands of
dead and wounded, shattered cities, towns and infrastructure and
millions of refugees.
Trump committed political heresy when he dared to point out the
folly of unchecked militarism. He will pay for it. The deep state
intends to replace him with someone-perhaps Mike Pence, as morally
and intellectually vacuous as Trump-who will do what he or she is
told.
This is the role of America's
executive: Personify and humanize the empire. Do so with pomp and
dignity.
Barack Obama-who speciously reinterpreted the 2001 Authorization
for Use of Military Force to give the executive the right to
assassinate anyone abroad, even a U.S. citizen, deemed to be a
terrorist-excelled at the game.
The removal of Trump from office would not threaten corporate power.
It would not restore civil liberties, including our right to
privacy and due process. It would not demilitarize the police or
champion the rights of the working class. It would not impede the
profits of the fossil fuel and banking industries. It would not
address the climate emergency. It would not disrupt the warrantless
surveillance of the public. It would not end extraordinary
renditions, the kidnapping of those around the globe considered to
be enemies of the state. It would not halt the assassinations by
militarized drones.
It would not halt the separation of children from their parents and
the warehousing of these children in filthy, overcrowded conditions.
It would not remedy the consolidation of wealth and power by the
oligarchs and the further impoverishment of the citizenry. The
expansion of our prison system and of black sites throughout the
world, sites where we torture, would continue, as would the gunning
down of poor, unarmed citizens in urban wastelands. Most
importantly, the catastrophic foreign wars that have resulted in a
series of failed states and wasted trillions of taxpayer dollars,
would remain sacrosanct, enthusiastically embraced by the leaders
of the two ruling parties, puppets of the deep state.
The impeachment of Trump, despite the enthusiasm of the liberal
elite, is mostly cosmetic. The entire political and governmental
system is corrupt.
Hunter Biden was reportedly paid $50,000 a month to sit on the
board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings, although he
has no training or experience in the gas industry. He had
previously worked for the credit card corporation MBNA, which was
one of Joe Biden's largest campaign contributors when he was a senator
from Delaware.
Hunter Biden was hired by Burisma Holdings for the same reason he
was hired by MBNA. His father, long a tool of corporate power and
the military-industrial complex, in short the deep state, was a
senator and later the vice president. Joe Biden, the Clintons and
the Democratic Party leaders personify the legalized bribery that
defines their rivals in the Republican Party. Corporate candidates
in the two ruling parties are preselected, funded and anointed. If
they do not abide by the demands of the deep state, which protects
corporate interests and the management of empire, they are removed.
There is even a word for it-primarying. Corporate lobbyists write
the laws. The courts enforce them.
There is no way in the American political system to vote against
the interests of Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, AT&T, Amazon, Microsoft,
Walmart, Alphabet, Facebook, Apple, Exxon Mobil, Lockheed Martin,
UnitedHealth Group or Northrop Grumman.
We, the American public, are spectators. An audience. Who will be
seated when the game of musical chairs stops? Will Trump be able to
hold on to power? Will Pence be the new president? Or will the deep
state elevate a political hack like Biden or a neoliberal apologist
such as Pete Butiggieg, Amy Klobuchar or Kamala Harris to the White
House? Will it draft Michael Bloomberg, John Kerry, Sherrod Brown
or, God forbid, Hillary Clinton? And what if the deep state fails?
What if the rot in the Republican Party, or what Glen Ford calls
Trump's "white man's party," is so profound it won't sign on for
the political extinction of the most incompetent president in
American history? The power struggle, which includes blocking
Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren from obtaining the Democratic
Party nomination, will make for months of great television and
generate billions in advertising revenue.
The war between the deep state and Trump began the moment he was
elected.
Former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National
Intelligence James Clapper-both now paid news cable
commentators-along with former FBI head James Comey soon would
accuse Trump of being a tool of Moscow. Intelligence agencies
leaked salacious stories about "pee tapes"
and
blackmail, plus reports of "repeated contacts" with Russian
intelligence.
Brennan, Clapper and Comey were quickly joined by other former
intelligence officials, including Michael Hayden, Michael Morell
and Andrew McCabe.
Their
attacks were then amplified by former senior military leaders
including William McRaven, James Mattis, H.R. McMaster, John Kelly,
James Stavridis and Barry McCaffrey.
The Russia conspiracy, after the release of the Mueller report,
proved to be a dud. The deep state actors, however, were
re-energized by Trump's decision to pressure the government of
Ukraine to investigate Biden. Trump, this time, seems to have given
his deep state enemies enough rope to hang him.
The impeachment of Trump marks a new and frightening chapter in
American politics. The deep state has shown its face. It has made a
public declaration that it will not tolerate dissent, although
Trump's dissent is rhetorical, mercurial and ineffectual. The
effort to impeach Trump sends an ominous message to the American
left. The deep state not only intends to prevent, as it did in
2016, Bernie Sanders or any other progressive Democrat from
achieving power, but has signaled that it will destroy any
politician who attempts to question the maintenance and expansion
of empire. Its animus toward the left is far more pronounced than
its animus toward Trump. And its resources to destroy those on the left
are nearly inexhaustible.
The political philosopher Sheldon Wolin saw it all in his 2008 book
"Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of
Inverted Totalitarianism." He wrote:
"
The political role of corporate power, the corruption of the
political and representative processes by the lobbying industry,
the expansion of executive power at the expense of constitutional
limitations, and the degradation of political dialogue promoted by
the media are the basics of the system, not excrescences upon it.
The system would remain in place even if the Democratic Party
attained a majority; and should that circumstance arise, the system
will set tight limits to unwelcome changes, as is foreshadowed in
the timidity of current Democratic proposals for reform. In the
last analysis the much-lauded stability and conservatism of the
American system owe nothing to lofty ideals, and everything to the
irrefutable fact that it is shot through with corruption and awash
in contributions primarily from wealthy and corporate donors. When
a minimum of a million dollars is required of House candidates and
elected judges, and when patriotism is for the draft-free to extol
and for the ordinary citizen to serve, in such times it is a simple
act of bad faith to claim that politics-as-we-now-know-it can
miraculously cure the evils which are essential to its existence.
There are no internal or external checks on the deep state. The
democratic institutions, including the press, that once gave
citizens a voice and a say in the exercise of power have been
neutered. The deep state will further the corporate consolidation
of wealth and power, expand the social inequality that has thrust
half of Americans into poverty or near poverty, strip us of our
remaining civil liberties and feed the rapacious appetites of the
military and the war industry. The resources of the state will be
squandered as the federal deficit balloons. The frustration and
feelings of stagnation among a disempowered and neglected
citizenry, which contributed to the election of Trump, will mount.
There will come a moment of reckoning, as there has during the last
few days in Lebanon and Chile. Social unrest is inevitable. Any
population can be pushed only so far. The deep state, incapable of
reform and determined to retain its grip on power, will morph under
the threat of popular unrest into a corporatized fascism. It has at
its disposal the legal and physical tools to instantly turn the
United States into a police state. This is the real danger behind
the deep state's drive to impeach Trump. It is a stark message to
obey or be silenced. Trump, in the end, is not the problem. We are.
And if the deep state fails to rid itself of Trump it will, however
reluctantly, use him to carry out its dirty work. Trump, if he
manages to survive in power, will get his military parades. We will
get, with or without Trump, tyranny.
Chris Hedges
Columnist
Chris Hedges is a Truthdig columnist, a Pulitzer Prize-winning
journalist, a New York Times best-selling author, a professor in
the college degree program offered to New Jersey state prisoners by
Rutgers.