The enemy may appear to be the US government, but the handmaiden to this enemy is apathy. I find it very hard to get people I know to care. The defamation campaign has been extraordinarily successful. One liberal acquaintance said “ I don’t trust Assange”. Another said: “I’m not a fan.” As if this was a damn wrestling match.
And speaking of Tucker Carlson, which everyone seems to be doing, I even hesitate to remind NYTimes readers that Carlson bravely defended Assange because their tiny manichean brains will switch over to “Carlson said good! Must be bad!” Still I feel we’re gaining ground slowly, and we really must prevail for the sake of a courageous man, and for our freedom.
I could not agree more with your comment regarding friends and acquaintances- they have somehow been programmed to respond like this. Well, not somehow. It’s fairly obvious. We’re in the matrix, brother.
Get used to feeling uncomfortable. What we do to Julian Assange is the evil that all these talking heads and politicians claim to be fighting. But so many people would rather not think about it.
Sera watch Greenwald on Rumble. I think it's his newest post and one in which he talks about Tucker. Forget about the media if you want the truth. To me politics has become akin to a religion and one does not question that which comes from on high. And all proclaim Assange is a sinner.
Julian Assange's torture and slow murder in the dungeons of Belmarsh means not only that we don't have democracy and freedom of press. It means we don't have any right whatsoever, and hence we don't have a real country, nor government, not even a controlling mafia, but rather an anarchy of heartless criminals and psychopaths ruling us in a police state. We are indeed in Orwel's 1984, except that the rulers are not as nearly as smart as the Big Brother O'brian. And they are now dragging us into two nuclear wars...
From what I can tell, the Democrats are socialist fascists and the Republicans are capitalist fascists. Capitalist fascist will turn America into a living hell on Earth. The rich don't like to share. Backstage it appears Biden is leaning towards the capitalist fascists, while saying things that a socialist fascist would. A sociopath for instance trying to imitate a human.
Yes, but Biden is just a puppet on a string, representing almost the same cartels, with a minuscule twist towards social justice pushed hard by poor Bernie. I like especially Noam Chomsky's evaluation of the Republican party in particular, viewing them as the most dangerous gang ever, although, considering the proxy war in Ukraine, the Democrats seem to deserve this definition as well.
Thank you so much for showing up and speaking out against this relentless war on truth and free speech. It never ceases to amaze me how far we've fallen into the clutches of the dark side.
I am responding to the many, many requests I get every day for funding of their election and re-election campaigns thus: I have limited funds and am only donating to candidates for any office, local or national, with a statement that I will only donate to those politicians supporting the release of Julian Assange. Further, I will not vote for them, or any Democrat, who has not spoken out and worked for his release. If Biden does not move to release Assange, I will not vote in the upcoming election for him or any Democrat, and will in fact resign from the Democratic Party. Biden is making a mockery of the First Amendment, and I am embarrassed for him.
I think that if we don't hold our electeds responsible for what is happening, we may not have another chance. Others are targeting the irregular financial dealings of the Supremes as well as our elected reps: I would suggest picking a politician or two and working at discrepancy between promise and performance. Too many voters have very short memories: we need to do better. I get enough appeals for money that I could write to four or five politicians a day: tracking down a way to actually reach them (hiding behind a paywall) is not so easy, however.
This is in response to this response and several others to my original post about my response to fund-raising email from Democratic candidates around the country: I wrote to each that I would donate to anyone who has spoken up to defend Julian Assange and demand his release. Otherwise I would not only not vote in the next election, I would withdraw from the Democratic Party if Biden did not step up to demand his release. No one responded directly, but since then I have received ZERO fundraising appeals from any Democratic candidate (as opposed to two or three every day since I can recall). Evidently there's a Democratic central fundraising effort that has decided to stop baiting me with appeals, as my response is probably too risky for them to answer or even acknowledge. (No, none of them has spoken up for Assange, and I"m not holding my breath.). But if everyone reading this wrote to every candidate asking for donations and promised to give "if and when" s/he publicly supported the First Amendment and Julian Assange, I wonder what the result would be? Just a thought -
Yes, the alternative is still just that - but one can't just do nothing in despair, and the next generation has enough anger over the blindness of the previous one to force me to Do Something. "Little drops of water..." and if everyone spent five minutes to write just one of our elected officials and threaten not to vote for them again, not to vote Democratic, unless they defended Assange and made it possible for Biden to grant a pardon to Assange, some of them might actually get the point. Our injustice system does not work the way it should. It seems to be undermining our best laws.
I agree with Judy. The biggest/richest corporations operate outside of governments. They employ charity and deploy lawyers to negotiate away any clashes with government (our universities too). It is galling that more people aren’t concerned. The corporation lawyers go to bat without questioning what they are doing. The lawyers don’t seem to have a line they will not cross. They operate as a thing apart from care for humanity. I think these corporations are neutralizing our governments-- kind of like boiling the frog. The legislators and judges too (local, state, federal) are strutting around like they are important. They are fools (mostly) and the well meaning among them who perhaps do not deserve to be called fools are at least foolish. Can’t they see they are all naked emperors? The biggest/richest corporations are exploiting us all. They may end up facilitating a war that actually ends us all. It will not be in the interest of the corporations to end us all. They will though if the majority does not wake the hell up--because it is a circle--all these corporations are filled with us. We are killing our planet and ourselves. Governments are ineffective because the corporations have co-opted them.
But the good news is there’s going to soon be a new king! Lots of other good things, too. Stay tuned for whose team beats the other and who wins on the latest talent show.....keep your eyes here. Don’t think too hard. We’ve got lots of fear and anger on a very superficial level. Try not to see what’s actually happening behind the curtain. You don’t need to know that. Society is now officially closed. You’ve seen what we do to those who bring a can opener! Get in line.
The core problem from my simple perspective is the clear break between what may be defined as the collective "Will" of the people and the ultimate action taken by their so-called "representative government". For example, assuming the majority of people find it repulsive, illegal and unconstitutional to hold Julian Assange for simply reporting the information he received, then why is the government attacking him, if in fact the majority of people do not want this to happen.
Well, the answer is obvious, we do not live in a true representative government. We live under a Fascist Corporate controlled behemoth, which is becoming rabid in its attacks against all forms of free speech, especially those that hit home at sensitive illegal acts of those in power, and what we would call Crimes against Humanity. Corruption knows no bounds and answers to no one. It is cowardice amplified on steroids, hiding behind government in the bowels of the secrecy agencies of the NSA, CIA and FBI, etc. It abuses the rule of law and legal procedure, violates Constitutional Rights wherever it can, so as to say to us, impunity reigns supreme for those who possess the POWER. It destroys rather than builds and demoralizes those who question any aspect of it. Ridicule and fear go hand in hand as the one-two punch, when the terms "Conspiracy Theory" fail to stop inquiries into the true nature of things. As the light of truth continues to expose the filth and dirt of decades or perhaps centuries of illegal and unauthorized rule, and the myriad of unacknowledged special access programs that exist unknown to Congress and the President, those in power will lose it even more, and lash out, engaging in even more heinous crimes against humanity, as the depth of previous horrific ventures become public knowledge.
They will double-down in acts of aggression, because this is all they know and all that they are. They have no compassion, no heart, no soul, and no ability to apologize for their actions, because dictators are never wrong. And they will kill people to prove it. The cave person mentality where the one with the biggest club prevails, seems to be in full force and effect here. Instinctual survival genes kick in to prevent the extinction of the body politik as is presently exists.
The two-party system is merely an extension of the rampant corruption within all of government. The system is broken beyond repair. And the captains must go down with their ship, so that we the people can create a new ORDER, and order built upon Self-determination, and not one dictated to us, and forced upon us. One in which our children can fully participate with critical thinking skills, versus robotic adherence to policies and procedures. A dynamic world where the advancement of the potential of humanity is paramount, and not secondary to an Elitist Agenda.
Thank you for your continued defense of Assange. I am shocked by the indifference of so many people to his situation. As you point out, the Assange case reveals what the State can do to an individual when it decides to destroy them. It's a clear warning to anyone who dares reveal the truth about the dark operations of "our" government.
What are the best strategies we can use in this fight? Since, as we've established, so many people in our lives and circles are deaf and have been brainwashed into some kind of weird complacency and certainty, we can we actually do week in and week out, especially if we're not in a position to give money?
Nations around the world where autocrats are in charge, the sheeple are still reproducing. Banning abortion and contraceptives keeps the future slave train running. A lot of the maga crowd is morbidly obese and will not last very long with an autocrat in charge. Very few old people and very few disabled will be able to survive as well. Only the Young and healthy slaves will survive and many of them will also starve or die of osteoarthritis from heavy lifting, like the builders of the pyramids. With Jerome Powell raising the interest rates and the insurrectionist in charge of the Congress, it looks like the autocrats want to Loot everyone except the excessively rich. And they will loot the excessively rich who oppose them. I am pretty sure, Garland and Biden, FBI, CIA, and the majority of the Democrats, are in on the right wing dictatorship also. The military and the police will enjoy serving the rich globalist right wingers, until they get replaced by a glut of cheaper foreign immigrants. Biden shows his true colors by not pushing for the release of Julian Assange. The realists, need to start planting gardens now and forming groups to hold off the looters.
Did you ever read, ‘The Lords of Easy Money: How the Federal Reserve Broke the American Economy’ ? It is so fascinating how Jerome Powell made all his money before getting on the Fed. Just looted a decent business by saddling them with insane debt. The workers got nothing. Sound like a good way to run an economy?
Reading Chris' description of the national security state's vast web of resources and untouchable funding, it occurs to me this is the corporate army he fears. It's been here, and 9/11 gave it free reign. If it decides you're a target, there's nothing to be done. How this is different from the Evil Empire our cartoon President warned about in the 80s escapes me.
Great speech, Chris. You have a typo in your title, however.
Many quotable passages. I just tweeted this one: "The corporate state eviscerates enshrined rights by judicial fiat. This is how we have the right to privacy, with no privacy. This is how we have “free” elections funded by corporate money, covered by a compliant corporate media and under iron corporate control."
Chris -- what are the odds, would you suppose, that FISH (and you) could be on actual hit lists, given what we may both know about recent risk escalation surrounding him?
The enemy may appear to be the US government, but the handmaiden to this enemy is apathy. I find it very hard to get people I know to care. The defamation campaign has been extraordinarily successful. One liberal acquaintance said “ I don’t trust Assange”. Another said: “I’m not a fan.” As if this was a damn wrestling match.
And speaking of Tucker Carlson, which everyone seems to be doing, I even hesitate to remind NYTimes readers that Carlson bravely defended Assange because their tiny manichean brains will switch over to “Carlson said good! Must be bad!” Still I feel we’re gaining ground slowly, and we really must prevail for the sake of a courageous man, and for our freedom.
I could not agree more with your comment regarding friends and acquaintances- they have somehow been programmed to respond like this. Well, not somehow. It’s fairly obvious. We’re in the matrix, brother.
Get used to feeling uncomfortable. What we do to Julian Assange is the evil that all these talking heads and politicians claim to be fighting. But so many people would rather not think about it.
Sera watch Greenwald on Rumble. I think it's his newest post and one in which he talks about Tucker. Forget about the media if you want the truth. To me politics has become akin to a religion and one does not question that which comes from on high. And all proclaim Assange is a sinner.
“There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.” -George Orwell, 1984
Well put. Thank you Chris.
Julian Assange's torture and slow murder in the dungeons of Belmarsh means not only that we don't have democracy and freedom of press. It means we don't have any right whatsoever, and hence we don't have a real country, nor government, not even a controlling mafia, but rather an anarchy of heartless criminals and psychopaths ruling us in a police state. We are indeed in Orwel's 1984, except that the rulers are not as nearly as smart as the Big Brother O'brian. And they are now dragging us into two nuclear wars...
From what I can tell, the Democrats are socialist fascists and the Republicans are capitalist fascists. Capitalist fascist will turn America into a living hell on Earth. The rich don't like to share. Backstage it appears Biden is leaning towards the capitalist fascists, while saying things that a socialist fascist would. A sociopath for instance trying to imitate a human.
Yes, but Biden is just a puppet on a string, representing almost the same cartels, with a minuscule twist towards social justice pushed hard by poor Bernie. I like especially Noam Chomsky's evaluation of the Republican party in particular, viewing them as the most dangerous gang ever, although, considering the proxy war in Ukraine, the Democrats seem to deserve this definition as well.
Thank you so much for showing up and speaking out against this relentless war on truth and free speech. It never ceases to amaze me how far we've fallen into the clutches of the dark side.
I am responding to the many, many requests I get every day for funding of their election and re-election campaigns thus: I have limited funds and am only donating to candidates for any office, local or national, with a statement that I will only donate to those politicians supporting the release of Julian Assange. Further, I will not vote for them, or any Democrat, who has not spoken out and worked for his release. If Biden does not move to release Assange, I will not vote in the upcoming election for him or any Democrat, and will in fact resign from the Democratic Party. Biden is making a mockery of the First Amendment, and I am embarrassed for him.
Carrie
Great position too few voters adopt and glad to hear it; we need to free Julian and defend our last shred of free speech and Constitutional rights.
I posted some pics from the day with a link to this speech sadly no politicians joined us nor any corp presstitutes but the fight goes on.
https://pameladrew.substack.com/p/nyc-free-assange-rally-world-press
I think that if we don't hold our electeds responsible for what is happening, we may not have another chance. Others are targeting the irregular financial dealings of the Supremes as well as our elected reps: I would suggest picking a politician or two and working at discrepancy between promise and performance. Too many voters have very short memories: we need to do better. I get enough appeals for money that I could write to four or five politicians a day: tracking down a way to actually reach them (hiding behind a paywall) is not so easy, however.
This is in response to this response and several others to my original post about my response to fund-raising email from Democratic candidates around the country: I wrote to each that I would donate to anyone who has spoken up to defend Julian Assange and demand his release. Otherwise I would not only not vote in the next election, I would withdraw from the Democratic Party if Biden did not step up to demand his release. No one responded directly, but since then I have received ZERO fundraising appeals from any Democratic candidate (as opposed to two or three every day since I can recall). Evidently there's a Democratic central fundraising effort that has decided to stop baiting me with appeals, as my response is probably too risky for them to answer or even acknowledge. (No, none of them has spoken up for Assange, and I"m not holding my breath.). But if everyone reading this wrote to every candidate asking for donations and promised to give "if and when" s/he publicly supported the First Amendment and Julian Assange, I wonder what the result would be? Just a thought -
Yes, the alternative is still just that - but one can't just do nothing in despair, and the next generation has enough anger over the blindness of the previous one to force me to Do Something. "Little drops of water..." and if everyone spent five minutes to write just one of our elected officials and threaten not to vote for them again, not to vote Democratic, unless they defended Assange and made it possible for Biden to grant a pardon to Assange, some of them might actually get the point. Our injustice system does not work the way it should. It seems to be undermining our best laws.
The tense is all wrong - "presage" - the dystopia is here now.
we Children of Men
search for Eden
but all's we can
Find is The
Road's a
Dead
end
.
what is it Worth to
Us to pass a Habitable
Planet on to our Children?
His tense is correct. We haven’t seen dystopia yet. It will chill us all to the bone.
Then how do you explain the content of the talk, which lists a litany of actual dystopian events?
It will grow worse, and possibly much worse. As in, you think THIS is dystopia?
As my sister Judy said, as long as the corporations are in control everything will get worse.
I agree with Judy. The biggest/richest corporations operate outside of governments. They employ charity and deploy lawyers to negotiate away any clashes with government (our universities too). It is galling that more people aren’t concerned. The corporation lawyers go to bat without questioning what they are doing. The lawyers don’t seem to have a line they will not cross. They operate as a thing apart from care for humanity. I think these corporations are neutralizing our governments-- kind of like boiling the frog. The legislators and judges too (local, state, federal) are strutting around like they are important. They are fools (mostly) and the well meaning among them who perhaps do not deserve to be called fools are at least foolish. Can’t they see they are all naked emperors? The biggest/richest corporations are exploiting us all. They may end up facilitating a war that actually ends us all. It will not be in the interest of the corporations to end us all. They will though if the majority does not wake the hell up--because it is a circle--all these corporations are filled with us. We are killing our planet and ourselves. Governments are ineffective because the corporations have co-opted them.
But the good news is there’s going to soon be a new king! Lots of other good things, too. Stay tuned for whose team beats the other and who wins on the latest talent show.....keep your eyes here. Don’t think too hard. We’ve got lots of fear and anger on a very superficial level. Try not to see what’s actually happening behind the curtain. You don’t need to know that. Society is now officially closed. You’ve seen what we do to those who bring a can opener! Get in line.
The core problem from my simple perspective is the clear break between what may be defined as the collective "Will" of the people and the ultimate action taken by their so-called "representative government". For example, assuming the majority of people find it repulsive, illegal and unconstitutional to hold Julian Assange for simply reporting the information he received, then why is the government attacking him, if in fact the majority of people do not want this to happen.
Well, the answer is obvious, we do not live in a true representative government. We live under a Fascist Corporate controlled behemoth, which is becoming rabid in its attacks against all forms of free speech, especially those that hit home at sensitive illegal acts of those in power, and what we would call Crimes against Humanity. Corruption knows no bounds and answers to no one. It is cowardice amplified on steroids, hiding behind government in the bowels of the secrecy agencies of the NSA, CIA and FBI, etc. It abuses the rule of law and legal procedure, violates Constitutional Rights wherever it can, so as to say to us, impunity reigns supreme for those who possess the POWER. It destroys rather than builds and demoralizes those who question any aspect of it. Ridicule and fear go hand in hand as the one-two punch, when the terms "Conspiracy Theory" fail to stop inquiries into the true nature of things. As the light of truth continues to expose the filth and dirt of decades or perhaps centuries of illegal and unauthorized rule, and the myriad of unacknowledged special access programs that exist unknown to Congress and the President, those in power will lose it even more, and lash out, engaging in even more heinous crimes against humanity, as the depth of previous horrific ventures become public knowledge.
They will double-down in acts of aggression, because this is all they know and all that they are. They have no compassion, no heart, no soul, and no ability to apologize for their actions, because dictators are never wrong. And they will kill people to prove it. The cave person mentality where the one with the biggest club prevails, seems to be in full force and effect here. Instinctual survival genes kick in to prevent the extinction of the body politik as is presently exists.
The two-party system is merely an extension of the rampant corruption within all of government. The system is broken beyond repair. And the captains must go down with their ship, so that we the people can create a new ORDER, and order built upon Self-determination, and not one dictated to us, and forced upon us. One in which our children can fully participate with critical thinking skills, versus robotic adherence to policies and procedures. A dynamic world where the advancement of the potential of humanity is paramount, and not secondary to an Elitist Agenda.
You have the right to speak ineffectively.
But if we don't engage in censorship, torture and ruthless suppression of dissent, then The Bad Guys might win! /sarc
Only fascism can save our democracy.
We cannot be tolerant with the intolerants. Who are the Bad Guys today?
Robert F Kennedy Jr says he will pardon Julian Assange if elected. Start there.
Thank you for your continued defense of Assange. I am shocked by the indifference of so many people to his situation. As you point out, the Assange case reveals what the State can do to an individual when it decides to destroy them. It's a clear warning to anyone who dares reveal the truth about the dark operations of "our" government.
Absolutely true and reprehensible.
What are the best strategies we can use in this fight? Since, as we've established, so many people in our lives and circles are deaf and have been brainwashed into some kind of weird complacency and certainty, we can we actually do week in and week out, especially if we're not in a position to give money?
Nations around the world where autocrats are in charge, the sheeple are still reproducing. Banning abortion and contraceptives keeps the future slave train running. A lot of the maga crowd is morbidly obese and will not last very long with an autocrat in charge. Very few old people and very few disabled will be able to survive as well. Only the Young and healthy slaves will survive and many of them will also starve or die of osteoarthritis from heavy lifting, like the builders of the pyramids. With Jerome Powell raising the interest rates and the insurrectionist in charge of the Congress, it looks like the autocrats want to Loot everyone except the excessively rich. And they will loot the excessively rich who oppose them. I am pretty sure, Garland and Biden, FBI, CIA, and the majority of the Democrats, are in on the right wing dictatorship also. The military and the police will enjoy serving the rich globalist right wingers, until they get replaced by a glut of cheaper foreign immigrants. Biden shows his true colors by not pushing for the release of Julian Assange. The realists, need to start planting gardens now and forming groups to hold off the looters.
Did you ever read, ‘The Lords of Easy Money: How the Federal Reserve Broke the American Economy’ ? It is so fascinating how Jerome Powell made all his money before getting on the Fed. Just looted a decent business by saddling them with insane debt. The workers got nothing. Sound like a good way to run an economy?
Reading Chris' description of the national security state's vast web of resources and untouchable funding, it occurs to me this is the corporate army he fears. It's been here, and 9/11 gave it free reign. If it decides you're a target, there's nothing to be done. How this is different from the Evil Empire our cartoon President warned about in the 80s escapes me.
Great speech, Chris. You have a typo in your title, however.
Many quotable passages. I just tweeted this one: "The corporate state eviscerates enshrined rights by judicial fiat. This is how we have the right to privacy, with no privacy. This is how we have “free” elections funded by corporate money, covered by a compliant corporate media and under iron corporate control."
Thanks Lisa. I fixed it.
Chris -- what are the odds, would you suppose, that FISH (and you) could be on actual hit lists, given what we may both know about recent risk escalation surrounding him?