And for all You folks out there who are frothed by the US bankrolling, arming, supplying, equipping, and propagandizing America’s Wars in Ukraine and Gaza, You ain’t seen nothin yet… :
•On November 9, just over one month into the war, ABC News wrote that there was “growing daylight” between Biden and Netanyahu.
•On November 15, NBC News said that “Biden administration officials are increasingly at odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.”
•On November 16, The Guardian reported that “behind the scenes the tensions are escalating.”
•On December 14, CNN described “unprecedented tensions” over the war.
•On December 18, The Hill wrote that the White House was “growing increasingly critical.”
•On December 21, The Washington Post wrote that Biden and Netanyahu “disagree with growing vehemence” about postwar planning.
•On December 31, The New York Times reported that things had “grown increasingly fraught” between the two countries.
•On January 14, Axios reported that Biden was “becoming increasingly frustrated” with Netanyahu.
•On January 17, NBC News referred to “the Biden administration’s growing frustrations.”
•On January 19, NPR said that “a rift is deepening” and the AP wrote that “the leaders’ relationship has increasingly shown signs of strain.”
•On January 24, The Hill wrote that the “relationship…is showing new signs of strain.”
•On February 8, the Times reported that “relations between the Biden administration and Mr. Netanyahu have become increasingly fraught.”
"....all of them tell us that frustration is spiking, that the fraughtness meter just went up another tick, that the strains just got even more strained, that the breach that was already breached is now extra-breached. Judging by these accounts, Biden must be reaching the outer limits as to how ticked off, out of patience, and tense a person can be without combusting. But anyone who has paid even a modest amount of attention to what is really happening can see right through this stuff. Only the press seems taken in."
The documentary "Exterminate All The Brutes" (based on the book of the same name) is terrific and illustrates the arc of European imperialism from the Crusades to World War 2 (and to Vietnam, if I'm not mistaken). The director is Haitian and he develops the story from the victim's perspective similar to "The People's History of the United States".
Indeed the pathology of war and killing is deeply ingrained. As a child, I was largely immune to this perhaps owing to my Mennonite grandparents (and great grandparents). No toy soldiers in our house or any of my cousins even though my dad and all my uncles served in WWII. Our generation was raised under the rubric, if drafted you must serve even if as a non-combatant. I'd like to have a conversation with my Navy-veteran father who died just before the first Gulf war to see if he would still hold to that rubric. I suspect not, as Vietnam certainly had him asking, "What the hell are we doing?" (My dad's two best friends were both conscientious objectors. One amused me greatly, and the other I adored. He was the most peaceful, generous soul I have ever known).
As horrific as the killings in Gaza and the West Bank are, it is little wonder we don't bring this horror to a quick end. Indeed, why should Israel be forced to quickly end and be held accountable when the USA has done all this and more for decades without any accountability for the perpetrators of one war crime after another?
Truly, we need to break the backbone of the arms for profit industry and celebrating GDP gains in arms exports. And I think countries should be allowed referendum to vote to keep our troops or throw them out. We're too damn dumb and mean to leave of our own accord. It's time we give "democracy" a chance to voice whether we are wanted or not. If only we loved democracy as much as we purport.
"........Right now, of course, the world is witnessing yet another U.S. bombing campaign, the latest in a series that seems all too predictable (and futile), meant to teach the restless rebels of Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and possibly even Iran a lesson when it comes to messing with the United States of America........."
Any American Foreign Policy has always called for bombing somebody. It's baked in the pie.
"The Pathology of America: Dehumanization, Greed, and the Decline of Empire"
There was an attempt at experimenting with "civilization" starting back in 1776, and there have been some very notable positive results and successes in that Experiment in the Nation's 248-year history.
However, there have also been some very notable negative results and failures in the Experiment, as well.
And what is happening now is that the seeds ~ that those negative results and failures were ~ are breaking thru into the daylite.
And recently, those seeds have begun to root, grow, and bear fruit that ~ ultimately ~ will be the end of the Decline of The American Experiment, and the beginning of its Fall.
Meanwhile, in Other News: CROCODILE TEARS OVER NAVALNY WHILE IGNORING ASSANGE by Caitlin Johnstone 16 Feb24
The entire western political-media class are currently rending their garments about the prison death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and are being joined by the propaganda-addled citizenry of the western empire. Meanwhile Julian Assange’s last-ditch effort to appeal against extradition to the United States is coming up in a few days with a tiny fraction of the attention.
I really could not have a lower opinion of people who would rather talk about Navalny’s persecution in a far away country that has nothing to do with them than Julian Assange being persecuted at the hands of their own government. It’s the most pathetic, bootlicking behavior imaginable.
Ooh yeah, you’re so brave self-righteously shaking your fist at some country on the other side of the planet which has zero power over your own country while refusing to oppose the power structure you actually live under as it slowly kills a journalist for exposing its war crimes. Groveling, power-worshipping bootlicker. Absolutely sickening.
If you’re in a country whose government has had a hand in the persecution of Julian Assange, then you can go ahead and shut the fuck up about Navalny. Whenever I see people screaming about the persecution of journalists and political prisoners in other countries when they themselves live in a nation whose government is persecuting Julian Assange, I can’t help but think of Matthew 7:4–5,
“How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
UpDate 1: According to Politico, as of two or so hours ago, presumptive Republican Nominee to be POTUS MAXXIMMUSS XLVII has remained silent on the death of Russian Domestic Terrorist ~ sorry, that's "Dissident" ~ Alexei Navalny's death in a Russian prison/concentration camp north of the Arctic Circle. [ https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/16/navalny-death-trump-putin-00141899 ]
Which includes silence regarding all the nasty things everybody from Biden to Haley and so forth have been saying about him ~ Trump ~ and his relationship with that other him ~ Putin.
Update 2: The following signs was Very briefly seen outside The Kremlin this morning: NAVALNY DIED FOR YOUR SINS, PUTIN and NAVALNY DIED FOR OUR SINS, RUSSIAN PEOPLE.
UpDate 3: And one can only wonder what Tucker Carlson is going to have to say about all this, eh? And what folks are going to say about what he says.
".....as of two or so hours ago, presumptive Republican Nominee to be POTUS MAXXIMMUSS XLVII has remained silent on the death of Russian Domestic Terrorist....." because he is not in the habit of having a knee-jerk reaction and is waiting for the truth to come out!
Riiiiight. And i bet he's got a used bankrupt casino to sell You while he's "waiting for the truth to come out." Or maybe even a used trophy wife. GMAFB.
But guaranteed, if HE had been President... barf-barf-barf.
Well, we've heard from President Biden, Vice President Harris, Candidate Haley, and Others on the death of Russian Domestic Terrorist Alexei Navalny in a Russian prison/concentration camp north of the Arctic Circle.
What will be REALLY interesting to hear will be former President/present Candidate Trump's reaction and response. One can almost bet that he will claim that if HE were President, Navalny would be a living and free man today. Or something to that effect.
Maybe it's the old Senior NonCom IG in me coming out, but my first thought on reading about Navalny's death was that old standby IG Question: "Cui Bono? [ie, "Who Benefits?"]
And my second thought was that it sure as hell ISN'T Putin or Russia; and it that it equally sure as hell IS folks like Biden, Harris, and Haley [and Trump], and Everybody else in Swampland who is owned, operated, commanded, and controlled by the MICC and the rest of America's Ruling Political Class, aka "The System" or "The Deep State."
As Sonny and Cher once so elegantly put it: "And the Beat Goes On... ."
What America Needs Right Now Is A Navalny of Its Own…:
If there is indeed a national election in November 2024 ~ which at this point, nobody can guarantee ~ the “choices” presented to the American Voters for the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives by America's Ruling Political Class will be, at most, some subtle but suitable variation of the following:
1. The corporatist, crony "democratic capitalist," neoconservative/neoliberal, post-modern "liberalism" and "conservativism" of the Carter-Reagan-Bush I-Clinton-Cheney/Bush II-Obama-Biden breed [which includes any so-called "anti-Trump" Republicans intent on maintaining some semblance of a non-Trumped GOP].
2. The populist, nativist, neo-mercantilist, protectionist, proto-national socialism [with its attendant racist, sexist, xenophobic, patriotist wrapped-in the-Flag-mouthing-the Bible noise while wiping their asses with the Constitution] of Trump, Trumpatismo, Trumpatistas, MAGA Maggots, and its inevitable gaggle of Greenes, Proud Boys, and Apprentice Emperor~Wannabe Clones.
3. The noisy but intellectually, ideologically, philosophically, economically, and politically bankrupt and bereft neo-progressive, proto-democratic socialism of the "socialistic democrats" of the Sandersista/Warrenite/West/Stein/AOC and her so-called "Squad"/Green New Dealer ilk, and their Spawn.
What America really needs right now is its very own version of the Russian opposition leader and fierce critic of Vladimir Putin and the whole Russian system of autocratic, oligarchal, plutocratic, patriarchal government and governance ~ Alexey Navalny ~ who was probably just murdered in the above-the-Arctic Circle penal colony in which he was imprisoned for being the equivalent of what Americans like to call a “Domestic Terrorist.”
Heh. Yeah, he was definitely flown to Germany, all right. After he had been poisoned.
Stick with RT and Radio Free Moscow, Dennis. i'm sure You'll find all the "truth" and "facts" You need to justify anything You think, believe, or say.
And where did i say or even hint that Navalny was killed by Putin? Can You pinpoint that?
Re-read what i said about who benefitted from this murder. And who has not benefitted from it.
And do Yourself a big, big favor, Dennis: Do not presume to tell me what i "need" about anything. All it does is broadcast Your ignorance.
And penultimately, which Points 1, 2, and 3 are You referring to? The UpDates, or the "choices" America's Ruling Political Class will give Voters in Election2024? Assuming, of course, that there will be an election.
And finally, i hear Trump has started a Go Fund Me campaign to pay his $355 million fine for bullshitting Everybody when it came to what he was really worth. And he has a separate one going to meet all his various and sundry lawyer fees and legal expenses.
My guess is that he is hoping to be convicted of something so that when he is elected President, he can issue a pardon to himself. Heh. Maybe they'll do his swearing in as POTUS MAXXIMMUSS XLVII live from his cell.
And Double Heh. Trump would be the perfect man to be in charge once the Decline is over, and the free-Fall of The American Experiment has begun. He could turn it into a hit reality tv show, i'm sure.
On another subject, if you haven't seen the informative piece by Roger Harris in Anti-War, it is worth a read. Talk about election interference! And it speaks to our ridiculous carrying on about the "border crisis" in which our brilliant politicians rail on about the symptoms and never the cause.
What drives migration? If you look at Venezuela and Cuba, our sanctions don't harm the governments, they harm the poor. Of course, the Clintons did plenty of harm in Haiti. Making Mexicans import US corn as part of original NAFTA drove waves to the factories along the border only to be closed later when labor moved to cheaper workers in China. If you look at migration in Europe, you see direct links to our wars and sanctions.
The Senate has passed a Bill to send billions more dollars to Ukraine. But while the Bill still faces an uncertain future in the House, it has not gone unnoticed that the Bill contains a funding mechanism which compels the next President (Donald Trump) to continue supporting Ukraine’s war effort, and American bombing, or face impeachment.
Trumps threats to stop the Ukrainian war in 24-hours is scaring the shit out of the MIC/Deep State!
Jimmy and Aaron Maté discuss how the Congress, along with Deep State actors, are seeking to erode democracy by preemptively taking options away from Trump in his probable second term.
But by the Grace of God Trump will continue to one-by-one whac-a-mole all these weaponized indictments and get a second term to achieve his goal of stopping the Ukrainian war in 24-hours and stop the bombing.
Sadly, the nation of Palestine will probably not exist by then. And if there really is a God, the ethno-supremacist apartheid state of Israel will no longer exist. One can only hope.
Fani Willis just handed Trump incredibly good news as she finds herself caught in a web of lies. The corrupt Fulton County DA and prosecutor Nathan Wade are facing scrutiny after revelations surfaced in a hearing including the use of corporate credit cards for personal vacations and under-the-table cash payments. Willis faces allegations of dishonesty and impropriety, jeopardizing her ability to lead the case against Trump.
Legal analysts speculate that the case will probably be dismissed due to Willis' credibility issues ~ another victory for Trump.
And speaking of that National Debt: DEFICIT TOPS $500 BILLION IN FIRST 4 MONTHS OF 2024 FISCAL YEAR by Michael Rainey / The Fiscal Times 12 Feb 24
The federal budget deficit was a bit smaller in January than it was a year ago, as outlays exceeded revenues by a relatively modest $22 billion, compared to $38 billion in 2023, according to the latest Treasury Department data released Monday.
Nevertheless, THE DEFICIT CONTINUES TO GROW RAPIDLY ON A CUMULATIVE BASIS, TOTALING $532 BILLION IN THE FIRST FOUR MONTHS OF THE 2024 FISCAL YEAR, WHICH BEGAN IN OCTOBER. THE FOUR-MONTH TOTAL THIS YEAR IS 16% HIGHER THAN THE FOUR-MONTH TOTAL RECORDED A YEAR AGO.
Rising interest costs are playing a central role in the accelerating growth of the deficit. THE TREASURY PAID $357 BILLION IN INTEREST BETWEEN OCTOBER 2023 AND JANUARY 2024, A 37% INCREASE FROM THE INTEREST PAID DURING THE SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR.
As Bloomberg’s Viktoria Dendrinou notes, the aggressive interest rate hikes rolled out by the Federal Reserve as part of its effort to control inflation have made debt more expensive. “The weighted average interest rate on outstanding US interest-bearing government debt was 3.15% at the end of January – the highest since May 2010 and marking a roughly 70 basis point increase from a year before,” Dendrinou writes.
i already positively commented on Your newest Tom Dispatch dispatch, Bill, in yesterday’s BV.
Reading it again, i see as the most significant thought expressed in it as the following:
“No, we the people exercise remarkably little control over the war-making that the military-industrial-congressional complex has engaged in for decades or the costs that go with them. Indeed, the dollar costs are largely deferred to future generations as America’s national debt climbs even faster than the Pentagon war budget.”
The simple fact of the matter is that “we, them people” surrendered what little control we may have ever once had over the MICC and its war-making a long, long time ago.
And we did that by allowing without a peep that MICC ~ and the elected politicians, the entrenched civilian and military bureaucrats, and the anointed political appointees that it owns, operates, commands and controls ~ to do whatever the hell it wants to do so as to ramp up Profits, and put more money into the pockets of that MICC’s workers, supervisors, managers, executives, and shareholders; and also in the pockets of those outside the MICC who are dependent on all the money all those MICCers have to spend.
And “national debt”? Who in this country even knows what that National, Sovereign Debt IS, and what it means for the future of this Nation and its Citizens? Let alone is ~ in even the very slightest way ~ concerned about it?
And how many politicians, pundits, and other propagandists WANT “We, Them People” to know anything about it, let alone to think about it, let alone to be concerned about it, let alone to actually DO something about it?
What goes around comes around, and when this Debt Thing actually comes around and can no longer be ignored, it is going to get very, Very Ugly.
i look forward to reading that, Bill. Got some Boat Chores to tend to at the moment, and will be getting back to You later. And Thank You for making Bracing Views happen.
As i have said before: It is a Candle in a time of Gathering Growing Darkness.
Myself a pic. comes to mind of one lit Match next to Boxes of unlit ones and its that close to igniting them all .., but a wooden match sized Black -hooded Executioner/ with an ax is chopping the lit one at the base to put it out...! Sometimes it can be that close to starting something really Big!!!
i like that pic, Fireman1110. That's the Opening Close-Up shot. The Candle in a Time of Gathering Growing Darkness is the Opening Long shot and that closes in on and leads ultimately to the Match and its Boxes,.
Anybody here on BV know how to translate Words into Visual Imagery? Help Wanted... .
And for all You folks out there who are frothed by the US bankrolling, arming, supplying, equipping, and propagandizing America’s Wars in Ukraine and Gaza, You ain’t seen nothin yet… :
Air Force, Space Force Announce Major Overhaul to Prepare for War With China: https://news.antiwar.com/2024/02/14/air-force-space-force-announce-major-overhaul-to-prepare-for-war-with-china/ .
House’s Top China Hawk to Lead Congressional Delegation to Taiwan: https://news.antiwar.com/2024/02/14/houses-top-china-hawk-to-lead-congressional-delegation-to-taiwan/ .
US to deploy 5 aircraft carriers in western Pacific in show of strength to China: https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/us-to-deploy-5-aircraft-carriers-in-western-pacific-in-show-of-strength-to-china/ar-BB1ifZlv .
It seems like this is all the MICC and Beltway crowd know how to do, Jeff. War is peace, right?
Yep. And Freedom is Slavery and Ignorance is Strength, as a very wise somebody once put it.
•On November 9, just over one month into the war, ABC News wrote that there was “growing daylight” between Biden and Netanyahu.
•On November 15, NBC News said that “Biden administration officials are increasingly at odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.”
•On November 16, The Guardian reported that “behind the scenes the tensions are escalating.”
•On December 14, CNN described “unprecedented tensions” over the war.
•On December 18, The Hill wrote that the White House was “growing increasingly critical.”
•On December 21, The Washington Post wrote that Biden and Netanyahu “disagree with growing vehemence” about postwar planning.
•On December 31, The New York Times reported that things had “grown increasingly fraught” between the two countries.
•On January 14, Axios reported that Biden was “becoming increasingly frustrated” with Netanyahu.
•On January 17, NBC News referred to “the Biden administration’s growing frustrations.”
•On January 19, NPR said that “a rift is deepening” and the AP wrote that “the leaders’ relationship has increasingly shown signs of strain.”
•On January 24, The Hill wrote that the “relationship…is showing new signs of strain.”
•On February 8, the Times reported that “relations between the Biden administration and Mr. Netanyahu have become increasingly fraught.”
"....all of them tell us that frustration is spiking, that the fraughtness meter just went up another tick, that the strains just got even more strained, that the breach that was already breached is now extra-breached. Judging by these accounts, Biden must be reaching the outer limits as to how ticked off, out of patience, and tense a person can be without combusting. But anyone who has paid even a modest amount of attention to what is really happening can see right through this stuff. Only the press seems taken in."
https://informationclearinghouse.blog/2024/02/14/biden-is-mad-at-netanyahu-spare-me/15/
The documentary "Exterminate All The Brutes" (based on the book of the same name) is terrific and illustrates the arc of European imperialism from the Crusades to World War 2 (and to Vietnam, if I'm not mistaken). The director is Haitian and he develops the story from the victim's perspective similar to "The People's History of the United States".
Indeed the pathology of war and killing is deeply ingrained. As a child, I was largely immune to this perhaps owing to my Mennonite grandparents (and great grandparents). No toy soldiers in our house or any of my cousins even though my dad and all my uncles served in WWII. Our generation was raised under the rubric, if drafted you must serve even if as a non-combatant. I'd like to have a conversation with my Navy-veteran father who died just before the first Gulf war to see if he would still hold to that rubric. I suspect not, as Vietnam certainly had him asking, "What the hell are we doing?" (My dad's two best friends were both conscientious objectors. One amused me greatly, and the other I adored. He was the most peaceful, generous soul I have ever known).
As horrific as the killings in Gaza and the West Bank are, it is little wonder we don't bring this horror to a quick end. Indeed, why should Israel be forced to quickly end and be held accountable when the USA has done all this and more for decades without any accountability for the perpetrators of one war crime after another?
Truly, we need to break the backbone of the arms for profit industry and celebrating GDP gains in arms exports. And I think countries should be allowed referendum to vote to keep our troops or throw them out. We're too damn dumb and mean to leave of our own accord. It's time we give "democracy" a chance to voice whether we are wanted or not. If only we loved democracy as much as we purport.
"........Right now, of course, the world is witnessing yet another U.S. bombing campaign, the latest in a series that seems all too predictable (and futile), meant to teach the restless rebels of Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and possibly even Iran a lesson when it comes to messing with the United States of America........."
Any American Foreign Policy has always called for bombing somebody. It's baked in the pie.
"The Pathology of America: Dehumanization, Greed, and the Decline of Empire"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYucnQfnuw0
America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between - Oscar Wilde.
There was an attempt at experimenting with "civilization" starting back in 1776, and there have been some very notable positive results and successes in that Experiment in the Nation's 248-year history.
However, there have also been some very notable negative results and failures in the Experiment, as well.
And what is happening now is that the seeds ~ that those negative results and failures were ~ are breaking thru into the daylite.
And recently, those seeds have begun to root, grow, and bear fruit that ~ ultimately ~ will be the end of the Decline of The American Experiment, and the beginning of its Fall.
If that hasn't already happened.
Meanwhile, in Other News: CROCODILE TEARS OVER NAVALNY WHILE IGNORING ASSANGE by Caitlin Johnstone 16 Feb24
The entire western political-media class are currently rending their garments about the prison death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and are being joined by the propaganda-addled citizenry of the western empire. Meanwhile Julian Assange’s last-ditch effort to appeal against extradition to the United States is coming up in a few days with a tiny fraction of the attention.
I really could not have a lower opinion of people who would rather talk about Navalny’s persecution in a far away country that has nothing to do with them than Julian Assange being persecuted at the hands of their own government. It’s the most pathetic, bootlicking behavior imaginable.
Ooh yeah, you’re so brave self-righteously shaking your fist at some country on the other side of the planet which has zero power over your own country while refusing to oppose the power structure you actually live under as it slowly kills a journalist for exposing its war crimes. Groveling, power-worshipping bootlicker. Absolutely sickening.
If you’re in a country whose government has had a hand in the persecution of Julian Assange, then you can go ahead and shut the fuck up about Navalny. Whenever I see people screaming about the persecution of journalists and political prisoners in other countries when they themselves live in a nation whose government is persecuting Julian Assange, I can’t help but think of Matthew 7:4–5,
“How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
What could be Assange’s final appeal effort against US extradition happens February 20th and 21st in London. Free Julian Assange. Source: https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/crocodile-tears-over-navalny-while .
###
And then Chris Hedges offers this video presentation [in French with English Subtitles]… :
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/free-julian-assange .
UpDate 1: According to Politico, as of two or so hours ago, presumptive Republican Nominee to be POTUS MAXXIMMUSS XLVII has remained silent on the death of Russian Domestic Terrorist ~ sorry, that's "Dissident" ~ Alexei Navalny's death in a Russian prison/concentration camp north of the Arctic Circle. [ https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/16/navalny-death-trump-putin-00141899 ]
Which includes silence regarding all the nasty things everybody from Biden to Haley and so forth have been saying about him ~ Trump ~ and his relationship with that other him ~ Putin.
Update 2: The following signs was Very briefly seen outside The Kremlin this morning: NAVALNY DIED FOR YOUR SINS, PUTIN and NAVALNY DIED FOR OUR SINS, RUSSIAN PEOPLE.
UpDate 3: And one can only wonder what Tucker Carlson is going to have to say about all this, eh? And what folks are going to say about what he says.
".....as of two or so hours ago, presumptive Republican Nominee to be POTUS MAXXIMMUSS XLVII has remained silent on the death of Russian Domestic Terrorist....." because he is not in the habit of having a knee-jerk reaction and is waiting for the truth to come out!
Riiiiight. And i bet he's got a used bankrupt casino to sell You while he's "waiting for the truth to come out." Or maybe even a used trophy wife. GMAFB.
But guaranteed, if HE had been President... barf-barf-barf.
Well, we've heard from President Biden, Vice President Harris, Candidate Haley, and Others on the death of Russian Domestic Terrorist Alexei Navalny in a Russian prison/concentration camp north of the Arctic Circle.
What will be REALLY interesting to hear will be former President/present Candidate Trump's reaction and response. One can almost bet that he will claim that if HE were President, Navalny would be a living and free man today. Or something to that effect.
Maybe it's the old Senior NonCom IG in me coming out, but my first thought on reading about Navalny's death was that old standby IG Question: "Cui Bono? [ie, "Who Benefits?"]
And my second thought was that it sure as hell ISN'T Putin or Russia; and it that it equally sure as hell IS folks like Biden, Harris, and Haley [and Trump], and Everybody else in Swampland who is owned, operated, commanded, and controlled by the MICC and the rest of America's Ruling Political Class, aka "The System" or "The Deep State."
As Sonny and Cher once so elegantly put it: "And the Beat Goes On... ."
What America Needs Right Now Is A Navalny of Its Own…:
If there is indeed a national election in November 2024 ~ which at this point, nobody can guarantee ~ the “choices” presented to the American Voters for the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives by America's Ruling Political Class will be, at most, some subtle but suitable variation of the following:
1. The corporatist, crony "democratic capitalist," neoconservative/neoliberal, post-modern "liberalism" and "conservativism" of the Carter-Reagan-Bush I-Clinton-Cheney/Bush II-Obama-Biden breed [which includes any so-called "anti-Trump" Republicans intent on maintaining some semblance of a non-Trumped GOP].
2. The populist, nativist, neo-mercantilist, protectionist, proto-national socialism [with its attendant racist, sexist, xenophobic, patriotist wrapped-in the-Flag-mouthing-the Bible noise while wiping their asses with the Constitution] of Trump, Trumpatismo, Trumpatistas, MAGA Maggots, and its inevitable gaggle of Greenes, Proud Boys, and Apprentice Emperor~Wannabe Clones.
3. The noisy but intellectually, ideologically, philosophically, economically, and politically bankrupt and bereft neo-progressive, proto-democratic socialism of the "socialistic democrats" of the Sandersista/Warrenite/West/Stein/AOC and her so-called "Squad"/Green New Dealer ilk, and their Spawn.
What America really needs right now is its very own version of the Russian opposition leader and fierce critic of Vladimir Putin and the whole Russian system of autocratic, oligarchal, plutocratic, patriarchal government and governance ~ Alexey Navalny ~ who was probably just murdered in the above-the-Arctic Circle penal colony in which he was imprisoned for being the equivalent of what Americans like to call a “Domestic Terrorist.”
See https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/16/brutally-murdered-world-reacts-to-alexei-navalnys-death-in-prison and https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/jailed-russian-opposition-leader-navalny-dead-prison-service-2024-02-16/ for details; and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexei_Navalny for extensive and detailed background.
To paraphrase Edith and Archie Bunker: “Mister, we could use a man like Alexy Navalny, for a change.”
[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K50UstKfJM ]
Now we are finding out that the guy had medical problems and had recently been flown to Germany for treatment.
And of course, he was polling at <2.0% right? So why would Putin want to kill him?
My thoughts: If Tucker Carlson made Putin look good then it was only to be expected for something like this to happen. The CIA at work? Cui Bono?
BTW, your pejorative laden rants, your Points 1, 2 and 3, surely show that, like Biden, your old age is catching up with you!
What you need now is a nice long walk in the sun away from your computer!
Heh. Yeah, he was definitely flown to Germany, all right. After he had been poisoned.
Stick with RT and Radio Free Moscow, Dennis. i'm sure You'll find all the "truth" and "facts" You need to justify anything You think, believe, or say.
And where did i say or even hint that Navalny was killed by Putin? Can You pinpoint that?
Re-read what i said about who benefitted from this murder. And who has not benefitted from it.
And do Yourself a big, big favor, Dennis: Do not presume to tell me what i "need" about anything. All it does is broadcast Your ignorance.
And penultimately, which Points 1, 2, and 3 are You referring to? The UpDates, or the "choices" America's Ruling Political Class will give Voters in Election2024? Assuming, of course, that there will be an election.
And finally, i hear Trump has started a Go Fund Me campaign to pay his $355 million fine for bullshitting Everybody when it came to what he was really worth. And he has a separate one going to meet all his various and sundry lawyer fees and legal expenses.
My guess is that he is hoping to be convicted of something so that when he is elected President, he can issue a pardon to himself. Heh. Maybe they'll do his swearing in as POTUS MAXXIMMUSS XLVII live from his cell.
And Double Heh. Trump would be the perfect man to be in charge once the Decline is over, and the free-Fall of The American Experiment has begun. He could turn it into a hit reality tv show, i'm sure.
They’re lying about Alexei Navalny “Putin’s Enemy”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8g4QRTyN9E&t=1s
Heh. Well, i really like their Official Disclaimer: "These videos are for entertainment purposes ONLY... ."
You didn't have time to watch it in 10-minutes Jeff did you!
Its 17-minutes long! LMFAO
LYFAO until it falls off, Dennis. i don't watch videos that "are for entertainment purposes ONLY." Obviously, You do.
Putin to sue Biden for DEFAMATION.
Biden accuses Putin and "his thugs" of Navalny's death. Evidence?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFklonnv5VY
i'm sure Biden and his legal team are shaking in their boots.
On another subject, if you haven't seen the informative piece by Roger Harris in Anti-War, it is worth a read. Talk about election interference! And it speaks to our ridiculous carrying on about the "border crisis" in which our brilliant politicians rail on about the symptoms and never the cause.
https://original.antiwar.com/roger_harris/2024/02/13/washington-promotes-venezuelan-opposition-candidate/
i'm curious, TomG: What do You see as the cause of the "border crisis"? And is it really a "crisis" at all? Or is it something else?
What drives migration? If you look at Venezuela and Cuba, our sanctions don't harm the governments, they harm the poor. Of course, the Clintons did plenty of harm in Haiti. Making Mexicans import US corn as part of original NAFTA drove waves to the factories along the border only to be closed later when labor moved to cheaper workers in China. If you look at migration in Europe, you see direct links to our wars and sanctions.
Jimmy Dore hits the ball out of the park again...
The Senate has passed a Bill to send billions more dollars to Ukraine. But while the Bill still faces an uncertain future in the House, it has not gone unnoticed that the Bill contains a funding mechanism which compels the next President (Donald Trump) to continue supporting Ukraine’s war effort, and American bombing, or face impeachment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT7lT-D_HSM
Trumps threats to stop the Ukrainian war in 24-hours is scaring the shit out of the MIC/Deep State!
Jimmy and Aaron Maté discuss how the Congress, along with Deep State actors, are seeking to erode democracy by preemptively taking options away from Trump in his probable second term.
But by the Grace of God Trump will continue to one-by-one whac-a-mole all these weaponized indictments and get a second term to achieve his goal of stopping the Ukrainian war in 24-hours and stop the bombing.
Sadly, the nation of Palestine will probably not exist by then. And if there really is a God, the ethno-supremacist apartheid state of Israel will no longer exist. One can only hope.
Fani Willis just handed Trump incredibly good news as she finds herself caught in a web of lies. The corrupt Fulton County DA and prosecutor Nathan Wade are facing scrutiny after revelations surfaced in a hearing including the use of corporate credit cards for personal vacations and under-the-table cash payments. Willis faces allegations of dishonesty and impropriety, jeopardizing her ability to lead the case against Trump.
Legal analysts speculate that the case will probably be dismissed due to Willis' credibility issues ~ another victory for Trump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KhE4eP72n4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GepObkSo1AQ
And in NY, Alvin Bragg is up to bat and he has to come up with a definitive case or let Trump go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPcPUkVZC4w
Anyone else here sick of the left's assumption of guilt and having to prove innocence?
TRUMP 2024
And speaking of that National Debt: DEFICIT TOPS $500 BILLION IN FIRST 4 MONTHS OF 2024 FISCAL YEAR by Michael Rainey / The Fiscal Times 12 Feb 24
The federal budget deficit was a bit smaller in January than it was a year ago, as outlays exceeded revenues by a relatively modest $22 billion, compared to $38 billion in 2023, according to the latest Treasury Department data released Monday.
Nevertheless, THE DEFICIT CONTINUES TO GROW RAPIDLY ON A CUMULATIVE BASIS, TOTALING $532 BILLION IN THE FIRST FOUR MONTHS OF THE 2024 FISCAL YEAR, WHICH BEGAN IN OCTOBER. THE FOUR-MONTH TOTAL THIS YEAR IS 16% HIGHER THAN THE FOUR-MONTH TOTAL RECORDED A YEAR AGO.
Rising interest costs are playing a central role in the accelerating growth of the deficit. THE TREASURY PAID $357 BILLION IN INTEREST BETWEEN OCTOBER 2023 AND JANUARY 2024, A 37% INCREASE FROM THE INTEREST PAID DURING THE SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR.
As Bloomberg’s Viktoria Dendrinou notes, the aggressive interest rate hikes rolled out by the Federal Reserve as part of its effort to control inflation have made debt more expensive. “The weighted average interest rate on outstanding US interest-bearing government debt was 3.15% at the end of January – the highest since May 2010 and marking a roughly 70 basis point increase from a year before,” Dendrinou writes.
Source: https://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2024/02/12/Deficit-Tops-500-Billion-First-4-Months-2024-Fiscal-Year ; EMPHASES added.
i already positively commented on Your newest Tom Dispatch dispatch, Bill, in yesterday’s BV.
Reading it again, i see as the most significant thought expressed in it as the following:
“No, we the people exercise remarkably little control over the war-making that the military-industrial-congressional complex has engaged in for decades or the costs that go with them. Indeed, the dollar costs are largely deferred to future generations as America’s national debt climbs even faster than the Pentagon war budget.”
The simple fact of the matter is that “we, them people” surrendered what little control we may have ever once had over the MICC and its war-making a long, long time ago.
And we did that by allowing without a peep that MICC ~ and the elected politicians, the entrenched civilian and military bureaucrats, and the anointed political appointees that it owns, operates, commands and controls ~ to do whatever the hell it wants to do so as to ramp up Profits, and put more money into the pockets of that MICC’s workers, supervisors, managers, executives, and shareholders; and also in the pockets of those outside the MICC who are dependent on all the money all those MICCers have to spend.
And “national debt”? Who in this country even knows what that National, Sovereign Debt IS, and what it means for the future of this Nation and its Citizens? Let alone is ~ in even the very slightest way ~ concerned about it?
And how many politicians, pundits, and other propagandists WANT “We, Them People” to know anything about it, let alone to think about it, let alone to be concerned about it, let alone to actually DO something about it?
What goes around comes around, and when this Debt Thing actually comes around and can no longer be ignored, it is going to get very, Very Ugly.
Yes, it is, Jeff.
The MICC did everything it could to bury Ike's warning in 1961, even burying it on Ike's own memorial in DC! As I wrote about here:
https://bracingviews.substack.com/p/the-betrayal-of-dwight-d-eisenhower-by-his-own-memorial-in-washington-dc
We are not the alert and knowledgable citizenry that we need to be to curb the MICC and its incessant and deadly wars.
i look forward to reading that, Bill. Got some Boat Chores to tend to at the moment, and will be getting back to You later. And Thank You for making Bracing Views happen.
As i have said before: It is a Candle in a time of Gathering Growing Darkness.
Myself a pic. comes to mind of one lit Match next to Boxes of unlit ones and its that close to igniting them all .., but a wooden match sized Black -hooded Executioner/ with an ax is chopping the lit one at the base to put it out...! Sometimes it can be that close to starting something really Big!!!
i like that pic, Fireman1110. That's the Opening Close-Up shot. The Candle in a Time of Gathering Growing Darkness is the Opening Long shot and that closes in on and leads ultimately to the Match and its Boxes,.
Anybody here on BV know how to translate Words into Visual Imagery? Help Wanted... .