Western media, by employing double standards, censorship, deceptive language, amplifying Israeli lies and dehumanizing Palestinians, facilitates the genocide in Gaza.
Thank you for observing the complicity of western news media in genocide! Beyond facilitating human rights violations abroad, the co-optation of western news by the military industrial complex has also degraded what many once celebrated as “democracy in America.” https://shahidbuttar.substack.com/p/journalism-has-fueled-the-rise-of
You mention Democracy in America and I remember decades ago when I read Alexis de Tocqueville in my home country and thought this country was what it claims to be.
I am reading We, The Elites now and what a lesson in "we don't know anything"
As an immigrant to the U.S., I was also long inspired by his work before growing disillusioned by the reality. I’ve been active in grassroots movements for two decades, and also worked as a policy advocate and organizer among artists before running for office, and could probably have saved myself a lot of trouble if I had just learned from the experience of others.
For a while now, Ive been struck by the "right to exist" brouhaha. Why is there a need to even ask the question, to inquire if a country, a group of people—which clearly by its outrageous actions is in prominent existence in the world—has the right of existence??
Does not the question answer itself? If you need to ask the question whether something blatantly in existence has a right to exist, then something must be untoward and the question itself must contain corruption and should be deemed illogical and disposed of like so much rubbish.
I've read a couple of articles now where they writer suggests a country can 'forfeit its right to exist'. Thinking about it a little deeper we could ask..........does a serial killer have a right to exist???
It's another one of those stupid phrases that make universal claims that can't be logically supported. Particularly given our imperial his stories of massacres and ethical cleansings.
Whenever I hear the question asked, I feel it is a loyalty oath, not unlike the one states require US citizens to sign that they are not engaged in BDS of Israel at the time of an agreement. It is outrageous.
Similarly, if the mass of American indigenous peoples somehow became powerful enough to throw off the European nations created in the western hemisphere, you would never hear me complaining that the US or Canada or Brazil or Colombia have a right to exist.
Perhaps so, but I'm disappointed in how easily we can be diverted. Next time someone asks any of us that question the retort could be, "DOES A SERIAL KILLER HAVE THE RIGHT TO EXIST?"
Never mind that there might be a 'responsibility not to co opt other people's right to life, if you wish to continue to have a 'right to exist'.
Countries don't have a right to exist. People do. Besides, "Israel" has no borders and no constitution. What is "Israel"? It is a blob, and a bunch of other little blobs inside Palestine. Just like a cancer that metastasize inside a human organ. It is nothing good, It is a disease. It is sickness. It kills.
Language always gives it away, as George Carlin observed.
"Journalists" once called themselves "reporters" - men and women who 'reported' on what they saw and heard, and would never think, or be allowed into, the same social circles or neighborhoods of those they covered. They were working-class stiffs with frayed collars, the smells of cigarettes, and an innate disdain for those they reported on. They covered the wars and crises spots by being there - as Chris did before the first Gulf War.
Now the journalists go to schools of journalism; they spew the approved narratives; they live and socialize with those they cover - the White House Correspondents Dinner? Give me a break. They take the personal abuse from monsters like Trump, just so they can give their byline "reporting from the White House". And go anywhere near a place like Gaza? No...it would muss their hair.
When it came to war or, our many acts of aggression as well as Israel I don't remember it being all that different then today. Better yes, but definitely not great. You also need time to develop a people who want to hear the truth and not fairytales about their country and feel it's okay, and that will come with this newer generation who have new sources available to them, but not found in the mainstream media. In my mother's day I remember adults willing to buy the clap trap they were told, or learned to see everything from an American perspective on things. I remember as a young child they used Russia to terrify you as well as implementing a very glorified perspective of our past.
Every time I write my Congressman about Gaza, US complicity, or demanding an end to blank-check aid, he comes back with references to October 7, as if that's the starting point. It's like a reflex. Thank our stars for Chris Hedges and the late Robert Fisk, and the many Palestinian journalists who never stop reminding us that Palestinian lives have the same value as other lives.
I had a growing dissatisfaction with US hegemony and warmongering for years, especially following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It was finally encountering Chris Hedges that gave focus and context to my considerations. Richard Wolff, similarly for economics, with his “Capitalism Hits the Fan” YouTube. Chris Hedges is my “refiner’s fire”.
In this regard the educational system has been complicit where even science was taught in a manner that demanded little thought on the part of the student, and where the role of the teacher was to inform students of how the world works. Kind of like TV hosts on various news channels, except the salaries are and were significantly different. For many, many decades learning has been little more then the indoctrination of students while it alone conveys the truth that is not to be questioned. For decades things have changed in that regard, but maybe it's not enough, who knows, but I also believe many younger people are kept up to date on the news by using the computer as a source of political truth and are given many options and certainly a much broader perspective on reality. Unfortunately outlets like Facebook can create a barrier to the truth based mostly on it's primary goal, money. Money even has a way of corrupting the health care system which can be quite manipulative and not open to diverse perspectives. Israel and it's malignant agenda in regard to the Palestinians was always out there in plane sight for those who were willing to see it, and speak of it, but of course like my mother you were defined as an anti-Semite, however courage is all it takes to stick to your guns.
And the challenge in using social media platforms for news is to stay one step ahead of the censors in charge. TikTok was showing the realities of the Gaza genocide - so its US operations had to be sold to a consortium including Oracle (Larry Ellison).
You yourself identify why "the health care system . . . can be quite manipulative and not open to diverse perspectives." It's that rote teaching of science to no other than premeds (been there as both a student and a professor) and med students (been there as a student until I "attitudinally" dropped out). A too large fraction of MDs and others in "healthcare" have never arrived at he realization that reliance on rote models is inadequate as a substitute for truly critical assessment, regardless of whether they rely on the PDR (Physicians Desk Reference) or other diagnostic manuals/pre-packaged criteria for diagnosis and treatment. Now, with AI it's even scarier. I fully expect that in years to come, many patients will be receiving diagnoses from the mouths of their physicians that weren't hatched in the brains of those physicians.
I'm not so hopeful, since a lot of doctor's practices have been bought up by big business, and they don't operate on an independent basis. Money has become more of an issue, and the medical field is more of a business then it has ever been. Seven years ago I had a big blood loss, NSAIDS for back pain, bad choice, and an abdominal bleed that gave me a hemoglobin level of 7. I was taken to the nearest available hospital by ambulance, treated then came home with a 9.6 reading. Go to my doctor not affiliated with that hospital, so no money for him, so he lies and assumes I'm stupid and tells me my hemoglobin level was 7, so he wants me back in the hospital that he is associated with and he can make his dime so to speak. I have a degree in nursing so my attitude was goodbye and screw you! Practices now owned make too many doctors both liars and thieves. Sickening!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope you didn't misinterpret my comment. I'm not hopeful at all. Money trumping critical thinking and pt. care is the rule rather than the exception in medicine right now; AI will just worsen the situation.
Don't worry, how can I be really, "US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has announced an economic pressure campaign against Iran, vowing to target Tehran’s financial interests across the world"
Hi, This is a doctor who was my brother's doctor for many years and I saw him one other time since I don't have digestive issues. To think he wanted to use me to make money really hurt me emotionally. His behavior bordered on abuse. I was going to report him, but my brother would be having further visits with him, so I didn't want to push it. It so disgusted me. When I saw my general physician weeks later I told her about this incident and she was furious and was going to write him up, but I told her not to. Unfortunately she died just last year, breast cancer, and in her early 60's. The good die young as they say. She was a doctor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Earlier this summer. journalist Sam Husseini was ushered out of an event at the National Press Club hosted by Public Citizen for attempting to challenge speaker Chuck Schumer about his support for a genocide. Ironically, the subject of the event was “corruption,” and Public Citizen’s other featured speaker was Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), who, along with Schumer, was one of only 11 Democratic senators to vote against restricting arms to Israel on the last proposed senate bill on the matter. This was billed as a media event (at the press Club, no less), but no questions from the press were allowed. As Husseini was escorted out of the room, he yelled, “genocidal maniac,” at Schumer. More details of the event were published in the print edition of the Capitol Hill Citizen, which I highly recommend. CHC now has a Substack site, as well. When CHC’s reporter tried to question Public Citizen’s rep about featuring two genocide supporters at a forum on corruption, the rep responded that the two subjects were unrelated.
And so it goes. Gaza and Israel’s actions are generally compartmentalized by the Democratic Party and its faithfuls as irrelevant to the main objectives of the party. In the same issue of CHC, its editor interviewed Norman Soloman, whose book, “The Blue Road to Trump Hell: How Corporate Democrats Paved the Way for Autocracy,” was recently published. In the interview, Soloman tried to make the case that voters should still vote Democratic, and used Kamala Harris as an example. He cited ICE as an example of the difference in the two parties. This is the conundrum for a lot of people, I think. It could be a devil’s bargain. For example, is supporting a woman’s right to dominion over her own body more important than a Palestinian woman’s (or child’s or man’s) right to life? I am really interested in Hedges’ perspective on this, as well as those of his readers. That is, do other issues that progressive voters generally support outweigh our moral obligation to withhold votes for genocide? I hope others will weigh in. (Part of my own response is that we create other options for ourselves. That’s happening now).
The same issue of CHC provided short bios of 45 candidates for Congress who were quoted as saying that their “stan(ce) against genocide” is part of their platform. Readers ask what we can do. We can support these candidates, for starters. They’re being opposed with lots of Israel lobby and corporate money. Sam Husseini is running for a Maryland House seat on the Green Party ticket, as just one example.
Happily, we are changing our traditional allegiances to the two main parties as shown in the USAFacts.org link bellow. More people are now voting their conscience as we have seen at the primaries. Talking about Schumer, I had the great pleasure of returning his donation request for the DNC with no money but with the note that I don't support the genocide on Gaza nor the bribed politicians by the AIPAC like himself.
Thanks, Julio. Interesting data. A question that remains is, where are these newly “unaffiliated” voters going to go? Looks like the Democratic Party suffered the biggest loss in terms of voter registration: “The share of Democratic Party registrants decreased in 93% of counties nationwide;” whereas, “(t)he Republican share of voters rose in 77% of counties, largely in the same rural areas where Democratic registration fell hardest.” (The percentage point change in voter registration covers the 10-year period from 2016-2026).
Yes, that is the big question, what the voters will finally choose at the polls. In our political system where the two traditional parties have become only one ( the party of the corporations) the migration between those two parties is meaningless. But people are awakening.
I believe Chris Hedges has said that only nonviolent general strikes and mass disobedience can fix this. The machine has to be halted. He cites the Velvet Revolution in the then Czechoslovakia. Although not a pacifist, he believes the violent path won’t work because the state is too experienced at it and well-equipped.
If I were AMerican I'd be looking for one of those democratic socialists to help...America's long fear of communism has blinded many to the truth. Socialism is a system that puts government back in the business of caring for the society.......not the few wealthy patrons.
The sadness of our current situation is that things could get better faster than we imagine.........but not while we invest in war and machines we imagine can think.
Calculating your economic advantage is a very thin slice of what it means to be able to think.....never mind think in accordance with the planetary reality.
The first thing, in my opinion, is not to watch mainstream media and check on honest independent providers like this substack, the Intercept, the drop site news, democracynow.org. I also check the link https://fair.org/ which specializes exactly in examining the way the media casts the news.
It's also good to listen to a few experts on the Middle East........Alasdair Crooke is high on our list......Prof Marandi as well.......and a Palestinian who I learned recently is a Canadian citizen, by the name of Laith Marouf (I may have his last name wrong)
Experts outside of the western bubble see our blind spots quite clearly....we aren't anywhere in the real loop of what's happening in the Middle East. Though of course, while the region shifts........the Israeli's have a kind of carte blanche to keep stealing land in the West Bank, and killing Palestinians wherever possible.
What we're learning now, we should have been informed about at least a decade ago.
Check out the Mizrahi Ayatollah - Alon Mizrahi - out of a Zionist upbringing found his brilliant way to the truth... Or the Australian journalist George Hazim - plus the US journalist/historian Patrick Lawrence.
When I first heard of the IDF using human shields, and the comment of a soldier that, "We are more important than them," I heard the language of the old fascists. The IDF are acting just like the Waffen SS in WWII, and imperial troops everywhere in the 20th century.
Yesterday I read on-line that Adam Johnson's book How to Sell a Genocide had been emoved from the shelves of Waverley's Municipal Library in Sydney's Eastern suburbs (home to a plethora of Zionist communities and synagogues) when a nameless person protested. I immediately bought the book and I think many others too are buying judging by some of the comments I have read. It reminded me of Florida Governor De Santis and his own hundreds and more of titles removed from libraries in Florida - including books by writer acquaintances here in Australia and in the far north-west US. And of the book-burnings in Berlin in early Nazi/Hitler government times. Thanks again for reminding us all - CH - chapter-and-verse - of the ugliness of so-called western media and its subservience to Zionist controls - from Australia some hundreds of politicians AND media personnel have taken free trips to Israel - bought/bribed by the Zionist lobbies and criminal structures.
Words don’t simply describe reality they shape it and when crafted with integrity they reflect it, like a mirror. The latter is what journalism should be and is how Chris Hedges writes.
The Zionist project realized decades ago that it must control the news media in order to brainwash the population of the free democracies and sell them their side of the story. Hopefully, independent news media , like you , Zeteo, and others, will succeed in taking over, and shed the light on the events. It is a David against Goliath struggle, but Truth MUST prevail !
The Empire's devotion to Zionist Jews and Israel is a poison so lethal that it will destroy it. Trying to compel Americans to honor this sick, evil Nazi nation and to render all Jews immune to the criticism they and their country have so richly deserved, is simply insane.
"Christian Zionists" are a set of sick hillbillies who, without big Zionist Jew money behind them and Israeli Nazi support would fade away with their mythological bullshit.
While a lot of End Time Christians are poor and ignorant their power is in their number and they have been able to put in power our last two presidents and many congress people. Trump's current cabinet is mostly Christian Zionists: the secretaries of Defense, Commerce, Education, Treasury, Interior and Energy. And many of those Zionists are billionaires and multimillionaires like the brothers Farris and Dan Wilks, Tim Dunn, Kenneth Copeland, John Hagee etc.
You are right, Julio. What I'm saying is that they have such power as a group because this country has been owned and operated by Zionist Jew billionaires for many decades, and they have signed on to that with their bullshit End Times fairy tale story.
IMHO, although most billionaires are considered members of any particular religion they really worship themselves with offerings of gold obtained in wars and other means they pursue to enrich themselves.
The Jewish israeli people accept the help of the Christian right for convenience but they don't' believe in the Dispensational End Times fairy tale which predominates in the evangelical church because it aims at their destruction. Thanks to your reply I was enticed to research with the help of Auntie AI and this was her answer:
"The Dispensational End-Times Timeline
Dispensationalists believe that human history is a giant clock, and right now, the clock is paused. They believe we are currently living in the
1. The Rapture
This is the triggering event. In the blink of an eye, Jesus will secretly appear in the sky. All true Christians—both living and dead—will be physically lifted off the Earth into heaven. This leaves the rest of the world behind to experience the chaos that follows.
2. The Rise of the Antichrist
With the world in chaos after the Rapture, a brilliant, charismatic world dictator will step forward. He will promise global peace and security. He will sign a 7-year peace treaty with the nation of Israel, securing their borders and making him a hero in the Middle East.
3. The Third Temple is Rebuilt
Because of this new peace treaty, the Jewish people will finally be allowed to rebuild their sacred Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (where the ancient First and Second Temples used to stand). Daily animal sacrifices will start again.
4. The Great Tribulation (The Turning Point)
Exactly halfway through the 7-year treaty (at the 3.5-year mark), the Antichrist will break his promise. He will walk into the rebuilt Jewish Temple, declare that he is God, and demand the world worship him. He will force everyone to take a "Mark of the Beast" to buy or sell anything. This triggers 3.5 years of horrific plagues, wars, and cosmic disasters sent by God.
5. The Battle of Armageddon
The Antichrist will gather all the armies of the world into the Valley of Megiddo in Israel. Their goal is to march on Jerusalem and completely wipe out the Jewish people once and for all.
6. The Second Coming of Christ
Just as Israel is about to be destroyed, the sky will open up. Jesus will physically return, riding a white horse, accompanied by the Christians who were raptured years earlier. Jesus will easily destroy the Antichrist and his armies. At this moment, the surviving Jewish people will realize Jesus was the true Messiah all along.
7. The Millennial Kingdom
Jesus will set up his throne in Jerusalem. He will physically rule over the entire Earth for a literal 1,000 years of perfect peace. Nature will be restored (lions will lay down with lambs), and there will be no more war."
This is all fantasist bullshit, created by imaginative lunatics to mold and control imbeciles. Only a propagandized simpleton could subscribe to any of its infantile nonsense. Christianity, like all organized religions, is pure, unmitigated absurdity.
Thank you for observing the complicity of western news media in genocide! Beyond facilitating human rights violations abroad, the co-optation of western news by the military industrial complex has also degraded what many once celebrated as “democracy in America.” https://shahidbuttar.substack.com/p/journalism-has-fueled-the-rise-of
You mention Democracy in America and I remember decades ago when I read Alexis de Tocqueville in my home country and thought this country was what it claims to be.
I am reading We, The Elites now and what a lesson in "we don't know anything"
As an immigrant to the U.S., I was also long inspired by his work before growing disillusioned by the reality. I’ve been active in grassroots movements for two decades, and also worked as a policy advocate and organizer among artists before running for office, and could probably have saved myself a lot of trouble if I had just learned from the experience of others.
For a while now, Ive been struck by the "right to exist" brouhaha. Why is there a need to even ask the question, to inquire if a country, a group of people—which clearly by its outrageous actions is in prominent existence in the world—has the right of existence??
Does not the question answer itself? If you need to ask the question whether something blatantly in existence has a right to exist, then something must be untoward and the question itself must contain corruption and should be deemed illogical and disposed of like so much rubbish.
I've read a couple of articles now where they writer suggests a country can 'forfeit its right to exist'. Thinking about it a little deeper we could ask..........does a serial killer have a right to exist???
It's another one of those stupid phrases that make universal claims that can't be logically supported. Particularly given our imperial his stories of massacres and ethical cleansings.
Whenever I hear the question asked, I feel it is a loyalty oath, not unlike the one states require US citizens to sign that they are not engaged in BDS of Israel at the time of an agreement. It is outrageous.
a rather apropos analogy.
Similarly, if the mass of American indigenous peoples somehow became powerful enough to throw off the European nations created in the western hemisphere, you would never hear me complaining that the US or Canada or Brazil or Colombia have a right to exist.
Me neither.
The point of such questions is to discredit the speaker before they can say anything.
In my view, the speaker automatically discredits his or herself by asking the fucking question.
Yes, but most humans naturally trust and grovel before a perceived authority figure.
True enough. Malcolm X repeatedly dwells on that point in his autobiography.
Perhaps so, but I'm disappointed in how easily we can be diverted. Next time someone asks any of us that question the retort could be, "DOES A SERIAL KILLER HAVE THE RIGHT TO EXIST?"
Never mind that there might be a 'responsibility not to co opt other people's right to life, if you wish to continue to have a 'right to exist'.
Countries don't have a right to exist. People do. Besides, "Israel" has no borders and no constitution. What is "Israel"? It is a blob, and a bunch of other little blobs inside Palestine. Just like a cancer that metastasize inside a human organ. It is nothing good, It is a disease. It is sickness. It kills.
Gatekeeper: Do You Condemn Hamas?
A: No, indigenous response to illegal military invasion occupation and genocide has a right to violently resist being colonized.
Gatekeeper: What should Israel have done?
A: End the illegal colonial military occupation, siege and Genocide, withdraw completely from Gaza and West Bank.
Or you could get right down to it and say "No. I condemn the Israeli militaries willful murder of defenceless children".
And of all defenceless medical, teacher and journalist personnel, too. And of all civilian adults - men and women!
Language always gives it away, as George Carlin observed.
"Journalists" once called themselves "reporters" - men and women who 'reported' on what they saw and heard, and would never think, or be allowed into, the same social circles or neighborhoods of those they covered. They were working-class stiffs with frayed collars, the smells of cigarettes, and an innate disdain for those they reported on. They covered the wars and crises spots by being there - as Chris did before the first Gulf War.
Now the journalists go to schools of journalism; they spew the approved narratives; they live and socialize with those they cover - the White House Correspondents Dinner? Give me a break. They take the personal abuse from monsters like Trump, just so they can give their byline "reporting from the White House". And go anywhere near a place like Gaza? No...it would muss their hair.
When it came to war or, our many acts of aggression as well as Israel I don't remember it being all that different then today. Better yes, but definitely not great. You also need time to develop a people who want to hear the truth and not fairytales about their country and feel it's okay, and that will come with this newer generation who have new sources available to them, but not found in the mainstream media. In my mother's day I remember adults willing to buy the clap trap they were told, or learned to see everything from an American perspective on things. I remember as a young child they used Russia to terrify you as well as implementing a very glorified perspective of our past.
"Clichés and opaque adjectives such as the “cycle of violence” or “clashes” distort and falsify reality."
News coverage of Gaza is a textbook example of thought-terminating cliches.
This is because those journalists crave Israeli carrot and fear Israeli stick. Noam Chomsky's takedown of Andrew Marr comes prominently to mind.
Chris Hedges' interview or interrogation from Zionist-controlled David Marr comes to my mind - I am unsure that Noam Chomsky had a similar run in...
Every time I write my Congressman about Gaza, US complicity, or demanding an end to blank-check aid, he comes back with references to October 7, as if that's the starting point. It's like a reflex. Thank our stars for Chris Hedges and the late Robert Fisk, and the many Palestinian journalists who never stop reminding us that Palestinian lives have the same value as other lives.
I had a growing dissatisfaction with US hegemony and warmongering for years, especially following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It was finally encountering Chris Hedges that gave focus and context to my considerations. Richard Wolff, similarly for economics, with his “Capitalism Hits the Fan” YouTube. Chris Hedges is my “refiner’s fire”.
In this regard the educational system has been complicit where even science was taught in a manner that demanded little thought on the part of the student, and where the role of the teacher was to inform students of how the world works. Kind of like TV hosts on various news channels, except the salaries are and were significantly different. For many, many decades learning has been little more then the indoctrination of students while it alone conveys the truth that is not to be questioned. For decades things have changed in that regard, but maybe it's not enough, who knows, but I also believe many younger people are kept up to date on the news by using the computer as a source of political truth and are given many options and certainly a much broader perspective on reality. Unfortunately outlets like Facebook can create a barrier to the truth based mostly on it's primary goal, money. Money even has a way of corrupting the health care system which can be quite manipulative and not open to diverse perspectives. Israel and it's malignant agenda in regard to the Palestinians was always out there in plane sight for those who were willing to see it, and speak of it, but of course like my mother you were defined as an anti-Semite, however courage is all it takes to stick to your guns.
And the challenge in using social media platforms for news is to stay one step ahead of the censors in charge. TikTok was showing the realities of the Gaza genocide - so its US operations had to be sold to a consortium including Oracle (Larry Ellison).
You yourself identify why "the health care system . . . can be quite manipulative and not open to diverse perspectives." It's that rote teaching of science to no other than premeds (been there as both a student and a professor) and med students (been there as a student until I "attitudinally" dropped out). A too large fraction of MDs and others in "healthcare" have never arrived at he realization that reliance on rote models is inadequate as a substitute for truly critical assessment, regardless of whether they rely on the PDR (Physicians Desk Reference) or other diagnostic manuals/pre-packaged criteria for diagnosis and treatment. Now, with AI it's even scarier. I fully expect that in years to come, many patients will be receiving diagnoses from the mouths of their physicians that weren't hatched in the brains of those physicians.
I'm not so hopeful, since a lot of doctor's practices have been bought up by big business, and they don't operate on an independent basis. Money has become more of an issue, and the medical field is more of a business then it has ever been. Seven years ago I had a big blood loss, NSAIDS for back pain, bad choice, and an abdominal bleed that gave me a hemoglobin level of 7. I was taken to the nearest available hospital by ambulance, treated then came home with a 9.6 reading. Go to my doctor not affiliated with that hospital, so no money for him, so he lies and assumes I'm stupid and tells me my hemoglobin level was 7, so he wants me back in the hospital that he is associated with and he can make his dime so to speak. I have a degree in nursing so my attitude was goodbye and screw you! Practices now owned make too many doctors both liars and thieves. Sickening!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sickening indeed.
I hope you didn't misinterpret my comment. I'm not hopeful at all. Money trumping critical thinking and pt. care is the rule rather than the exception in medicine right now; AI will just worsen the situation.
Don't worry, how can I be really, "US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has announced an economic pressure campaign against Iran, vowing to target Tehran’s financial interests across the world"
End result of which will likely be the Trump administration shooting itself in the foot again.
One can only wish. I really do believe he's gone AWOL from his head.
The wonders of free market medicine never cease to amaze me.
Hi, This is a doctor who was my brother's doctor for many years and I saw him one other time since I don't have digestive issues. To think he wanted to use me to make money really hurt me emotionally. His behavior bordered on abuse. I was going to report him, but my brother would be having further visits with him, so I didn't want to push it. It so disgusted me. When I saw my general physician weeks later I told her about this incident and she was furious and was going to write him up, but I told her not to. Unfortunately she died just last year, breast cancer, and in her early 60's. The good die young as they say. She was a doctor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Earlier this summer. journalist Sam Husseini was ushered out of an event at the National Press Club hosted by Public Citizen for attempting to challenge speaker Chuck Schumer about his support for a genocide. Ironically, the subject of the event was “corruption,” and Public Citizen’s other featured speaker was Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), who, along with Schumer, was one of only 11 Democratic senators to vote against restricting arms to Israel on the last proposed senate bill on the matter. This was billed as a media event (at the press Club, no less), but no questions from the press were allowed. As Husseini was escorted out of the room, he yelled, “genocidal maniac,” at Schumer. More details of the event were published in the print edition of the Capitol Hill Citizen, which I highly recommend. CHC now has a Substack site, as well. When CHC’s reporter tried to question Public Citizen’s rep about featuring two genocide supporters at a forum on corruption, the rep responded that the two subjects were unrelated.
And so it goes. Gaza and Israel’s actions are generally compartmentalized by the Democratic Party and its faithfuls as irrelevant to the main objectives of the party. In the same issue of CHC, its editor interviewed Norman Soloman, whose book, “The Blue Road to Trump Hell: How Corporate Democrats Paved the Way for Autocracy,” was recently published. In the interview, Soloman tried to make the case that voters should still vote Democratic, and used Kamala Harris as an example. He cited ICE as an example of the difference in the two parties. This is the conundrum for a lot of people, I think. It could be a devil’s bargain. For example, is supporting a woman’s right to dominion over her own body more important than a Palestinian woman’s (or child’s or man’s) right to life? I am really interested in Hedges’ perspective on this, as well as those of his readers. That is, do other issues that progressive voters generally support outweigh our moral obligation to withhold votes for genocide? I hope others will weigh in. (Part of my own response is that we create other options for ourselves. That’s happening now).
The same issue of CHC provided short bios of 45 candidates for Congress who were quoted as saying that their “stan(ce) against genocide” is part of their platform. Readers ask what we can do. We can support these candidates, for starters. They’re being opposed with lots of Israel lobby and corporate money. Sam Husseini is running for a Maryland House seat on the Green Party ticket, as just one example.
Happily, we are changing our traditional allegiances to the two main parties as shown in the USAFacts.org link bellow. More people are now voting their conscience as we have seen at the primaries. Talking about Schumer, I had the great pleasure of returning his donation request for the DNC with no money but with the note that I don't support the genocide on Gaza nor the bribed politicians by the AIPAC like himself.
https://usafacts.org/articles/more-voters-are-registering-outside-the-two-party-system/?utm_content=USAFacts_sharecontent_vizlab&utm_source=USAFacts_Klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=8_20_26_Flagship_Special+Spotlight+Two-Party+System&_kx=B0qjN9wp_T-tIEH61D0hmBqs8zZ6uII6Zn4JkWc54l0.SH8aQb
Thanks, Julio. Interesting data. A question that remains is, where are these newly “unaffiliated” voters going to go? Looks like the Democratic Party suffered the biggest loss in terms of voter registration: “The share of Democratic Party registrants decreased in 93% of counties nationwide;” whereas, “(t)he Republican share of voters rose in 77% of counties, largely in the same rural areas where Democratic registration fell hardest.” (The percentage point change in voter registration covers the 10-year period from 2016-2026).
Yes, that is the big question, what the voters will finally choose at the polls. In our political system where the two traditional parties have become only one ( the party of the corporations) the migration between those two parties is meaningless. But people are awakening.
Thank you for this. Do you have any suggestions for things the average person can do to fight back?
I believe Chris Hedges has said that only nonviolent general strikes and mass disobedience can fix this. The machine has to be halted. He cites the Velvet Revolution in the then Czechoslovakia. Although not a pacifist, he believes the violent path won’t work because the state is too experienced at it and well-equipped.
If I were AMerican I'd be looking for one of those democratic socialists to help...America's long fear of communism has blinded many to the truth. Socialism is a system that puts government back in the business of caring for the society.......not the few wealthy patrons.
The sadness of our current situation is that things could get better faster than we imagine.........but not while we invest in war and machines we imagine can think.
Calculating your economic advantage is a very thin slice of what it means to be able to think.....never mind think in accordance with the planetary reality.
The first thing, in my opinion, is not to watch mainstream media and check on honest independent providers like this substack, the Intercept, the drop site news, democracynow.org. I also check the link https://fair.org/ which specializes exactly in examining the way the media casts the news.
It's also good to listen to a few experts on the Middle East........Alasdair Crooke is high on our list......Prof Marandi as well.......and a Palestinian who I learned recently is a Canadian citizen, by the name of Laith Marouf (I may have his last name wrong)
Experts outside of the western bubble see our blind spots quite clearly....we aren't anywhere in the real loop of what's happening in the Middle East. Though of course, while the region shifts........the Israeli's have a kind of carte blanche to keep stealing land in the West Bank, and killing Palestinians wherever possible.
What we're learning now, we should have been informed about at least a decade ago.
Check out the Mizrahi Ayatollah - Alon Mizrahi - out of a Zionist upbringing found his brilliant way to the truth... Or the Australian journalist George Hazim - plus the US journalist/historian Patrick Lawrence.
https://youtu.be/lMOhjwDRPGY
When I first heard of the IDF using human shields, and the comment of a soldier that, "We are more important than them," I heard the language of the old fascists. The IDF are acting just like the Waffen SS in WWII, and imperial troops everywhere in the 20th century.
Yesterday I read on-line that Adam Johnson's book How to Sell a Genocide had been emoved from the shelves of Waverley's Municipal Library in Sydney's Eastern suburbs (home to a plethora of Zionist communities and synagogues) when a nameless person protested. I immediately bought the book and I think many others too are buying judging by some of the comments I have read. It reminded me of Florida Governor De Santis and his own hundreds and more of titles removed from libraries in Florida - including books by writer acquaintances here in Australia and in the far north-west US. And of the book-burnings in Berlin in early Nazi/Hitler government times. Thanks again for reminding us all - CH - chapter-and-verse - of the ugliness of so-called western media and its subservience to Zionist controls - from Australia some hundreds of politicians AND media personnel have taken free trips to Israel - bought/bribed by the Zionist lobbies and criminal structures.
Words don’t simply describe reality they shape it and when crafted with integrity they reflect it, like a mirror. The latter is what journalism should be and is how Chris Hedges writes.
The Zionist project realized decades ago that it must control the news media in order to brainwash the population of the free democracies and sell them their side of the story. Hopefully, independent news media , like you , Zeteo, and others, will succeed in taking over, and shed the light on the events. It is a David against Goliath struggle, but Truth MUST prevail !
The Empire's devotion to Zionist Jews and Israel is a poison so lethal that it will destroy it. Trying to compel Americans to honor this sick, evil Nazi nation and to render all Jews immune to the criticism they and their country have so richly deserved, is simply insane.
But don't forget that the Christian Zionists are more numerous and powerful and they are and they are also destroying our country.
"Christian Zionists" are a set of sick hillbillies who, without big Zionist Jew money behind them and Israeli Nazi support would fade away with their mythological bullshit.
While a lot of End Time Christians are poor and ignorant their power is in their number and they have been able to put in power our last two presidents and many congress people. Trump's current cabinet is mostly Christian Zionists: the secretaries of Defense, Commerce, Education, Treasury, Interior and Energy. And many of those Zionists are billionaires and multimillionaires like the brothers Farris and Dan Wilks, Tim Dunn, Kenneth Copeland, John Hagee etc.
You are right, Julio. What I'm saying is that they have such power as a group because this country has been owned and operated by Zionist Jew billionaires for many decades, and they have signed on to that with their bullshit End Times fairy tale story.
IMHO, although most billionaires are considered members of any particular religion they really worship themselves with offerings of gold obtained in wars and other means they pursue to enrich themselves.
The Jewish israeli people accept the help of the Christian right for convenience but they don't' believe in the Dispensational End Times fairy tale which predominates in the evangelical church because it aims at their destruction. Thanks to your reply I was enticed to research with the help of Auntie AI and this was her answer:
"The Dispensational End-Times Timeline
Dispensationalists believe that human history is a giant clock, and right now, the clock is paused. They believe we are currently living in the
1. The Rapture
This is the triggering event. In the blink of an eye, Jesus will secretly appear in the sky. All true Christians—both living and dead—will be physically lifted off the Earth into heaven. This leaves the rest of the world behind to experience the chaos that follows.
2. The Rise of the Antichrist
With the world in chaos after the Rapture, a brilliant, charismatic world dictator will step forward. He will promise global peace and security. He will sign a 7-year peace treaty with the nation of Israel, securing their borders and making him a hero in the Middle East.
3. The Third Temple is Rebuilt
Because of this new peace treaty, the Jewish people will finally be allowed to rebuild their sacred Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (where the ancient First and Second Temples used to stand). Daily animal sacrifices will start again.
4. The Great Tribulation (The Turning Point)
Exactly halfway through the 7-year treaty (at the 3.5-year mark), the Antichrist will break his promise. He will walk into the rebuilt Jewish Temple, declare that he is God, and demand the world worship him. He will force everyone to take a "Mark of the Beast" to buy or sell anything. This triggers 3.5 years of horrific plagues, wars, and cosmic disasters sent by God.
5. The Battle of Armageddon
The Antichrist will gather all the armies of the world into the Valley of Megiddo in Israel. Their goal is to march on Jerusalem and completely wipe out the Jewish people once and for all.
6. The Second Coming of Christ
Just as Israel is about to be destroyed, the sky will open up. Jesus will physically return, riding a white horse, accompanied by the Christians who were raptured years earlier. Jesus will easily destroy the Antichrist and his armies. At this moment, the surviving Jewish people will realize Jesus was the true Messiah all along.
7. The Millennial Kingdom
Jesus will set up his throne in Jerusalem. He will physically rule over the entire Earth for a literal 1,000 years of perfect peace. Nature will be restored (lions will lay down with lambs), and there will be no more war."
This is all fantasist bullshit, created by imaginative lunatics to mold and control imbeciles. Only a propagandized simpleton could subscribe to any of its infantile nonsense. Christianity, like all organized religions, is pure, unmitigated absurdity.