Due Dissidence: Glenn Greenwald CALLS OUT Right Wing Free Speech HYPOCRISY on Israel by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]Maniak🥃😾[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

"The cause of 'free speech' on the right, for many people, comes to a grinding halt the minute they arrive to the Israel/Palestine issue"

Yup.

Even though it's not new, it's still amazing how quickly the newly self-declared defenders of free speech joined their blue brothers on the censorship bandwagon.

Then again, kudos to them to highlight the level to which blue and red are the same thing, and the Twitter bio emojis are not even that different that often.

We already knew that the politicians are all playing for the same team.

It's never been clearer that both shitlibs and shitcons are perfectly comfortable with joining forces when it comes to defending authoritarianism and genocide, if the proper triggers are used.

And boy does 'zionism' punch through the whole red/blue imaginary barrier. Suddenly nothing is partisan anymore. You're either pro-genocide-while-denying-it's-happening, or you're an antisemitic terrorist, even if jew.

@LAPDHQ: The LAPD is aware of possible first amendment activity in the Los Angeles area over the next few days. In coordination with the US Secret Service, additional uniformed personnel and other resources will be deployed to ensure the highest level of public safety. by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]Promyka5When in the course of human events... 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The highest level of public safety? Why does that not sound comforting?

@LAPDHQ: The LAPD is aware of possible first amendment activity in the Los Angeles area over the next few days. In coordination with the US Secret Service, additional uniformed personnel and other resources will be deployed to ensure the highest level of public safety. by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

"first amendment activity" = citizens exercising their Constitutionally protected rights.

@caitoz: So obnoxious how Israel simps keep doing this. First of all, Refaat was absolutely right to mock that ridiculous debunked atrocity propaganda. Secondly, even if he wasn't right to make that joke, SOMEONE TELLING A CRUDE JOKE DOESN'T MAKE IT OKAY TO MURDER THEM YOU EVIL FREAKS. by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]Maniak🥃😾[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Let me highlight the part that seems to be lost on genocidal assfucks:

SOMEONE TELLING A CRUDE JOKE DOESN'T MAKE IT OKAY TO MURDER THEM YOU EVIL FREAKS.

@LAPDHQ: The LAPD is aware of possible first amendment activity in the Los Angeles area over the next few days. In coordination with the US Secret Service, additional uniformed personnel and other resources will be deployed to ensure the highest level of public safety. by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]Maniak🥃😾[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

So, over the past two months, we've seen an endless stream of evidence showing that zionists cannot stop telling on themselves.

Apparently, the LAPD is the same.

@briebriejoy: What? Ilhan raising money to fight against AIPAC trying to unseat her is “democrats fighting against Jewish people”? by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]Maniak🥃😾[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The Congressional Progressive Caucus is fundraising, saying "Republican-funded AIPAC is trying to unseat progressives!"

That's the black calling the kettle pot.

Jimmy Dore Show w/ Steve Kirsch: Bombshell! Covid Vaxx Killed Millions Worldwide! by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]ageingrockstar 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Thanks for this reply and the links you included.

The D-Dimer thing sounds interesting, will look into it. Possible affects on my blood is something that I have some concern about.

@SetPixels: These two things happened in the same hour. by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]Maniak🥃😾[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

@aaronjmate:

Just as it vetoes a UN measure to stop the Gaza genocide, the US declares its support for the Genocide Convention and "the goals of atrocity prevention."

@SetPixels: These two things happened in the same hour. by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]Maniak🥃😾[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

@USUN:

and its dedication to genocide prevention and civilian protection. We remain committed to the goals of atrocity prevention – and we honor the work of Raphael Lemkin and generations of peacebuilders. #GenocideConvention75

@UN_News_Centre:

United States vetoes Security Council draft resolution that would have demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, and immediate and unconditional release of all hostages

VOTE

In Favour: 13

Against: 1 (US)

Abstain: 1 (UK)

@briebriejoy: What? Ilhan raising money to fight against AIPAC trying to unseat her is “democrats fighting against Jewish people”? by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The T-Rex fighting the raptors allowed the humans to get away.

Hunter Biden Indicted On Multiple Felony Tax Charges Including 'Office Expense' Deductions For 'Over-The-Hill Strippers' by penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable in WayOfTheBern

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Same. It will be entertaining to see how they manage to shove Kamala aside and promote him, though. Time to stock up on popcorn.

@briebriejoy: What? Ilhan raising money to fight against AIPAC trying to unseat her is “democrats fighting against Jewish people”? by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]Centaurea 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The Congressional Progressive Caucus is fundraising, saying "Republican-funded AIPAC is trying to unseat progressives!"

I got a fundraising text from them last week, in which that's what they said. Framing it as "We have to beat those mean Republicans!"

Hunter Biden Indicted On Multiple Felony Tax Charges Including 'Office Expense' Deductions For 'Over-The-Hill Strippers' by penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable in WayOfTheBern

[–]3andfro 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

This just confirms my rejection of both entrees on the duopoly/uniparty menu for 2024. I can't see supporting anyone the DNC would be ready to nominate, toothsome Newsom included, or Trump or a less likely RNC bobblehead.

Google's best Gemini demo was faked | TechCrunch by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]Maniak🥃😾 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

What's being currently sold as AI is basically a better search engine. You feed it questions, it digs into the massive amount of available data that's been acquired (from us) through the years, using all the 'natural language querying', indexing and parsing tech that has been improved upon for decades now, with the result being presented in a more 'personal' way. Instead of seeing a list of results, you get something that feels like it's tailored just for you. As usual, they're playing on emotions.

It can be quite useful as a focused search engine. In the context of software development, it's basically a faster way to get code samples and documentation extracts for whichever issue you're currently having without having to go look through various blogs and forums yourself.

If it was sold as the search tool that it is, it would make things a lot clearer for many people, but of course that's not the goal. Gotta make people believe that this is the Next Best Thing Ever™️ and that by jumping on that bandwagon and eating up everything they're being fed, they'll be the most hip people around.

Which keeps them far away from ever wondering what else this tech is being used for, and has been for many years before they worked out how to market it to the general public. Because obviously they didn't come up with it just this year, all at the same time, already in a working and marketable state. Those algorithms have been trained and improved over a long time, and that happened by using them.

They weren't being used for mainstream purposes (funny chats and silly pics) until this year, so what could this possibly have been used for during all those previous years? Maybe somebody should ask Snowden. Oh wait, he already answered that question and ended up stranded in Russia.

Google's best Gemini demo was faked | TechCrunch by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Outstanding comment that really explains what exactly we're seeing and how it's just more manipulation of the mindless masses who fall for it. That group includes some close friends who I know will walk right into the trap because they love their toys and the convenience of tech and never count the cost.

Hunter Biden Indicted On Multiple Felony Tax Charges Including 'Office Expense' Deductions For 'Over-The-Hill Strippers' by penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable in WayOfTheBern

[–]3andfro 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Maybe they decided it would be no loss to throw the Bidens under the bus.

The wheels of the bus go 'round and 'round....

Hunter Biden Indicted On Multiple Felony Tax Charges Including 'Office Expense' Deductions For 'Over-The-Hill Strippers' by penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable in WayOfTheBern

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable[S] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

h/t u/3andfro for pointing me to this article, which seems to show this is more than the usual toothless posturing. As I pointed out to u/3andfro:

The details of the indictment in combination with Hunter's own memoirs - wow. As ZH notes, he "spent like a man who thought he operated under a different set of rules." More than a half a million for hookers? And that's while average Americans struggle to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. This is elite privilege writ large.

To your point, the fact that the indictment mentions his financial bonanza from Ukraine and China, it does seem like there's an inside plan to make Joe step down, no doubt because he's turned everything he's touched into an unmitigated disaster and is currently doubling down on making the US even more of a pariah by not just ignoring genocide but actively aiding it.

And, too, it's pretty obvious the American people are royally pissed at the current state of their own lives, thanks to the free-wheeling lifestyles of those who make the rules. Maybe they decided it would be no loss to throw the Bidens under the bus since they're the poster children for corruption.

Google's best Gemini demo was faked | TechCrunch by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]Maniak🥃😾 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

There's "intelligence" in the 'intelligence agencies' sense, gathering, parsing and analyzing as much data as can be grabbed, and there's "intelligence" in the sense that most people think of, reasoning, (critical) thinking, creativity, ...

This 'AI push' was always about the first case. They've been gathering data for decades now, and have enough computing power to use algorithms that can dig into all that data and make it look like there's some kind of intelligence.

The public face of this is designed to appear as if this was something borderline magical, but at its root it's just a branch of the surveillance state that we've all been subjected to for longer than the newer generations have been alive. As always, we're the product and we're being served back to ourselves under the guise of some glorious new tech, whose main use behind the scenes (and not even that hidden) is to monitor and control everything that lowly peasants are doing anywhere.

There's overhyping for sure, because they're marketing this to make even more money off of it, but there's also a lot of misdirection. "Look at all the fun uses of this tech, don't look at where the data it's using comes from and how that part of the whole process is working."

@mattlieb: The amount of people I know personally who are willing to let thousands of children die because they think Israel is an exclusive country club just for them is staggering. [...] by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]chakokat 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

they think Israel is an exclusive country club just for them is staggering.

They, Jews, view it and call it as their ‘birthright’.

Of course Palestinians actually born in Palestine have no ‘birthright’ to exist there.

US Seeking Plausible Deniability as US-Armed Israel Erases Gaza by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]RandomCollection[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The main goal is to drum up Western support for war. Just like the Iraqi WMD. After the war is started, they don't care.

Establishment Alarmism in Overdrive as Raytheon Lloyd Threatens Congress with War by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]RandomCollection[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

https://archive.is/ETt9q

Looks like the Establishment is starting to get desperate. Their tears are delicious. They lied and tried to Censor everyone who questioned their lies.

Now they are going to see the effects of their lying and underestimating Russia.

Central bankers are worried about you getting a raise (pretty much naked class warfare here) by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]RandomCollection[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

We need to fundamentally change our Central Banks to favor lowering unemployment and maximizing real wages (aka inflation adjusted wages).

Google's best Gemini demo was faked | TechCrunch by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]RandomCollection[S] 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

https://archive.is/bGprp

I think that we are going to find out that a lot of the AI push was overhyped.

@mattlieb: The amount of people I know personally who are willing to let thousands of children die because they think Israel is an exclusive country club just for them is staggering. [...] by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]Maniak🥃😾[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Full thread, bold mine:

The amount of people I know personally who are willing to let thousands of children die because they think Israel is an exclusive country club just for them is staggering.

These people have been rationalizing it every day for the last 2 months & every day I keep thinking they are gonna reach a breaking point & every day they find a new Hamas horror to obsess over. They swill their daily hasbara sedative so they can numb themselves to the horror.

I can understand tuning out. I can understand staying silent. I’m not someone who’s gonna yell at you for not posting, I get it! The world is full of sad shit I don’t wanna look deeper into. It’s the defending it that’s killing me.

And for what? So you can one day claim your membership to a blood soaked desert resort? You’d sell your soul for a Sandals?

I’d be less disgusted if the majority of people I know who say “Whats wrong with the Jews having a home?” weren’t literal homeowners. Maybe if rented I’d get it. Rent is very expensive.

Since I was a kid the entire idea of Zionism has been as a contingency plan in case they one day come after us. But then I grew up not being oppressed & seeing other ppl who were in fact oppressed in my city. I thought being against oppression was this WHOLE IDEA was about!

These ppl I’m talking about, I know they can recognize the oppression of others. They used to talk about it all the time. But now theyre not only blind to it, theyre RESENTFUL of all the time they spent talking about it. They want everyone to cosign their contingency plan or gtfo

It’s just all so delusional and theoretical and so massively sociopathic when you realize they can look at all of these dead families day after day and still say “this is necessary and good.”

The cognitive dissonance combined with the over-the-top hostile reactions whenever reality is pointed out to those people is the exact same behavior and reaction as what happened, and still happens, with injection zealots. Mask zealots. Russiagate zealots. Ukraine zealots. You name it.

People all across the board have been conditioned to let their brains and humanity at the door whenever any given trigger is used on them.

It's always the same pattern, other people are always the ones paying the price and are demonized instead of being allies against the owner class who put those triggers in place and uses them to keep the infighting going so they can keep doing whatever the fuck they want.

Texas v. Pfizer Alleges Extensive Misrepresentations About Covid Vaccine Efficacy, Censorship of Critics | naked capitalism by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]RandomCollection[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

https://archive.is/u0c6A

As more details leak out, I think that the pharmaceutical industry is going to suffer a major credibility loss.

Lee Fang & Jack Poulson: Inside the Pro-Israel Information War by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]Maniak🥃😾[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Excerpts from more or less random parts of the (very long) article:

Israeli gov-led Zoom calls, WhatsApp chat logs, and other docs provide a window into the massive effort to shape online discourse and silence pro-Palestinian voices.

As the Israel-Hamas war began to heat up in late October, Courtney Carey, a Dublin-based employee of the Israeli website building company Wix, posted the Irish words “SAOIRSE DON PHALAISTIN” -- “Freedom for Palestine” -- on her LinkedIn page.

Within 24 hours of Carey’s LinkedIn post appearing, Alon Ozer, a Miami-based investor, took a screenshot of the post and shared it with a WhatsApp group of more than 300 like-minded investors, tech executives, activists, and at least one senior Israeli government official. Ozer took care to note that Carey worked for Wix.

Oded Hermoni, a tech journalist-turned-venture capitalist, piped up to assure everyone that Batsheva Moshe, Wix’s general manager for Israel and a member of the group chat, had been “on it since Sat[urday] night.”

Moshe then chimed in to assure her peers that the issue with Carey had been “taken care of since it was published.”

“I believe there will be an announcement soon re our reaction,” she added.

Wix terminated Carey the following day.

[...]

The WhatsApp group where Carey’s case came up serves as a kind of switchboard where the various independent players in Silicon Valley’s pro-Israel community swap ideas, identify enemies, and collaborate on ways to defend Israel in the media, academia, and the business world.

We have obtained access to thousands of the group’s WhatsApp messages dating back to mid-October, and an intricate spreadsheet where group participants request and claim tasks ranging from social media responses to IDF support shipments. Separately, we have viewed a number of video meetings charting best practices for “hasbara” – an Israeli term of art for “public diplomacy” whose detractors see it as a euphemism for propaganda -- that offer a window into Israel’s public-relations war that is not limited to the tech sector.

[...]

The IDF spokesman encouraged those on the call to assist with “maintaining pressure on legislators” in Congress and to work to influence those “in universities or media, or think tanks, or in elite circles.”

Members of the hasbara-oriented tech world WhatsApp group have eagerly taken up the call to shape public opinion as part of a bid to win what’s been described as the “second battlefield” and “the information war.”

[...]

In some cases, officials from the IDF and other parts of the Israeli government have joined the effort. David, the Israeli foreign ministry official and an investor in J-Ventures, has shared official talking points in the WhatsApp group.

[...]

"You guys are our frontline soldiers,” said Tamar Schwarzbard, head of Digital Diplomacy at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, on an October Zoom call posted online by Hasbara Fellowships, a nonprofit group that works closely with the Israeli government to train pro-Israel activists in the U.S. and Canada. She noted that the government needed help reframing the Gaza war and the public messaging over the conflict with Hamas.

“Let’s say you see some kind of newspaper article on your campus news site showing support or solidarity with the Palestinians and not speaking out against what's going on in the Gaza envelope and in Israel,” she said. “So you want to make sure, try to tag, let's say, the president of the university on the post you're putting out condemning that article.”

“Hamas does really good PR,” continued Schwarzbard. “We need to change the narrative.” She implored the group to use focused language. “We need people to see this isn't just a run-of-the-mill resistance, freedom fighter group. This is something equivalent of ISIS.”

[...]

The Israel-based venture capitalist outlined three categories of people for whom outreach, rather than attacks, is the best strategy. The first group is what he dubbed “the impressionables,” who are "typically young people, they reflexively support the weak, oppose the oppressor," but "are not really knowledgeable." For this category of people, the goal is not to "convince them of anything," but to "show them that it's much more complicated than it seems." Seeding doubt, he said, would make certain audiences think twice before attending a protest. "So it's really about creating some kind of confusion,” Fisher continued, “but really, just to make it clear to them that it's really a lot more complicated."

A second category, Fisher explained, is the "uncomfortable sympathizer," a group that "wants to support Israel -- they're typically more liberal," but opposes the current government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. These types can be won over, Fisher said, by pointing out "that we are a multi-ethnic, diverse, democratic liberal society with rotten apples."

The final group consists of those who are "reflexively pro-Israel, kind of ‘Israel, right or wrong.’" Members of this group "are not actually very knowledgeable," so they needed to be equipped with the right facts to make them "more effective in advocating for Israel,” Fisher said.

[...]

The WhatsApp chats provide a rare look at the organizing efforts behind the broad push to fire critics of Israel and suppress public events featuring critics of the Israeli government. The scope is surprisingly broad, ranging from investigating the funding sources of student organizations such as Model Arab League, to monitoring an organizing toolkit of a Palestine Solidarity Working Group – “They are verrrry well organized”, one member exclaimed – to working directly with high-level tech executives to fire pro-Palestinian employees.

[...]

The WhatsApp group mustered similar efforts against pro-Palestinian activists and writers. Lior Netzer, a business consultant based in Massachusetts, and a member of the J-Ventures WhatsApp group, requested help pressuring the University of Vermont to cancel a lecture with Mohammed El-Kurd, a Palestinian writer for The Nation magazine. Netzer shared a sample script that alleged that El-Kurd had engaged in anti-Semitic speech in the past.

The effort also appeared to be successful. Shortly after the letter-writing campaign, UVM canceled the talk, citing safety concerns.

The pro-Israel organizing efforts to silence pro-Palestinian speech raises concerns with some observers of the conflict.

“You can disagree with critics of Israel, you can oppose what they're saying,” noted the Quincy Institute’s Clifton. “But this is an effort to constrain the debate in an underhanded manner.”

[...]

Speaking to the Hasbara Fellowships audience, Hoffman also characterized himself as a foot soldier in a wider war on behalf of Israel, rather than a media watchdog primarily concerned with combating bias, as its website suggests. “There are three battles going on right now for Israel’s existence,” he said. Those battles, he explained, take place on the military battlefield, on college campuses,” and the one in which HonestReporting engages, “the media battlefield.”

Victory on the “media battlefield,” Hoffman concluded, “eases pressure on IDF to go quicker, to wrap up” and “goes a long way to deciding how much time Israel has to complete an operation.”

Free trade and debt : the two sides of neocolonialism by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]RandomCollection[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

https://archive.is/dffVl

For all of the talk about China being a debt trap nation, it's mostly the West that's doing the screwing over the rest of the world.

Israel rounding up hundreds of Palestinian boys, men and disappearing them by chakokat in WayOfTheBern

[–]kingsmegLiberté, égalité, fraternité 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

... again. Or should I say 'still' ?

Ilan Pappe on Israel: "We are witnessing the beginning of the end" by mzyps in WayOfTheBern

[–]kingsmegLiberté, égalité, fraternité 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I think people are overestimating the impact of public opinion, including public anger, on countries' leadership. Also underestimating the willingness of said leadership to ignore crimes against humanity when their personal finances are implicated. There's a reason none of the Arab states are actively backing Hamas and the Palestinians: they make too much money from the status quo. The only ones who are taking active measures being the Yemeni Houthis, who were already completely blacklisted by the entire West and have survived a genocidal proxy US war against them, so they have nothing to lose.

Caitlin Johnstone: If The Pro-Israel Position Was Based On Truth And Morality, It Wouldn't Depend On Lies And Slander by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]Maniak🥃😾[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

If your position is based on truth and morality, you don’t need to make up lies to defend it, and you don’t need to hurl false accusations at those who disagree with it.

If your position was based on truth and morality, you wouldn’t need to circulate bogus atrocity propaganda about decapitated babies, babies cooked in ovens, and murdered pregnant women.

If your position was based on truth and morality, you wouldn’t have to circulate lies claiming actual dead Palestinian babies in Gaza are plastic dolls.

If your position was based on truth and morality, you wouldn’t have to falsely present phony audio clips as intercepted Hamas communications and claim they exonerate you of war crime allegations.

If your position was based on truth and morality, you wouldn’t have to circulate lies and propaganda about the hospitals you plan to attack being secret Hamas headquarters.

If your position was based on truth and morality, your official government social media accounts wouldn’t have to keep deleting posts after getting caught circulating lie after lie.

If your position was based on truth and morality, you wouldn’t have to circulate amazingly cringey propaganda videos like Israeli children singing about how great it will be to destroy Gaza and Israeli women doing yoga over the pictures of Israeli hostages.

If your position was based on truth and morality, you wouldn’t find yourself engaged in bizarre mental contortions trying to pretend history began on October 7 while sweeping all the mountains of murder and abuse which led up to it under the carpet.

If your position was based on truth and morality, you wouldn’t have to keep pointing at something that happened months ago to defend what you’ve been doing in the present moment in all the days since.

If your position was based on truth and morality, you wouldn’t need to resort to hurling false accusations of anti-semitism at those who criticize your side instead of producing robust counter-arguments.

If your position was based on truth and morality, you wouldn’t need to resort to accusing those who disagree with you of supporting terrorism and serving Hamas instead of defending your position like a normal adult.

If your position was based on truth and morality, you wouldn’t need to lie and claim that longstanding pro-Palestine slogans are actually calls for the genocide of Jews to try and get them silenced.

If your position was based on truth and morality, you wouldn’t feel the need to censor and silence everyone who disagrees with you online, on college campuses, and on all platforms of major influence.

If your position was based on truth and morality, you would get curious and do some self-examination when young people overwhelmingly reject that position instead of insisting that the young people are the problem and trying to kill TikTok and outlaw demonstrations.

If your position was based on truth and morality you would be defending it with facts, logic and rational argumentation instead of vitriol, online troll mobs and incendiary false accusations.

If your position is based in truth and morality, you can defend it in a truthful and moral way, instead of the exact opposite.

Ilan Pappe on Israel: "We are witnessing the beginning of the end" by mzyps in WayOfTheBern

[–]Xeenophile 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

SO. What began (at least outwardly) as a nationalist project - i.e. based on the notion that a society can only be cohesive if everyone in it shares certain common (mostly) superficial traits - specifically by a "nation" that had just endured an event so terrible that many were driven to the conclusion that they could only function among themselves, is now dying of lack of social cohesion. How ironic.

Ilan Pappe on Israel: "We are witnessing the beginning of the end" by mzyps in WayOfTheBern

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Interesting observations, esp. this part (paraphrasing): Israel enjoys the support of western governments and elites but it has lost support of civil societies. It's probably the only state in the world that lobbies for its existence. Not for its policies or better economic performance, but for its very moral justification, and it's losing that battle.

Oil Demand Will Take a Hit from Yet Another Decline in U.S. Manufacturing | OilPrice.com by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]RandomCollection[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

https://archive.ph/tlDr2

Despite all of Biden's claims to the contrary, the US economy is not doing well at all.

China's economy is going up right now and the OPEC+ countries recently cut their oil production, which may offset this.

Israel rounding up hundreds of Palestinian boys, men and disappearing them by chakokat in WayOfTheBern

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This is not good.

The Gaza War Has Convinced Russia It Was Right All Along by chakokat in WayOfTheBern

[–]chakokat[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The conflict in the Middle East is the perfect crisis for Russia, which is reaping a whole host of political benefits. The confrontation between Israel and Hamas has not only boosted the Kremlin’s hopes of changing the mood around the war in Ukraine, but also strengthened its belief that the Western-centric system of international relations is breaking down.

snip

Washington’s pro-Israel stance undermines the legitimacy of the West’s broader reasons for supporting Ukraine in the eyes of many in the Global South. The moral argument against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine now looks like empty words, particularly in Middle East nations.

Photos of the ruins in Gaza, reports of thousands of dead children, and the outrage of humanitarian organizations have made a deep impression on people in the developing world. People can argue endlessly about the reasons for the war in Ukraine, or Israel’s operation in Gaza, but for many the conclusion is obvious: the United States was critical of Russia when it killed innocent civilians in Ukraine, and now it is silent when its ally Israel does the same thing in Gaza.

A vision of the world in which morals and ideologies are irrelevant—and the only thing that counts are state interests—has long been the dominant one in the Kremlin. And this logic dictates that there is no better outcome for Moscow than the continuation of the Middle East conflict, which is destroying the West’s strategy toward Russia. Moscow does not even have to lift a finger: Israel’s ground operation in Gaza looks unlikely to end anytime soon. When it does, intractable issues will remain.

snip

Moscow’s bet on the disintegration of a Western-oriented international order appears to be paying off. Today it’s Israel and Palestine; tomorrow, it could be Taiwan and China. As such, the Middle East conflict confirms the hypothesis that Russia cannot be isolated. The Global South no longer trusts the West, and that means new opportunities for Moscow.

The conflict also shores up the Kremlin’s hope that the difficulties caused by the war in Ukraine will—with time—dissipate on their own. This approach has been tried and tested by Russia many times. Even if the invasion did not go as planned, the logic runs, everything will resolve itself.

Taken together, all of this means that Russia will remain a passive actor in the Israel-Hamas war. Moscow had no role in triggering the crisis, and couldn’t resolve it even if it wanted to. Russia cannot even play the role of an intermediary, because Israel is nervous of its closeness to Tehran. The only option left is to watch events unfold from a distance and repeat empty phrases about a two-state solution. In the meantime, the benefits the Kremlin is reaping from events in the Middle East only serve to convince the Russian elite that they have chosen the right path.

Michael Shellenberger -- It Sounds Like a "Black Mirror" Episode: A Small Country (Ireland) Announces a Crackdown on 'Hate Speech' to Seize Control Over the Entire Internet | What the Great Reset and 2030 Agenda are attempting to impose on all nations. by stickdog in WayOfTheBern

[–]stickdog[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Excerpt:

Except it's not a "Black Mirror" episode. It's real life. And it's happening right now in Ireland.

The so-called "Hate Speech" bill isn't what it seems. It's not a bill about protecting the Irish people from hate crimes. It's a Trojan Horse designed to control the world's Big Tech companies — X, Facebook, Google, and YouTube.

This is a free speech emergency. We thought the legislation was dead. But the Irish government is using recent riots as an excuse to ram the legislation through before Christmas.

THIS IS NOT A DRILL. THIS IS NOT ABOUT IRELAND. THIS IS A TOTALITARIAN EFFORT BY GLOBAL ELITES TO CENSOR ALL OF US.

It's right there in black and white: "One of the key features of the Bill," write two attorneys with a leading Irish law firm, "is the provision for offences by corporate bodies."

https://matheson.com/insights/detail/hate-speech-bill-corporate-offences-on-the-horizon…

How can Big Tech companies avoid censorship?

You guessed it: by agreeing to regulation of their content by the Irish government.

"The current iteration of the Bill provides a defence for the corporate body to show that it took all reasonable steps and exercised due diligence to avoid the commission of the particular offence. Therefore, to establish and maintain such a defence, companies will need to have the appropriate processes and procedures in place."

The Irish government is almost certainly not acting alone. As my colleagues and I have reported, the demand for censorship is coming directly from the militaries, intelligence agencies, and their front groups in the US, UK, and around the world.

https://x.com/shellenberger/status/1731737414077719029?s=20…

The intelligence communities of the Five Eyes nations of the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand have been working together to censor ordinary citizens and politicians alike for disfavored speech for the last several years.

https://x.com/shellenberger/status/1729537450752811097?s=20…

There's no time to mince words. What governments are doing is against the law. They are violating the constitutions of the nations that the people elected them to uphold.

Because of the high level of secrecy they are using, we can't say whether or not these are "rogue" elements within governments or whether these orders are coming from heads of state.

But we do know that demands for censorship have come both directly from the US military and from heads of state of Western nations around the world.

What's happening should terrify all freedom-loving people.

We must fight back.

We will fight back.

That starts with recognizing what's going on.

...

The Schizotocracy, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The New Normal Reich by stickdog in WayOfTheBern

[–]stickdog[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Excerpt:

Well, 2023 is almost in the books, and things couldn’t be going better for the New Normal Reich. It’s been a long, strange seven years, but we’re finally back to the Global War on Terror, which, as you may recall, was abruptly preempted in 2016 by the War on Populism, which, as you may recall, was abruptly preempted in 2020 by the Apocalyptic Pandemic, which, as you may recall, was what ushered The New Normal Reich into being and brought us full-circle.

Anyway, here we are, back in The Global War on Terror, or the War on Horror, or The War on Whatever … Islamic terrorism, Russia, Trump, disinformation, racism, hate speech, conspiracy theories, anti-Semitism, anti-vaxxerism, transphobians, Communists, cultural Marxists, radical wokesters, the Cult of Musk, neo-Covidians, Zionazis, climate-change deniers, decapitated baby rapers … it doesn’t really matter. Pick an enemy and join the Roman Orgy of Hatred!

The schizotocracy couldn’t care less which side of whatever you think you are on.

Yes, that’s right, “the schizotocracy.” I’ve coined a new name for the supranational network of global corporations, nominally-sovereign governments, non-governmental governing entities, media conglomerates, oligarchs, etc., that comprise the global-capitalist system that is driving the course of events in our time. I’ve coined this new name for those of my readers who suffer apoplectic seizures whenever I write about “global capitalism” (or “GloboCap,” as I sometimes jokingly call it) and its predictable evolution into “The New Normal Reich.”

...

Now, let me tell you about the schizotocracy. Or, rather, let me tell you about schizophrenia, which is really just a fancy name for psychosis. I want to do that because that’s where global capitalism (or crony capitalism, or the corporatocracy, or the New Normal Reich, or cultural Marxism, or whatever you want or need to call it) is inexorably taking us, i.e., into a state of societal psychosis, so it would probably be a good idea to understand how psychosis works.

What happens when you become psychotic is, you lose your ability to participate in “reality.” It’s like being in a country where you don’t speak the language. Or trying to play a game that everyone else is playing when you don’t know the rules, or the point of the game, and no one will tell you. See, normally, “reality” is just, well, reality. It doesn’t take scare quotes. It’s just “the way it is.” But it isn’t. Reality is manufactured. Which is why what is “real” has changed throughout history. (Of course, those earlier versions of reality were wrong, and our current reality is right, and future generations will never look back on our reality as we look back on the reality of people in Medieval Europe, or ancient Rome, or Mesopotamia.)

In other words, reality is a fiction … a fiction that we all agree to believe in. But that doesn’t make it any less real. On the contrary, it is absolutely real, and absolutely necessary. It is an absolutely necessary fiction. It is what makes communication and cooperation possible. It is what makes all human society possible. As long as we forget that it is a fiction. As long as we don’t perceive it as a fiction.

Which is the problem for psychotic (or “schizophrenic”) individuals. They are unable to not perceive reality as a fiction, a work of ontological fiction in progress. They have forgotten to forget that it’s all made up — which is the price of admission to our communal “reality” — so they desperately try to interpret everything … literally everything, everything that we don’t have to interpret and just take for granted.

...

OK, so back to the schizotocracy, which is where The New Normal Reich is taking us, which I described above as societal psychosis. And, yes, we need to talk about capitalism. We need to talk about what it does to society when people let it run amok.

Now, I want to be ultra-clear about this for those of my readers who go totally ape-shit every time I write about capitalism. I have no problem with capitalism per se. I’m not an economist. For all I know, capitalism may be the best economic system in the entire history of economic systems. I am not calling on the proletariat to rise up and seize the means of production. I am writing about capitalism as an ideology, because it’s the ideology that has become our reality, the reality of the planet Earth, which it is transforming into one big marketplace.

See, what capitalism does, if you turn it loose, when it isn’t restrained in any real way by any sort of dominant value system — e.g., a religious, or cultural, or social value system — what it does is, it transforms societies into markets, and turns everything and everyone within them into commodities. It strips societies of all other values — i.e., impediments to the free flow of capital — until nothing remains but the marketplace, where exchange value is the only value and nothing has any real value in itself, or any real meaning in itself.

And the kicker is, what capitalism does next, when it’s allowed to go hog-wild on society, is it sells the desiccated husks of people’s values back to them as lifestyle commodities. Identities, religions, political parties, sexual orientations, left, right, capitalist, anti-capitalist, whatever. They are all just interchangeable commodities. Consumer products. Leisure activities. If they aren’t, if you attempt to actually live your life according to non-global-capitalist values (like, just for example, Islam, or Christianity, or communism, or any other values that impede the unbridled flows of capital), you will quickly find yourself branded an “extremist.” Go ahead, those of you who call yourselves Christians, try this … give everything you have to the poor, chase the money-changers out of your churches. See how fast you are branded “terrorists.”

...

We end up with societal psychosis. We end up ruled by a schizotocracy. Our reality changes from day to day, as does who we thought were our allies and adversaries, depending on the fluctuations of the market. The ideological market. The “reality” market. One day we’re all “free-speech” champions, and the next we’re screeching for censorship of speech. One day people are demonizing “the Unvaccinated,” and the next they are screeching that they are being demonized. Comparing anything to Nazi Germany is anti-Semitism, until it isn’t, and wasn’t, until it was, and then wasn’t again. Trump is Hitler. Putin is Hitler. Hamas is Hitler. Netanyahu is Hitler. Anyone who calls anyone Hitler is Hitler. Men are women. Women are Hitler. The Hamas terrorists are worse than the Nazis. Israel is worse than the Nazis. Masks work, and they don’t. Stand with Ukraine. Stand with Israel. Stand with Whatever. Listerine kills the germs that brushing can’t. Have it your way. You’re in good hands. Fly the friendly skies. And so on. Nothing and no one can be trusted. No one has any values or principles, so we’re just shrieking gibberish and slogans at each other, like corporations advertising their products on a television network that no one is watching.

And, of course, just like the psychotic individual, who desperately attempts to impose a new “reality” on the terrifying chaos of the obliterated reality from which they have been exiled, many folks are going full-blown fascist and trying to ram their “truth” down everyone else’s throat in an attempt to reestablish something, anything, resembling a functional reality … a reality that isn’t up for grabs. Other people are switching off, and withdrawing from society, overwhelmed by it all. Others are searching for someone to tell them what is really going on and what to do about it. “Leaders” are coming out of the woodwork, delivering speeches and holding seminars, explaining the problem … and who “our enemy” is.

I think you know how the rest of this story goes.

...

Israel rounding up hundreds of Palestinian boys, men and disappearing them by chakokat in WayOfTheBern

[–]chakokat[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Hundreds of Palestinian boys and men over the age of 15 are being rounded up by occupation forces in northern Gaza, stripped of their clothes and taken away.

Shocking images and video footage circulating online show the boys and men stripped to their underwear and left sitting on the ground in the cold winter temperatures in Gaza. They can be seen surrounded by heavily armed Israeli occupation soldiers who are screaming orders at them.

Further images show an army people carrier filled with the men being driven away.

It is not clear how many boys and men were disappeared, but some reports have put the figure as high as 700. They are said to have been taken from shelter schools in northern Gaza where thousands of displaced civilians were forced to take shelter as a result of the bombing and destruction of their neighbourhoods and homes.

Reports that among those taken is Diaa Al-Kahlot, bureau chief of Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed newspaper in Gaza. With social media users saying they have identified him sitting in a vest and his underwear among the rows of men in the images released.

‘Finding the Truth’ About Gov't Censorship is Not Easy, Journalists Tell U.S. Congress | A whistleblower has come forward with an explosive new trove of documents exposing a global censorship program. by stickdog in WayOfTheBern

[–]stickdog[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Excerpt:

Last week’s hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government featured testimony from two investigative journalists about newly released documents.

Journalists Michael Shellenberger and Matt Taibbi discussed the “CTIL Files” — which refer to the Cyber Threat Intelligence League, or CTI League, a key player in the “Censorship-Industrial Complex.”

The files are based on documents received from an unnamed but “highly credible” whistleblower, according to the journalists, and reveal more details about what they first referred to in March, during previous testimony before the committee, as the “Censorship-Industrial Complex.”

THE CTIL FILES #1

“Many people insist that governments aren't involved in censorship, but they are. And now, a whistleblower has come forward with an explosive new trove of documents, rivaling or exceeding the Twitter Files and Facebook Files in scale and importance.” — Michael Shellenberger, 28 Nov 2023 (X) Two additional witnesses testified last week: Rupa Subramanya, a Canadian journalist who writes for The Free Press, and Olivia Troye, a former Homeland Security and Counterterrorism adviser who worked for the Office of Vice President Mike Pence.

The findings contained within the first release of the “CTIL Files” were a focus of the hearings, including allegations that the federal government engaged in “public-private partnerships” that outsourced censorship to private entities to circumvent First Amendment free speech protections.

Subramanya warned that encroaching censorship in the U.S. may lead to a situation similar to that of Canada, where many categories of speech are restricted.

Subcommittee to subpoena Biden administration officials

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chair of the subcommittee, said during his opening remarks, “One of the most egregious forms of the weaponization that this subcommittee has worked to expose is the coercion of social media companies by the federal government,” crediting the “Twitter Files” with casting light on such examples.

“We wouldn’t know anything that we know today, we wouldn’t have learned and had the reports we’ve had, without the work of Matt Taibbi, Michael Shellenberger [and] other journalists who wrote the Twitter Files and … exposed these efforts,” Jordan said.

“The path for getting this information out has not been easy. Finding the truth never is. Instead, we were obstructed at almost every turn.”

Jordan said that while the subcommittee has previously shed light on multiple instances of federal government censorship of speech, and has “more information forthcoming,” it is nevertheless “impossible to get a full accounting of the government’s censorship efforts” without the cooperation of the “government actors involved.”

He said the subcommittee subpoenaed former White House officials Robert Flaherty and Andrew Slavitt, noting they “have so far refused to sit for interviews despite being directly implicated in emails between the White House and tech companies.”

...

Silly Nikki - “For every 30 minutes that someone watches TikTok, every day, they become 17% more anti-Semitic.” LOL! by RR_2023 in WayOfTheBern

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

My brain cells start committing suicide if I try to listen to her at all so I obviously avoid that!

Lindsay Graham has abandoned his support for military aid to Ukraine and has shifted his wartime boner to Iran. Still has not consulted a doctor after experiencing an erection lasting more than 4 hours. by rondeuce40DC Is Wakanda For Assholes in WayOfTheBern

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

He sure does bloviate a lot, cocksure in the certainty that benefits only will accrue to him, that neither he nor his will ever pay the price for his misbegotten foreign policy fantasies.

Silly Nikki - “For every 30 minutes that someone watches TikTok, every day, they become 17% more anti-Semitic.” LOL! by RR_2023 in WayOfTheBern

[–]CaelianPost No Toasties 5 insightful - 3 fun5 insightful - 2 fun6 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

I find that for every 5 minutes I read or hear Nikki's words, I dislike her an additional 10 dB.

Silly Nikki - “For every 30 minutes that someone watches TikTok, every day, they become 17% more anti-Semitic.” LOL! by RR_2023 in WayOfTheBern

[–]CaelianPost No Toasties 3 insightful - 4 fun3 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 4 fun -  (0 children)

So if they were not anti-Semitic at all, they could watch any amount of TikTok?

Lindsay Graham has abandoned his support for military aid to Ukraine and has shifted his wartime boner to Iran. Still has not consulted a doctor after experiencing an erection lasting more than 4 hours. by rondeuce40DC Is Wakanda For Assholes in WayOfTheBern

[–]rondeuce40DC Is Wakanda For Assholes[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Now that Kissinger is dead, he's in the running for worst human being walking the face of the earth.

Lindsay Graham has abandoned his support for military aid to Ukraine and has shifted his wartime boner to Iran. Still has not consulted a doctor after experiencing an erection lasting more than 4 hours. by rondeuce40DC Is Wakanda For Assholes in WayOfTheBern

[–]rondeuce40DC Is Wakanda For Assholes[S] 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Lindsey Graham will direct his sails in whatever direction the Neocon fart winds are blowing. An empty vessel if there ever was one.

Lindsay Graham has abandoned his support for military aid to Ukraine and has shifted his wartime boner to Iran. Still has not consulted a doctor after experiencing an erection lasting more than 4 hours. by rondeuce40DC Is Wakanda For Assholes in WayOfTheBern

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Help ourselves to what? What another sovereign nation has that we want? That would be my guess, he certainly doesn't give a rip for Americans who are struggling financially.

@roadgrimes: Conservativez: “Silly libs, I’m not a racist, I just care about all people: ALL LIVES MATTER!!” *5 minutes later* “Anyone who isn’t ok with Israel murdering everyone in Gaza is a racist!!” by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]Maniak🥃😾[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Zionism: the 100% guaranteed way to make both shitlibs and shitcons into the virtue signaling unprincipled hypocrites they always were.

Time is running out to "make peace" with Russia, before permanent damage to Singapore's future by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]RandomCollection[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Basically a lot for Western aligned nations are going to regret their choice of alienating the Russians.

The Great Schism – Will It Be Quietly Ignored? by chakokat in WayOfTheBern

[–]elmodogg 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Israel's actions "subject to law?" Since when? They are committing war crimes daily.

The so called international "rules based order" has been exposed for the farce it has always been. The rules only apply to other countries, never to Israel or its toady, the US.

US Seeking Plausible Deniability as US-Armed Israel Erases Gaza by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]elmodogg 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

"Plausible?" Hardly. Doesn't pass the laugh test. All the bombs Israel is dropping come from the US, to begin with.

@aaronjmate: @SenSanders, who still can't bring himself to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, is begging Senate colleagues to approve another $60 billion for the proxy war in Ukraine by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]Maniak🥃😾[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Full tweet:

@SenSanders, who still can't bring himself to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, is begging Senate colleagues to approve another $60 billion for the proxy war in Ukraine: "If Ukraine falls, it will be a signal to Putin that he can continue to expand his authoritarian aggression against democratic nations."

Shut the fuck up Bernie.

The Great Schism – Will It Be Quietly Ignored? by chakokat in WayOfTheBern

[–]chakokat[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The situation in the Middle East has radically transformed. Whereas Palestine was about national liberation, today Palestine is the of the symbol of a wider civilisational re-awakening – the ‘end to centuries of Regional humiliation’.

Equally, whilst Zionism in Israel was largely a secular political project (Greater Israel), today it has become messianic and prophetic.

The point here is that we continue to think about the Gaza issue in the ‘old way’ – through the prism of secular material rationalism. This leads to conclusions such as ‘Hamas objectively is weaker than Israel’s IDF’, and therefore rationally the latter must prevail as being the stronger party.

In this way of thinking, though, there is only ‘one single reality’ with only the descriptions and interpretations of this ‘reality’ differing. Yet there is demonstrably more than ‘one reality’ as collectively, we progress from one consciousness to another. In one consciousness, for example, ‘Hamas is destined to fail’, and the discussion turns to US and Israeli notions of ‘what follows in Gaza’.

In another state of consciousness however – one becoming ever more prevalent in the region – the ‘reality’ is that any ‘rationally’ negotiated compromise between two clashing eschatological structures is impossible. The more so should the conflict escalate horizontally – overflowing the boundaries of Gaza.

Other ‘fronts’ likely might open, as Gaza is seen – whether or not Hamas is crushed – as the revolutionary spark lighting a transformation in the Middle Eastern and the Global South’s consciousness (note the list of Global South states now cutting diplomatic ties with Israel).

The West however, has opted to back itself in a silo of its own making – as defined by its demand for a singularity of messaging that all of Europe ‘stand with Israel’; refusing any ceasefire; and saying ‘no limit’ to Israeli action (subject to law).

A veteran Israeli commentator writes, we are dealing with:

“an instance (Israel), where a country is so devastated, shocked, humiliated and naturally consumed by rage that retribution becomes the only end. The moment when a country realizes that its deterrence failed; and perceptions of its power have been so critically diminished – that it is driven solely by the motivation to restore an image of power”.

“It is a dangerous point where decision-makers feel they can dispense with military theorist von Clausewitz’s axiom : “War is not merely a political act but a real political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse, a carrying out of the same by other means”.

Europe, taking its lead from Washington, simply is disregarding the Clausewitz axiom, by tying itself unreservedly to Israel’s military operations, and at a real risk of collusion with whatsoever may transpire there.

Put plainly, the absolute command that there must be an unambiguous distinction between truth and falsehood and singleness of meaning pertaining to the Palestinian issue, plus no ‘pro-Palestinian messaging’, reflects a deep insecurity in the West – as if one-sided messaging could be the remedy to a civilisational clash. In the current climate, to even call for a ceasefire can lose one one’s job.

Rather, this stance serves only to isolate Europe from playing a role on the international stage – save that of threatening escalation against Iran, should Hizbullah open a northern front into Israel.

Sue the Bastards: Federalist, Daily Wire Take the State Department to Court | Bookending the historic Consortium News suit, conservative news outlets take on the Global Engagement Center for funding "censorship enterprises" and blacklisting by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

From the linked Washington Examiner article by Gabe Kaminsky:

"They might consider TAC a ‘high-risk’ publication because we have consistently taken on the bipartisan establishment’s sacred cows, whether it's the war in Iraq, nation-building in Afghanistan, or the harm done by free trade and open borders — and we’ve been proven right time and time again," Emile Doak, executive director of the American Conservative, told the Washington Examiner. "They know they can't say we're wrong, only that we're biased and 'high-risk,' so we will wear that designation as a badge of honor."

Sue the Bastards: Federalist, Daily Wire Take the State Department to Court | Bookending the historic Consortium News suit, conservative news outlets take on the Global Engagement Center for funding "censorship enterprises" and blacklisting by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

A last note, and a word of encouragement to reporters everywhere. The Daily Wire/Federalist suit would likely not have been possible had Gabe Kaminsky of the Washington Examiner not done such excellent investigative work on GDI in his “Disinformation Inc.” series. Kaminsky said he was “thrilled” to have an impact, and Cleveland generously credited the work. This is proof that if journalists work at cranking out true material, someone will put it to use.

In a related observation, it’s a little odd that breakthrough investigative reporting is needed to expose public programs like this...the public shouldn’t need deep sourcing and/or IG reports to see basic budgeting information, like which agencies are being paid how much, and for what, by the State Department.

Sue the Bastards: Federalist, Daily Wire Take the State Department to Court | Bookending the historic Consortium News suit, conservative news outlets take on the Global Engagement Center for funding "censorship enterprises" and blacklisting by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

While the State Department has a massive budget for domestic propaganda operations (the #CTIFiles described $250 million for the year 2020), there’s a reason they’re not simply pouring more money into Voice of America or its “fact-checking website” Polygraph and trying to reach people that way.

That wouldn’t work, due to the increasingly obvious fact that government propaganda efforts are not trusted. Worse, traditional legacy organizations like The New York Times and the Washington Post are seen now as transparent vehicles for official propaganda, which is leading to significant loss of trust for them. The only way to correct that is to err less often, but since that doesn’t appear to be an option, NewsGuard and GDI and organizations like them are needed to correct the “mistake” of the media market. We can’t have people simply choosing what to read organically, can we? No matter how big a bullhorn you give the State Department or the Pentagon, they still need forms of censorship just to compete.

Sue the Bastards: Federalist, Daily Wire Take the State Department to Court | Bookending the historic Consortium News suit, conservative news outlets take on the Global Engagement Center for funding "censorship enterprises" and blacklisting by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

lol

Highlighted above are both the plaintiffs in this case and unusual entries on the “least risky” side. Now-dead Buzzfeed blazed real trails in disinformation by publishing the Steele Dossier, which it knew was not only “unverified,” but “contains errors.” Meanwhile there are interstate gas stations whose lavatory wall writings are more reliable than HuffPost, which for years now has been jumping on obvious fake news tales like the pee tape with the enthusiasm of a dog humping a leg

US Seeking Plausible Deniability as US-Armed Israel Erases Gaza by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]RandomCollection[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I think that the US seems to be constantly trying to come up with excuses to make up reasons to go to war.

Sue the Bastards: Federalist, Daily Wire Take the State Department to Court | Bookending the historic Consortium News suit, conservative news outlets take on the Global Engagement Center for funding "censorship enterprises" and blacklisting by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]RandomCollection[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

https://archive.ph/WZasG

As much as I disagree with the political views of these conservative websites, I think that we will need to stand united against the Establishment, which is clearly waging a war on freedom of speech / press.

We Have to Strengthen the Gig Economy and Its Workers in 2024. Here's How (For the record, I am reluctant to publish RFK due to his stance on Israel, but there's no disputing that the Gig workers are getting the short end of the stick when it comes to pay, rights, so I figured its worth it to share) by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]RandomCollection[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

https://archive.ph/F3n9q

Canada and a number of European countries, for example, have a "dependent contractor" classification. Dependent contractors offer their services to multiple companies, as do independent contractors. However, the dependent contractor receives more than 50 percent of their income from a single company, which triggers certain protections (providing notice of termination) as well as certain benefits.

It's clear that a lot of gig workers in the US are not given the rights that other nations give.

As much as I disagree with RFK on Israel, he is right on this topic.

White House interns demand a Middle East cease-fire in letter to Biden by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]RandomCollection[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

https://archive.ph/wffKV

It is looking like even within the government, there is growing resistance to the actions of Israel and how the US has enabled this war crime.

Big Cons: How Consulting Firms Undermine Governments and Corporations | naked capitalism by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]RandomCollection[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

https://archive.ph/BazDp

Management consultants have become a major drain. Yes, specialized consultants are at times valuable, but the ones dominated by the likes of Bain, McKinsey, etc have been harmful for both government and the private sector.

Will the Real Hunter Biden Now Step Forward? by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]kingsmegLiberté, égalité, fraternité 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This assumes the panel will ask him real questions, not just lick his taint.

Let’s not be fooled by Kristalina Giorgeva and the IMF by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]kingsmegLiberté, égalité, fraternité 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The IMF frequently puts out white papers that explain how the IMF itself is driving inequality, impoverishing the countries it lends to, and how the conditions it imposes when it gives loans are incredibly destructive for the countries involved.

I take it that they just want confirmation they're on the right track, and that their policies are working as intended.

Black Pattern Forming? - Alastair Crooke by chakokat in WayOfTheBern

[–]chakokat[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

A thought provoking article worth a read imo.

There's an uptick in Amazon employees quitting right now, blaming a strict RTO mandate, layoffs, and 'lack of respect' by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]RandomCollection[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It seems that Amazon's poor treatment of workers is biting them back now.

"Today is my last day at Amazon," another employee, from AWS, wrote on Friday. This person cited "the lack of basic respect for employees as human beings with lives and families that our executives have shown through repeated rounds of layoffs, the poorly planned, forced RTO and RTT (return-to-team) mandates done with no data to back them up or consultation."

Seems like the folks with the most opportunities will be the first to leave.

Let’s not be fooled by Kristalina Giorgeva and the IMF by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]RandomCollection[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

https://archive.ph/7KPvF

There will be no desirable future from the IMF and the World Bank, which will not change because the United States has veto power over every important decision. We need alternatives to the IMF and the World Bank, democratic institutions that support feminist, anti-racist and radically ecological alternatives. A bank in the South that lends at 0% for projects that promote such a shift is one example.

The IMF's job is to keep poorer nations in debt slavery.

They are what they accuse falsely the Chinese of being.

Will the Real Hunter Biden Now Step Forward? by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]RandomCollection[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

https://archive.ph/VxCrH

Seems like the whole BIden family is deeply corrupt. Yeah, this is being done by the GOP for their own ends, but that doesn't change the fact that Hunter Biden is deeply corrupt.

Israel installs pumps in Gaza to flood tunnels ‘no one has been in before’ by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]RandomCollection[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

https://archive.ph/BTivf

It's likely that these will soon be a priority target for Hamas, assuming this plan isn't totally crazy.

RUSSIA’S IDEOLOGY IS NOW NATIONAL LIBERATION OF THE WORLD FROM THE US EMPIRE, WITH AN ASSIST FROM PATRIARCH KIRILL by chakokat in WayOfTheBern

[–]RandomCollection 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It is looking like Russia is going to be playing a bigger role in global affairs after this conflict.

The other is that religion will continue to play an important role in Russia.

@briebriejoy: No. Calling for the end to Israeli apartheid is not antisemitic, just as calling for an end to South African apartheid wasn’t *bigotry.* Apartheid states do not have any “right” to exist. States don’t have intrinsic rights. People do. by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]mzyps 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

But the ethno-state, the ethno-supremacy, the apartheid, the occupation, etc., need to be defended. It's UNDER ATTACK from people who think the Zionist Apartheid State of Israel is unjust, oppression, with plenty of baseless violence.

'How many kids did you kill today?': An episode in the ongoing Nakba. These writings are meant for people, aimed at those people, the genuine humans who, finally facing the Truth, are voicing their anger at what is been inflicted on other humans. by Budget-song-budget in WayOfTheBern

[–]Budget-song-budget[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Since WWII, so many, various, and varied organizations: UN, Nuremberg, WHO, UNICEF, and the whole UN series, International Law, HR Commission, NATO, EU, ICC, from a list that never ends, all have lost credibility and thence their raison d’être, the very sense of their existence. Meanwhile, the various and varied Rules of Law, Conventions, Treaties, and the like, drafted, convened, and signed under the location names of Geneva, Rome, Vienna, The Hague, UN, and Co. now only confirm the original intention to apply double standards on the weaker, on the “Wretched of the Earth."

The various NGOs (both Non-governmental and what has now become New-Governmental ones) now turned BONGOs (Business-Oriented NGOs), Agencies, Institutions, Study Centres, and Think Tanks…together with all the major ill-intentioned, much-advertised, and well-financed programs of the type of Women-Empowerment, Child Care, Capacity-Building, Youth Whatever… Freedom of Association, Dialogue, Crisis Diplomacy, and Problem-Solving… proved to be tools to blind the common follower of what GREED is planning for them and for the world, the ever-growing battle between the Haves and the Have Nots.

Max Blumenthal (TheGrayZone): Indiscriminate Israeli Fire by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]RandomCollection[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

At this point, I think that the onus should be on Israel to prove when they kill people that it was actually Hamas, particularly now that Hannibal is public knowledge.

Why are we totally ignoring glaringly obvious, highly disturbing, and ongoing rates of excess mortality in so many highly vaccinated countries? by stickdog in WayOfTheBern

[–]Maniak🥃😾 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'm guessing that every single one of those who have the most influence over this are counting the days they need to keep bullshitting until they can get their golden retirement, paid for by Pfizer & co for services rendered.

Those who don't have enough influence to cover their asses will end up as the scapegoats whenever corporate media is told to blame them for everything.

And the TV watchers will think that justice will have been served, while paying to get their neural-chipping appointment.

Much like they'll be happy to forget all about Ukraine once Nazilensky is declared the official scapegoat for the whole thing.

Much like they'll be (even more) happy with the Palestinian genocide, that will still be going on, once Naziyahoo is declared the official scapegoat for that whole thing.

People never learn. They can't, because they've been taught to avoid learning and just to hear, believe and repeat.

Why are we totally ignoring glaringly obvious, highly disturbing, and ongoing rates of excess mortality in so many highly vaccinated countries? by stickdog in WayOfTheBern

[–]stickdog[S] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Right. But how long can the public health and medical establishment officials ostensibly charged with lowering rates of excess mortality keep ignoring these clear signals in every single over-injected country on Earth?

Why are we totally ignoring glaringly obvious, highly disturbing, and ongoing rates of excess mortality in so many highly vaccinated countries? by stickdog in WayOfTheBern

[–]Maniak🥃😾 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Because the majority of people in those countries have let themselves be bullshitted into getting injected with experimental shit for no reason, and really, really don't want reality to catch up with them.

Denial is a strong drug.

Not to mention all the people responsible for this shitfest in the first place who really don't want to risk any kind of accountability, ever.

@briebriejoy: No. Calling for the end to Israeli apartheid is not antisemitic, just as calling for an end to South African apartheid wasn’t *bigotry.* Apartheid states do not have any “right” to exist. States don’t have intrinsic rights. People do. by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]Maniak🥃😾[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Full tweet because the last sentence went beyond the 300 character limit:

No. Calling for the end to Israeli apartheid is not antisemitic, just as calling for an end to South African apartheid wasn’t bigotry. Apartheid states do not have any “right” to exist. States don’t have intrinsic rights. People do. And for 75 years, Palestinians have been denied those rights by Israel.

RUSSIA’S IDEOLOGY IS NOW NATIONAL LIBERATION OF THE WORLD FROM THE US EMPIRE, WITH AN ASSIST FROM PATRIARCH KIRILL by chakokat in WayOfTheBern

[–]chakokat[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

You are correct it's 2021.

@loganalIred: Conflating zionists and Jews is like blaming all white people for the klan. by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]kingsmegLiberté, égalité, fraternité 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Even more so conflating banksters and Jews.

From low trust to high in China ¦ Poll shows China has transformed into a high-trust society, more so than the US, Japan and even Sweden by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]hfxB0oyA 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

TIL what a vetocracy is. Perfectly used word.

It's seemed for a while that the endgame for the west seems a return to feudalism.

Inflated Claims by stickdog in WayOfTheBern

[–]3andfro 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Systematic review finds child mask mandates are all cost, no benefit by stickdog in WayOfTheBern

[–]3andfro 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

see also: https://www.eugyppius.com/p/in-incredibly-surprising-and-wholly?utm_source In incredibly surprising and wholly unexpected turn of events, systematic literature review of child mask mandates finds no evidence they do anything to stop Covid

@WarMonitors: ⚡️Israeli occupation airstrikes in Khan Yunis, the place they made Palestinian civilians evacuate to. by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]Maniak🥃😾[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I find it harder and harder to disagree with those who say that zionism isn't just a genocidal ideology but also a straight up mental illness.

Granted it's an illness that is forced onto people through conditioning, but adults are responsible for their behavior and its consequences, no matter if it originates from conditioning or not.

And we thought the C19 cultists were bad...

@WarMonitors: ⚡️Israeli occupation airstrikes in Khan Yunis, the place they made Palestinian civilians evacuate to. by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]Maniak🥃😾[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

@anthonyzenkus:

The occupying Israeli army continues to push the 1.87 million Palestinians it displaced intro smaller and smaller areas; aid trucks cannot get through and bombardment is constant. All of this in Southern Gaza, where Israel told Palestinians they had to move. This is genocide.

@WarMonitors: ⚡️Israeli occupation airstrikes in Khan Yunis, the place they made Palestinian civilians evacuate to. by Maniak🥃😾 in WayOfTheBern

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The apologists in that thread are really disgusting.

RUSSIA’S IDEOLOGY IS NOW NATIONAL LIBERATION OF THE WORLD FROM THE US EMPIRE, WITH AN ASSIST FROM PATRIARCH KIRILL by chakokat in WayOfTheBern

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Andrei Ilnitsky has been employed at the Ministry of Defense as an advisor to Minister Sergei Shoigu since 2015. He is ranked State Councilor of the Russian Federation 3rd class, and is deputy chief of the Central Executive Committee of the United Russia Party and head of the ruling party’s Department for Work with Environments, Public Associations and the Expert Community. At the Defense Ministry he is considered an expert on information warfare, and is reputed to have been the inventor of the “Z” symbol for the Special Military Operation.

Interesting piece, thanks for posting this.

RUSSIA’S IDEOLOGY IS NOW NATIONAL LIBERATION OF THE WORLD FROM THE US EMPIRE, WITH AN ASSIST FROM PATRIARCH KIRILL by chakokat in WayOfTheBern

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

non-aggression treaties it presented the US and NATO on December 17, 2022.

2021?

RUSSIA’S IDEOLOGY IS NOW NATIONAL LIBERATION OF THE WORLD FROM THE US EMPIRE, WITH AN ASSIST FROM PATRIARCH KIRILL by chakokat in WayOfTheBern

[–]chakokat[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Ilnitsky has prefaced his public statements with the disclaimer that they are his personal views only.

Notwithstanding, he is making an explicit official repudiation of claims by Ukrainian, Israeli and US officials, as well as of reporters repeating what they have been told by the CIA, that an end to the war can be negotiated with Moscow on the terms of the purported Istanbul agreement of April 2022. In what Ilnitsky thinks aloud and is saying in public, there is the clearest hint from the General Staff and the Stavka that the war cannot end without NATO’s capitulation, not just the defeat of the regime in Kiev and Lvov.

This is also the official position of the Russian Foreign Ministry in the non-aggression treaties it presented the US and NATO on December 17, 2022. Follow the analysis of those treaties and the escalation to war when the terms were summarily dismissed by Washington and Brussels, beginning here and concluding four weeks later here.

RUSSIA’S IDEOLOGY IS NOW NATIONAL LIBERATION OF THE WORLD FROM THE US EMPIRE, WITH AN ASSIST FROM PATRIARCH KIRILL by chakokat in WayOfTheBern

[–]chakokat[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

“They are fighting with us,” declared Ilnitsky, “for the way people think, for the way they perceive the world. Right now we are fighting a civilisational war for the future. It is this war that we are waging on the battlefields of our own. We will win and revive ourselves by being reborn, or our identity will be wiped out. This is exactly what happened in the Ukraine for thirty years before the start of the SVO [Special Military Operation].”

Putin went further than spearing the emperor. “Our fight”, he declared, “for sovereignty and justice is, without exaggeration, one of national liberation, because we are upholding the security and well-being of our people, and our supreme historical right to be Russia – a strong independent power, a civilization state. It is our country, it is the Russian world that has blocked the way of those who aspired to world domination and exceptionalism, as it has happened many times in history. We are now fighting not just for Russia’s freedom but for the freedom of the whole world.”

This is the first time Putin has identified the doctrine of national liberation in ideological, economic, and in battlefield war against the US doctrine of hegemony and exceptionalism.

“We can frankly say that the dictatorship of one hegemon is becoming decrepit. We see it, and everyone sees it now. It is getting out of control and is simply dangerous for others. This is now clear to the global majority. But again, it is our country that is now at the forefront of building a fairer world order. And I would like to stress this: without a sovereign and strong Russia, no lasting and stable international system is possible.”

During the World Russian People’s Council, Ilnitsky said the threats of the US empire are emanating from three directions of US strikes on the country and the people. “I will not talk about purely military aspects, but about how we do not lose the world. This is what is called ideology. A month ago, the US national security strategy was adopted. The Americans position themselves as the global hegemon. The so-called autocracies have been declared enemy number one; in fact, they are the nation states which are pursuing a sovereign policy. Russia is mentioned in this document 69 times! Even more often than China. And Ukraine is cited only as anti-Russia. Russia is the civilisational opponent of the West. Without the elimination of Russia, the development of the Western world is impossible. It will not be possible to normalise relations because of the deepest difference in goals and values.”

“At the same time,” Ilnitsky went on, “violence has become the defining concept of Western politics. War is a component of such a world of violence. How are they going to implement this violence? Everything is said in the US national defence strategy. They confront us on land, in the air, at sea, in space. And also in the information sphere. But now they are striving for informational and cognitive dominance. The US Joint Chiefs of Staff identified three areas of their attack: technological warfare (including artificial intelligence); the war in the city; the transition from informational to cognitive-mental dominance. Psychological operations will be enhanced as much as possible. This is no joke. This is the same mental war where the destruction of the enemies’ self-consciousness is the goal,” Ilnitsky emphasised.

More US shoppers tack on buy now, pay later debt for Cyber Monday by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]RandomCollection[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Anecdotal evidence, but I've heard in the past 2 years, that the Chinese are exporting fewer consumer goods to Europe in terms of discretionary spending. It's anecdotes, but still interesting. The Chinese know because they are so dominant in manufacturing.

From low trust to high in China ¦ Poll shows China has transformed into a high-trust society, more so than the US, Japan and even Sweden by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]RandomCollection[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

https://archive.is/Sx6Po

In the absence of property crime, people are less on guard, less ready to get their backs up and less inclined to bare their fangs. Public shouting matches, a once favorite pastime of Beijingers has sadly disappeared. We note that none of this is a result of a “social credit score” which, so far, exists as small pilot programs and in the fevered imagination of Western media.

After the media publicized instances of citizens’ Kafkaesque experiences navigating bureaucracies for routine services, a campaign was launched to overhaul public-facing government offices. This was a natural extension of the decade-long anti-corruption campaign which eliminated low-level bureaucratic misbehavior.

In other words, things are getting better in China. As opposed to the US where it is falling apart.

The social capital needed to create this kind of moral community cannot be acquired, as in the case of other forms of human capital, through a rational investment decision.

As GDP, a deeply flawed metric grows, it clearly hasn't gone well for the US. Inequality is rising and the rich have stolen the gains for themselves.

In his 2014 tome, “Political Order and Political Decay”, Fukuyama offered up a mea culpa of sorts. As it turns out, civil society is not necessarily the secret sauce without which high trust societies would wither. In fact, Fukuyama has belatedly discovered, civil society can form interest groups, which can ossify the political system, turning America into a vetocracy:

Like so many of the neocons, Francis Fukuyama will be discredited.

Civil society is worsening inequality in the US because of the dominance of the rich and upper middle class.


Im not saying that the Chinese are perfect, but they are trying to improve their people's lives. The US is destroying the nation to make rich people richer.

My Speech To A Seminar on Multipolarity by RandomCollection in WayOfTheBern

[–]RandomCollection[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

https://archive.is/OEz8P

It's interesting to see Larry's description of Moscow vs the US.

My advice to the people of Russia is simple. Pursue your interests without fretting about what the West will think. Put your nation’s interest first. In doing so, you will capitalize on what you already have achieved. Twenty four years ago, much of Russia, especially Moscow, was described as a “shit hole.” A rundown, tawdry place. Today, Russia stands as an example of what can be accomplished when the resources of a nation are devoted to building up and strengthening that nation.

You have avoided the temptation and curse of empire. The United States has not. What is the curse of empire? When you take it upon yourself to act as the world’s policeman, you feel compelled to intervene in every conflict or, in some cases, create a conflict, so that you can flex your muscle. In the process of “being in control”, you end up spending trillions of dollars overseas, you impoverish yourself at home and put your nation in hock. The infrastructure in your cities crumbles and your society is ravaged by violence, economic inequality and massive drug addiction. That summarizes the United States today.

Yep. I can only hope that the US will change itself into a very different country someday