thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-07-18--Why Freedom Is Ending

Why Freedom Is Ending

Another important dispatch from The Greanville Post .
Be sure to share it widely .
This article is part of an ongoing series of dispatches by historian Eric Zuesse THE FORCE THAT IS ENDING FREEDOM The force that is ending freedom is empire .
Every empire is imposed , none is really voluntary .
Conquest creates an empire , and the constant application of force maintains it .
Every empire is a dictatorship , not only upon its foreign populations ( which goes without saying , because otherwise there can ’ t be any empire ) , but upon its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ subjects .
Any empire needs weapons-makers , who sell to the government and whose only markets are the imperial government and its vassal-nations or ‘ allies ’ .
By contrast , ‘ enemy ’ nations are ones that the imperial power has placed onto its priority-list of nations that are yet to become conquered .
There are two main reasons to conquer a nation : One is in order to be enabled to extract , from the colony , oil , or gold , or some other valuable commodity .
The other is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be enabled to use that land as a passageway for exporting , from a vassal-nation , to other nations , that vassal-nation ’ s products .
International trade is the basis for any empire , and the billionaires who own controlling blocs of stock in a nation ’ s international corporations are the actual rulers of it , the beneficiaries of empire , the recipients of the wealth that is being extracted from the colonies and from the domestic subjects .
The idea of an empire is that the imperial nation ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the colonies their products , and they impose upon their domestic subjects the financial and military burdens of imposing their international dictatorship upon the foreign subjects .
Some authors say that there is a “ Deep State ” and that it consists of ( some undefined elements within ) the intelligence services , and of the military , and of the diplomatic corps , of any given dictatorship ; but , actually , those employees of the State are merely employees , not the actual governing power , over that dictatorship .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ aristocrats , themselves , the people who run the revolving door between ‘ the private sector ’ ( the aristocracy ’ s corporations ) and the government .
In order to maintain this system , of international dictatorship or empire , the most essential tool is deceit , of the electorate , by the aristocracy .
The method of control is : the bought agents of the Deep State ( including the major ‘ news ’ -media , etc . )
lie to the public about what their policies will be if they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to win power ; and , then , once they have won power , they do the opposite , which is what they have always been paid by the Deep State ( the aristocracy ) to do .
Thereby , elections aren ’ t “ democratic ” but instead ‘ formally democratic ’ : they are mere formalities of democracy , without the substance of democracy , because there can be no democracy where truth is suppressed and lies are spread instead .
All of the well-financed candidates for the top offices are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and virtually none are the representatives of the public , because the voters have been deceived , and were given ( by the DNC and RNC ) choices between two or more candidates , none of whom will represent the public , if and when elected .
Individuals who want to represent the public instead of the aristocracy get drowned by the aristocracy ’ s campaign-money .
Here are some recent examples of this system — the imperial system , international dictatorship , in action — as shown by its results : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2015 ) he also said : “ In my opinion , we 've spent $ 4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly , if they were there and if we could 've spent that $ 4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads , our bridges , and all of the other problems ; our airports and all of the other problems we 've had , we would 've been a lot better off .
I can tell you that right now .
We have done a tremendous disservice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we 've done a tremendous disservice to humanity .
The people that have been killed , the people that have wiped away , and for what ?
It 's not like we had victory .
It 's a mess .
The Middle East is totally destabilized .
A total and complete mess .
I wish we had the $ 4 trillion or $ 5 trillion .
I wish it were spent right here in the United States , on our schools , hospitals , roads , airports , and everything else that are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that ?
No .
Did he instead intensify what Obama had been trying to do in Syria — overthrow Assad — yes .
As the U.S. President , after having won the 2016 Presidential campaign , has Trump followed through on his criticism there , against the super-hawk , neoconservative , Republican U.S .
Senator Lindsey Graham ?
No .
Did he instead encircle himself with precisely such super-hawks , such neoconservatives ?
Yes .
Did he intensify the overthrow-Assad effort , as Graham and those others had advocated ?
Yes .
Did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
Not yet .
Did he constantly lie to the voters ?
Yes , without a doubt .
Should that be grounds for impeaching him ?
A prior question to that one is actually : Would a President Mike Pence be any different or maybe even worse than Trump ?
If yes , then what would be achieved by removing Trump from office ?
Maybe it would actually make things a lot worse .
But how likely would the U.S. Senate be to remove Trump from office if the House did impeach Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ need to vote to remove the President in order for a President to be removed after being impeached by the House .
A majority of U.S .
Senators , 53 of them , were Republicans .
If just 33 of them voted not to convict the President , then Trump wouldn ’ t be removed , and he wasn ’ t .
In order to remove him , not only would all 47 of the Democrats and Independents have had to vote to convict , but 20 of the 53 Republicans would have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s nearly 40 % of the Republican Senators .
How likely was that ?
Almost impossible .
What would their voters who had elected them back home think of their having done such a thing ?
How likely would such Senators have then faced successful re-election challenges that would have removed those Senators from office ?
Would 20 of the 53 have been likely to take that personal risk ?
Why , then , were so many Democrats in the House pressing for Trump ’ s impeachment , since Trump ’ s being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ way was practically impossible and would only have installed a President Pence , even if it could have succeeded ?
Was that Democratic Party initiative anything else than insincere political theater , lying to their own gullible voters , Democratic Party voters , just being phonies who manipulated voters to vote for them , instead of who were actually serving them ?
Is that what democracy is , now : such insincere political theater ?
Is that “ democracy ” ?
America ’ s voters are trapped , by liars , so it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It ’ s the new form of dictatorship .
But it ’ s actually as ancient as is any empire .
There ’ s nothing new about this — except for one thing : the U.S. regime is aiming to be the ultimate , the last , the final , empire , the ruler over the entire planet ; so , it is trying especially hard , ‘ to defend freedom , democracy and human rights throughout the world ’ , as Big Brother might say .
THE THREAT TO THE EMPIRE @ @ @ @ @ @ @ everyone in the world are the whistleblowers , who report to the public the corruption and evil that they see perpetrated by their superiors , their bosses , and perpetrated by people who are on the public payroll or otherwise obtaining increased income by virtue of being selected by the government to become government contractors to serve an allegedly public function .
All liars with power hate whistleblowers , and want to make special examples of any part of the press that publishes their truths , their facts , their stolen documents .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ s the only way for them to become public and thereby known to the voters so that the voters can vote on the basis of truths as in a democracy , instead of to be deceived as in a dictatorship .
Even if the truth is stolen from the liars , instead of being kept private ( “ Confidential ” ) for them , are the whistleblowers doing wrong to steal the truth from the liars ?
Or , instead , are the whistleblowers heroes : are they the authentic guardians of democracy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ separates democracy from dictatorship ?
They are the latter : they are the true heroes .
Unfortunately , the vast majority of such heroes are also martyrs — martyrs for truth , against lies .
Every dictatorship seeks to destroy its whistleblowers .
That ’ s because any whistleblower constitutes a threat to The System — the system of aristocratic control .
In all of U.S. history , the two Presidents who pursued whistleblowers and their publishers the most relentlessly have been Trump and Obama .
The public are fooled to think that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ security ’ reasons instead of to hide the government ’ s crimes and criminality .
However , not a single one of the Democratic Party ’ s many U.S. Presidential candidates is bringing this issue , of the U.S. government ’ s many crimes and constant lying , forward as being the central thing that must be criminalized above all else , as constituting “ treason.
” None of them is proposing legislation saying that it is treason , against the public — against the nation .
Against the public .
Every aristocracy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ order to control its public ; and every aristocracy uses divide-and-rule in order to do this ; but it ’ s not only to divide the public against each other ( such as between Republicans versus Democrats , both of which are actually controlled by the aristocracy ) , but also to divide between nations , such as between ‘ allies ’ versus ‘ enemies ’ — even when a given ‘ enemy ’ ( such as Iraq in 2003 ) has never threatened , far less invaded , the United States ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ may happen to be ) , and thus clearly this was aggressive war , and an international war-crime , though unpunished as such , because it was done by the empire .
The public need to fear and hate some ‘ enemy ’ which is the ‘ other ’ or ‘ alien ’ , in order not to fear and loathe the aristocracy itself — the actual source of ( and winner from ) the systemic exploitation , of the public , by the aristocracy .
It ’ s distract , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the U.S. regime ’ s totalitarianism is its ceaseless assault against Julian Assange , who is the über-whistleblower , the strongest protector for whistleblowers , the safest publisher for the evidence that they steal from their employers and from their employers ’ government .
He hides the identity of the whistleblowers , even at the risk of his own continued existence .
Right now , the U.S. regime is raising to a fever-pitch and twisting beyond recognition not only U.S. laws but the U.S. Constitution , so as to impose its will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in this effort by the corrupt U.S. Congress , to either end Assange ’ s life , or else lock him up for the rest of his heroic life in a dungeon having no communication with the world outside , until he does finally die , in isolation , punishment for his heroic last-ditch fight for the public ’ s freedom and for democracy — his fight , actually , against our 1984 regime .
What Jesus of Nazareth was locally to the Roman regime in his region , Assange is to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ example to terrify anyone else who might come forth effectively to challenge the Emperor ’ s authority .
A key country in this operation is Ecuador , which is ruled by the dictator Lenin Moreno , who stole office by lying to the public and pretending to be a progressive who backed his democratically elected predecessor , Rafael Correa , but then as soon as he won power , he reversed Correa ’ s progressive initiatives , including , above all , his protection of Assange , who had sought refuge in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2017 election , Moreno quickly moved away from his election platform after taking office .
He reversed several key pieces of legislation passed under his predecessor which targeted the wealthy and the banks .
He also reversed a referendum decision on indefinite re-election while simultaneously blocking any potential for Correa to return .
He effectively purged many of Correa 's appointments to key positions in Ecuador 's judiciary and National Electoral Council via the CPCCS-T council which boasts supra-constitutional powers .
Moreno has also cozied up to the US , with whom Ecuador @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Following a visit from Vice President Mike Pence in June 2018 , Ecuador bolstered its security cooperation with the US , including major arms deals , training exercises and intelligence sharing .
Following Assange ’ s arrest Correa , who granted Assange asylum in the first place , described Moreno as the “ greatest traitor in Ecuadorian and Latin American history ” saying he was guilty of a “ crime that humanity will never forget.
” Despite his overwhelming power and influence , however , Moreno and his family are the subject of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , as he faces down accusations of money laundering in offshore accounts and shell companies in Panama , including the INA Investment Corp , which is owned by Moreno 's brother .
Damning images , purportedly hacked from Moreno ’ s phone , have irreparably damaged both his attempts at establishing himself as an anti-corruption champion as well as his relationship with Assange , whom he accused of coordinating the hacking efforts .
They will punish Assange for their sins The key to prosecuting Assange has always been to punish him without again @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his disclosures .
That means to keep him from discussing how the U.S. government concealed alleged war crimes and huge civilian losses , the type of disclosures that were made in the famous Pentagon Papers case .
He can not discuss how Democratic and Republican members either were complicit or incompetent in their oversight .
He can not discuss how the public was lied to about the program .
A glimpse of that artificial scope was seen within minutes of the arrest .
CNN brought on its national security analyst , James Clapper @ @ @ @ @ @ @ CNN never mentioned that Clapper was accused of perjury in denying the existence of the National Security Agency surveillance program and was personally implicated in the scandal that WikiLeaks triggered .
Clapper was asked directly before Congress , “ Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans ?
” Clapper responded , “ No , sir .
… Not wittingly.
” Later , Clapper said his testimony was “ the least untruthful ” statement he could make .
That would still make it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this is Washington and people like Clapper are untouchable .
In the view of the establishment , Assange is the problem .
Is the U.S. a democracy if the regime is so effective in gripping the minds of its public , as to make them hostile to the strongest fighter for their freedom and democracy ?
Myth # 2 : Assange Will Get a Fair Trial In the U.S. Assange has been charged in the Eastern District of Virginia — the so-called “ Espionage Court.
” That is just what many of us @ @ @ @ @ @ @ security defendant has ever been found not guilty in the Eastern District of Virginia .
The Eastern District is also known as the “ rocket docket ” for the swiftness with which cases are heard and decided .
Not ready to mount a defense ?
Need more time ?
Haven ’ t received all of your discovery ?
Tough luck .
See you in court .
… I have long predicted that Assange would face Judge Leonie Brinkema were he to be charged in the Eastern District .
Brinkema handled my case , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s .
She also has reserved the Ed Snowden case for herself .
Brinkema is a hanging judge .
This is how the freedom of everyone is severely threatened , by the U.S. empire — the most deceitful empire that the world has ever experienced .
The martyrs to its lies are the canaries in its coal mine .
They are the first to be eliminated .
Looking again at the top of that rank-ordered list of 23 countries , one sees the U.S. and eight of its main allies ( or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , UK , Canada , Poland , Belgium , Saudi Arabia , Japan , France , Indonesia .
These are countries whose subjects ( ‘ citizens ’ ) are already well-controlled by the empire .
They already are vassals , and so these nations are ordained ( accepted by America ’ s aristocracy ) as being ‘ allies ’ .
And this is why freedom and democracy are ending .
Unless and until the U.S. regime itself becomes conquered — either domestically by a second successful American Revolution ( this one to eliminate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a foreign one ) , or else by a World War III in which the U.S. regime becomes destroyed even worse than the opposing alliance will — the existing insatiable empire will continue to be on the war-path to impose its dictatorship to everyone on this planet .
The force that is ending freedom is empire , and it ’ s now being wielded by the U.S.A. Like all empires , it thrives on lies , and therefore its biggest enemies are whistleblowers .

Another important dispatch from The Greanville Post. Be sure to share it widely.
This article is part of an ongoing series of dispatches by historian Eric Zuesse
First, the force that is ending freedom will be identified and described; and, then, the force that they fear and hate the most (and are trying to destroy) will be identified and described.
THE FORCE THAT IS ENDING FREEDOM
The force that is ending freedom is empire.
Every empire is a dictatorship. No nation can be a democracy that’s either heading an empire, or a vassal-state of one. Obviously, in order to be a vassal-state within an empire, that nation is dictated-to by the nation of which it is a colony. However, even the domestic inhabitants of the colonizing nation cannot be free and living in a democracy, because their services are needed abroad in order to impose the occupying force upon the colony or vassal-nation. This is an important burden upon the ‘citizens’ or actually the subjects of the imperial nation. Furthermore, they need to finance, via their taxes, this occupying force abroad, to a sufficient extent so as to subdue any resistance by the residents in any colony.
Every empire is imposed, none is really voluntary. Conquest creates an empire, and the constant application of force maintains it. Every empire is a dictatorship, not only upon its foreign populations (which goes without saying, because otherwise there can’t be any empire), but upon its domestic ones too, upon its own subjects.
Any empire needs weapons-makers, who sell to the government and whose only markets are the imperial government and its vassal-nations or ‘allies’. By contrast, ‘enemy’ nations are ones that the imperial power has placed onto its priority-list of nations that are yet to become conquered.
There are two main reasons to conquer a nation:
One is in order to be enabled to extract, from the colony, oil, or gold, or some other valuable commodity.
The other is in order to control it so as to be enabled to use that land as a passageway for exporting, from a vassal-nation, to other nations, that vassal-nation’s products.
International trade is the basis for any empire, and the billionaires who own controlling blocs of stock in a nation’s international corporations are the actual rulers of it, the beneficiaries of empire, the recipients of the wealth that is being extracted from the colonies and from the domestic subjects.
The idea of an empire is that the imperial nation’s rulers, its aristocracy, extract from the colonies their products, and they impose upon their domestic subjects the financial and military burdens of imposing their international dictatorship upon the foreign subjects.
Some authors say that there is a “Deep State” and that it consists of (some undefined elements within) the intelligence services, and of the military, and of the diplomatic corps, of any given dictatorship; but, actually, those employees of the State are merely employees, not the actual governing power, over that dictatorship.
The actual Deep State are always the aristocrats, themselves, the people who run the revolving door between ‘the private sector’ (the aristocracy’s corporations) and the government.
only markets for those corporations are the corporation’s own government and its vassal states or ‘allies’); and such individuals are usually the nation’s billionaires, and, perhaps, a few of the mere centi-millionaires. actual Deep State — the bosses over the dictatorship, the ultimate beneficiaries in any empire. In former times, many of the aristocrats were themselves governing officials (the titled ‘nobility’), but this is no longer common. Nowadays, the aristocracy are the individuals who own controlling blocs of stock in international corporations (especially weapons-making firms such as Lockheed Martin and BAE, because themarkets for those corporations are the corporation’s own government and its vassal states or ‘allies’); and such individuals are usually the nation’s billionaires, and, perhaps, a few of the mere centi-millionaires. A small number, typically less than 100, of these extremely wealthy individuals, are the biggest donors to politicians , and to think tanks, and to other non-profits (these latter being also tax-write-offs to their donors, and so are tax-drains siphoning money away from the general public and paying the actual benefits, such as PR and increased control over the Government, to the billionaires) that are involved in the formation of the national government’s policies; and, of course, these billionaires also are owners of and/or advertisers in the propaganda-media, which sell the aristocracy’s core or most-essential viewpoints to the nation’s subjects, in order to persuade those voters to vote only for the aristocracy’s selected candidates, and not for any who oppose the aristocracy. These few, mainly but not exclusively billionaires, are theDeep State — the bosses over the dictatorship, thebeneficiaries in any empire.
In order to maintain this system, of international dictatorship or empire, the most essential tool is deceit, of the electorate, by the aristocracy.
The method of control is: the bought agents of the Deep State (including the major ‘news’-media, etc.) lie to the public about what their policies will be if they win, in order to be able to win power; and, then, once they have won power, they do the opposite, which is what they have always been paid by the Deep State (the aristocracy) to do. Thereby, elections aren’t “democratic” but instead ‘formally democratic’: they are mere formalities of democracy, without the substance of democracy, because there can be no democracy where truth is suppressed and lies are spread instead. All of the well-financed candidates for the top offices are actually the Deep State’s representatives, and virtually none are the representatives of the public, because the voters have been deceived, and were given (by the DNC and RNC) choices between two or more candidates, none of whom will represent the public, if and when elected. Individuals who want to represent the public instead of the aristocracy get drowned by the aristocracy’s campaign-money.
Here are some recent examples of this system — the imperial system, international dictatorship, in action — as shown by its results:
Months before that, Trump had said : “I think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are ISIS. We have to do one thing at a time. We can't be fighting ISIS and fighting Assad. Assad is fighting ISIS. He is fighting ISIS. Russia is fighting now ISIS. And Iran is fighting ISIS. We have to do one thing at a time. We can't go — and I watched Lindsey Graham, he said, I have been here for 10 years fighting. Well, he will be there with that thinking for another 50 years. He won't be able to solve the problem. We have to get rid of ISIS first. After we get rid of ISIS, we'll start thinking about it. But we can't be fighting Assad. And when you're fighting Assad, you are fighting Russia, you're fighting — you're fighting a lot of different groups. But we can't be fighting everybody at one time.”
In that same debate (15 December 2015) he also said: “In my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart.”
Did he do that? No. Did he instead intensify what Obama had been trying to do in Syria — overthrow Assad — yes. As the U.S. President, after having won the 2016 Presidential campaign, has Trump followed through on his criticism there, against the super-hawk, neoconservative, Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham? No. Did he instead encircle himself with precisely such super-hawks, such neoconservatives? Yes. Did he intensify the overthrow-Assad effort, as Graham and those others had advocated? Yes. Did America’s war against Syria succeed? Not yet. Did he constantly lie to the voters? Yes, without a doubt. Should that be grounds for impeaching him? A prior question to that one is actually: Would a President Mike Pence be any different or maybe even worse than Trump? If yes, then what would be achieved by removing Trump from office? Maybe it would actually make things a lot worse. But how likely would the U.S. Senate be to remove Trump from office if the House did impeach Trump? Two-thirds of the U.S. Senate would need to vote to remove the President in order for a President to be removed after being impeached by the House. A majority of U.S. Senators, 53 of them, were Republicans. If just 33 of them voted not to convict the President, then Trump wouldn’t be removed, and he wasn’t. In order to remove him, not only would all 47 of the Democrats and Independents have had to vote to convict, but 20 of the 53 Republicans would have needed to join them. That’s nearly 40% of the Republican Senators. How likely was that? Almost impossible. What would their voters who had elected them back home think of their having done such a thing? How likely would such Senators have then faced successful re-election challenges that would have removed those Senators from office? Would 20 of the 53 have been likely to take that personal risk? Why, then, were so many Democrats in the House pressing for Trump’s impeachment, since Trump’s being forced out of the White House this way was practically impossible and would only have installed a President Pence, even if it could have succeeded? Was that Democratic Party initiative anything else than insincere political theater, lying to their own gullible voters, Democratic Party voters, just being phonies who manipulated voters to vote for them, instead of who were actually serving them? Is that what democracy is, now: such insincere political theater? Is that “democracy”? America’s voters are trapped, by liars, so it’s instead mere ‘democracy’. It’s the new form of dictatorship. But it’s actually as ancient as is any empire. There’s nothing new about this — except for one thing: the U.S. regime is aiming to be the ultimate, the last, the final, empire, the ruler over the entire planet; so, it is trying especially hard, ‘to defend freedom, democracy and human rights throughout the world’, as Big Brother might say.
THE THREAT TO THE EMPIRE
Empire always depends upon lies; it is always built upon lies; and, so, the biggest threat to it is the truth, and especially the champions of truth, who are the whistleblowers. The whistleblowers are up against two enemies: the aristocracy, and the aristocrats’ agents who censor-out truth and leave only lies which the aristocracy’s agents spread to the public. Censorship always serves liars, because it is imposed from above and serves the aristocracy, against the public. Every dictatorship needs censorship. No democracy does.
The heroic fighters for the freedom of everyone in the world are the whistleblowers, who report to the public the corruption and evil that they see perpetrated by their superiors, their bosses, and perpetrated by people who are on the public payroll or otherwise obtaining increased income by virtue of being selected by the government to become government contractors to serve an allegedly public function. All liars with power hate whistleblowers, and want to make special examples of any part of the press that publishes their truths, their facts, their stolen documents. These documents are stolen because that’s the only way for them to become public and thereby known to the voters so that the voters can vote on the basis of truths as in a democracy, instead of to be deceived as in a dictatorship. Even if the truth is stolen from the liars, instead of being kept private (“Confidential”) for them, are the whistleblowers doing wrong to steal the truth from the liars? Or, instead, are the whistleblowers heroes: are they the authentic guardians of democracy, and the precariously thin wall that separates democracy from dictatorship? They are the latter: they are the true heroes. Unfortunately, the vast majority of such heroes are also martyrs — martyrs for truth, against lies. Every dictatorship seeks to destroy its whistleblowers. That’s because any whistleblower constitutes a threat to The System — the system of aristocratic control.
In all of U.S. history, the two Presidents who pursued whistleblowers and their publishers the most relentlessly have been Trump and Obama. The public are fooled to think that this is being done for ‘national security’ reasons instead of to hide the government’s crimes and criminality. However, not a single one of the Democratic Party’s many U.S. Presidential candidates is bringing this issue, of the U.S. government’s many crimes and constant lying, forward as being the central thing that must be criminalized above all else, as constituting “treason.” None of them is proposing legislation saying that it is treason, against the public — against the nation. Against the public.
Every aristocracy tries to deceive its public, in order to control its public; and every aristocracy uses divide-and-rule in order to do this; but it’s not only to divide the public against each other (such as between Republicans versus Democrats, both of which are actually controlled by the aristocracy), but also to divide between nations, such as between ‘allies’ versus ‘enemies’ — even when a given ‘enemy’ (such as Iraq in 2003) has never threatened, far less invaded, the United States (or whatever the given imperial ‘us’ may happen to be), and thus clearly this was aggressive war, and an international war-crime, though unpunished as such, because it was done by the empire. The public need to fear and hate some ‘enemy’ which is the ‘other’ or ‘alien’, in order not to fear and loathe the aristocracy itself — the actual source of (and winner from) the systemic exploitation, of the public, by the aristocracy. It’s distract, and divide, and rule.
The pinnacle of the U.S. regime’s totalitarianism is its ceaseless assault against Julian Assange, who is the über-whistleblower, the strongest protector for whistleblowers, the safest publisher for the evidence that they steal from their employers and from their employers’ government. He hides the identity of the whistleblowers, even at the risk of his own continued existence. Right now, the U.S. regime is raising to a fever-pitch and twisting beyond recognition not only U.S. laws but the U.S. Constitution, so as to impose its will against him. President Trump is supported in this effort by the corrupt U.S. Congress, to either end Assange’s life, or else lock him up for the rest of his heroic life in a dungeon having no communication with the world outside, until he does finally die, in isolation, punishment for his heroic last-ditch fight for the public’s freedom and for democracy — his fight, actually, against our 1984 regime. What Jesus of Nazareth was locally to the Roman regime in his region, Assange is to the U.S. regime throughout the world: an example to terrify anyone else who might come forth effectively to challenge the Emperor’s authority.
A key country in this operation is Ecuador, which is ruled by the dictator Lenin Moreno, who stole office by lying to the public and pretending to be a progressive who backed his democratically elected predecessor, Rafael Correa, but then as soon as he won power, he reversed Correa’s progressive initiatives, including, above all, his protection of Assange, who had sought refuge in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London.
Following his 2017 election, Moreno quickly moved away from his election platform after taking office. He reversed several key pieces of legislation passed under his predecessor which targeted the wealthy and the banks. He also reversed a referendum decision on indefinite re-election while simultaneously blocking any potential for Correa to return.
He effectively purged many of Correa's appointments to key positions in Ecuador's judiciary and National Electoral Council via the CPCCS-T council which boasts supra-constitutional powers.
Moreno has also cozied up to the US, with whom Ecuador had a strained relationship under Correa. Following a visit from Vice President Mike Pence in June 2018, Ecuador bolstered its security cooperation with the US, including major arms deals, training exercises and intelligence sharing.
Following Assange’s arrest Correa, who granted Assange asylum in the first place, described Moreno as the “greatest traitor in Ecuadorian and Latin American history” saying he was guilty of a “crime that humanity will never forget.”
Despite his overwhelming power and influence, however, Moreno and his family are the subject of a sweeping corruption probe in the country, as he faces down accusations of money laundering in offshore accounts and shell companies in Panama, including the INA Investment Corp, which is owned by Moreno's brother.
Damning images, purportedly hacked from Moreno’s phone, have irreparably damaged both his attempts at establishing himself as an anti-corruption champion as well as his relationship with Assange, whom he accused of coordinating the hacking efforts.
Desperate to ingratiate his government with Washington and distract the public from his mounting scandals, Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno has sacrificed Julian Assange – and his country’s independence” , and he described some of the documentation for the accusations that Moreno is corrupt.
On 12 April 2019, Zero Hedge headlined "Facebook Removes Page Of Ecuador's Former President On Same Day As Assange's Arrest” , and opened: “Facebook has unpublished the page of Ecuador’s former president, Rafael Correa, the social media giant confirmed on Thursday, claiming that the popular leftist leader violated the company’s security policies.”
They will punish Assange for their sins
The key to prosecuting Assange has always been to punish him without again embarrassing the powerful figures made mockeries by his disclosures. That means to keep him from discussing how the U.S. government concealed alleged war crimes and huge civilian losses, the type of disclosures that were made in the famous Pentagon Papers case. He cannot discuss how Democratic and Republican members either were complicit or incompetent in their oversight. He cannot discuss how the public was lied to about the program.
A glimpse of that artificial scope was seen within minutes of the arrest. CNN brought on its national security analyst, James Clapper, former director of national intelligence. CNN never mentioned that Clapper was accused of perjury in denying the existence of the National Security Agency surveillance program and was personally implicated in the scandal that WikiLeaks triggered.
Clapper was asked directly before Congress, “Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?”
Clapper responded, “No, sir. … Not wittingly.” Later, Clapper said his testimony was “the least untruthful” statement he could make.
That would still make it a lie, of course, but this is Washington and people like Clapper are untouchable. In the view of the establishment, Assange is the problem.
On 13 April 2019, I headlined "What Public Opinion on Assange Tells Us About the US Government Direction” , and reported the only international poll that had ever been done of opinions about Assange. Its findings demonstrated that, out of the 23 nations which were surveyed, U.S. was the only one where the public were anti-Assange, and that the difference between the U.S. and all of the others was enormous and stark. The report opened:
The only extensive poll of public opinion regarding Julian Assange or Wikileaks was Reuters/Ipsos on 26 April 2011, "WikiLeaks' Julian Assange is not a criminal: global poll”, and it sampled around a thousand individuals in each of 23 countries — a total of 18,829 respondents. The Reuters news-report was vague, and not linked to any detailed presentation of the poll-findings, but it did say that “U.S. respondents had a far more critical view” against Wikileaks than in any other country, and that the view by Americans was 69% “believing Assange should be charged and 61 percent opposing WikiLeaks’ mission.” Buried elsewhere on the Web was this detailed presentation of Ipsos's findings in that poll. Here are what those findings were:
Oppose Wikileaks:
61% U.S.
38% UK
33% Canada
32% Poland
32% Belgium
31% Saudi Arabia
30% Japan
30% France
27% Indonesia
26% Italy
25% Germany
24% Sweden
24% Australia
22% Hungary
22% Brazil
21% Turkey
21% S. Korea
16% Mexico
16% Argentina
15% Spain
15% Russia
15% India
12% S. Africa
Is the U.S. a democracy if the regime is so effective in gripping the minds of its public, as to make them hostile to the strongest fighter for their freedom and democracy?
On 13 April 2019, washingtonsblog headlined “4 Myths About Julian Assange DEBUNKED” , and here was one of them:
Myth #2: Assange Will Get a Fair Trial In the U.S.
14-year CIA officer John Kiriakou notes:
Assange has been charged in the Eastern District of Virginia — the so-called “Espionage Court.” That is just what many of us have feared. Remember, no national security defendant has ever been found not guilty in the Eastern District of Virginia. The Eastern District is also known as the “rocket docket” for the swiftness with which cases are heard and decided. Not ready to mount a defense? Need more time? Haven’t received all of your discovery? Tough luck. See you in court.
… I have long predicted that Assange would face Judge Leonie Brinkema were he to be charged in the Eastern District. Brinkema handled my case, as well as CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling’s. She also has reserved the Ed Snowden case for herself. Brinkema is a hanging judge.
On 20 May 2019, former British Ambassador Craig Murray (who had quit so that he could blow the whistle) headlined “The Missing Step” and argued that the only chance that Assange now has is if Sweden refuses to extradite Assange to the U.S. in the event that Britain honors the Swedish request to extradite him to Sweden instead of to the U.S. (Sweden, however, subsequently dropped its charge against Assange, and so now only Donald Trump and Boris Johnson are keeping him imprisoned until he will die.)
How can it reasonably be denied that the U.S. is, in fact (though not nominally) a dictatorship ? All of its allies are thus vassal-nations in its empire. This means acquiescence (if not joining) in some of the U.S. regime’s frequent foreign coups and invasions; and this means their assisting in the spread of the U.S. regime’s control beyond themselves, to include additional other countries. It reduces the freedom, and the democracy, throughout the world; it spreads the U.S. dictatorship internationally. That is what is evil about what in America is called “neoconservatism” and in other countries is called simply “imperialism.” Under American reign, it is now a spreading curse, a political plague, to peoples throughout the world. Even an American whistleblower about Ukraine who lives in the former Ukraine is being targeted by the U.S. regime
This is how the freedom of everyone is severely threatened, by the U.S. empire — the most deceitful empire that the world has ever experienced. The martyrs to its lies are the canaries in its coal mine. They are the first to be eliminated.
Looking again at the top of that rank-ordered list of 23 countries, one sees the U.S. and eight of its main allies (or vassal-nations), in order: U.S., UK, Canada, Poland, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Japan, France, Indonesia. These are countries whose subjects (‘citizens’) are already well-controlled by the empire. They already are vassals, and so these nations are ordained (accepted by America’s aristocracy) as being ‘allies’.
existing sanctions — such as against trading with Russia, China, Iran, or Venezuela — is in danger of becoming itself a U.S.-sanctioned nation, and therefore officially an ‘enemy’ of today’s version of nazism (as Nuremberg defined it: imperialistic fascism). At the opposite end (as of 2011, when that poll was taken), starting with the most anti-U.S-regime, were: S. Africa, India, Russia, Spain, Argentina, Mexico, S. Korea, Turkey. These were countries where the subjects were not yet well-controlled by the empire, even though the current government in some of them is trying to change its subjects’ minds so that the country will accept U.S. rule. Wherever the subjects reject U.S. rule, there exists a strong possibility that the nation will become placed on the U.S. regime’s list of ‘enemies’ and be subjected to at least attempts at “regime-change.” Consequently, wherever the residents are the most opposed to U.S. rule, the likelihood of an American coup or invasion is real. The first step toward a coup or invasion is the imposition of sanctions against the nation. Any such nation that is already subject to them is therefore already in severe danger. Any such nation that refuses to cooperate with the U.S. regime’ssanctions — such as against trading with Russia, China, Iran, or Venezuela — is in danger of becoming itself a U.S.-sanctioned nation, and therefore officially an ‘enemy’ of today’s version of nazism (as Nuremberg defined it: imperialistic fascism).
And this is why freedom and democracy are ending.
Unless and until the U.S. regime itself becomes conquered — either domestically by a second successful American Revolution (this one to eliminate the domestic aristocracy instead of to eliminate a foreign one), or else by a World War III in which the U.S. regime becomes destroyed even worse than the opposing alliance will — the existing insatiable empire will continue to be on the war-path to impose its dictatorship to everyone on this planet.


thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-07-17--American spies: “Those sneaky Russians want to get their grubby asiatic fingers on our patriotic COV

American spies: “Those sneaky Russians want to get their grubby asiatic fingers on our patriotic COVID cure!”

nother ridiculous spy-fed story has hit the wire : We ’ re being told that Cozy Bear — the Russian hacker group that supposedly hacked the 2016 election and gave us Donald Trump — is now prowling the internet for America ’ s COVID-19 vaccine secrets .
And the Russians aren ’ t alone .
China and Iran are in on it too .
The New Axis of Evil is at it again !
From the New York Times : A couple of thoughts on this breaking development .
First about Cozy Bear : It does not exist .
This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a fiction — a fiction made up by Crowdstrike , a privatized spy security firm , in order to drum up business and increase its valuation .
I repeat : Cozy Bear does not exist .
I wrote about this three years ago in an investigation for The Baffler following the 2016 election .
The thing about these security firms is that they frequently tailor their findings to meet the demands of the market .
And they do this by practicing a very cynical profit-driven forensic science .
They reverse-engineer things to produce @ @ @ @ @ @ @ guilty party ( the Russians or the Chinese or the Iranians ) and then they `` find '' the evidence that confirms this assumption .
As I ’ ve pointed out in the past , claims about cyber attacks and hacks are a perfect vehicle for spy-fed xenophobic and nationalistic propaganda .
These attacks all happen within computer systems .
The psychical evidence showing that “ they happened ” boils down to a bit of data in some log file somewhere .
That data can be faked .
It can be invented .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ much any way the people doing the interpreting want .
Best of all , there ’ s no real way for people to physically verify what happened .
There ’ s no bullet hole or a crater to look at and sniff .
There ’ s no video evidence .
You have to take spies at their word .
You have to trust that they ’ re telling you the truth .
This COVID vaccine hacking story is a perfect example .
Nothing actually happened , even the spies pushing this story ultimately @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ nothing ” is evidence of “ something ” — something huge and dangerous .
The virtual nature of cyber attacks makes them incredibly potent as a propaganda weapon — a weapon has been deployed against America ’ s domestic media landscape by American intelligence agencies ever since computers became a thing .
Hell , it was even used to whip up support for bombing Yugoslavia back in 1999 .
“ We got ta bomb those ‘ crackers ’ over there or their computer virus will come to our democracy and sink your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ brings us to the larger context behind this bullshit story… This is a shortened version of a longer piece only available to subscribers .

A
nother ridiculous spy-fed story has hit the wire: We’re being told that Cozy Bear — the Russian hacker group that supposedly hacked the 2016 election and gave us Donald Trump — is now prowling the internet for America’s COVID-19 vaccine secrets. And the Russians aren’t alone. China and Iran are in on it too. The New Axis of Evil is at it again!
From the New York Times:
A couple of thoughts on this breaking development.
First about Cozy Bear: It does not exist. This evil Russian hacker “group” is a fiction — a fiction made up by Crowdstrike, a privatized spy security firm, in order to drum up business and increase its valuation. I repeat: Cozy Bear does not exist. I wrote about this three years ago in an investigation for The Baffler following the 2016 election.
The thing about these security firms is that they frequently tailor their findings to meet the demands of the market. And they do this by practicing a very cynical profit-driven forensic science. They reverse-engineer things to produce results: First they decide on the guilty party (the Russians or the Chinese or the Iranians) and then they "find" the evidence that confirms this assumption.
As I’ve pointed out in the past, claims about cyber attacks and hacks are a perfect vehicle for spy-fed xenophobic and nationalistic propaganda. These attacks all happen within computer systems. The psychical evidence showing that “they happened” boils down to a bit of data in some log file somewhere. That data can be faked. It can be invented. And it can be interpreted in pretty much any way the people doing the interpreting want. Best of all, there’s no real way for people to physically verify what happened. There’s no bullet hole or a crater to look at and sniff. There’s no video evidence. You have to take spies at their word. You have to trust that they’re telling you the truth.
This COVID vaccine hacking story is a perfect example. Nothing actually happened, even the spies pushing this story ultimately admit that. Yet to them this “nothing” is evidence of “something” — something huge and dangerous.
The virtual nature of cyber attacks makes them incredibly potent as a propaganda weapon — a weapon has been deployed against America’s domestic media landscape by American intelligence agencies ever since computers became a thing. Hell, it was even used to whip up support for bombing Yugoslavia back in 1999. “We gotta bomb those ‘crackers’ over there or their computer virus will come to our democracy and sink your Windows 95 solitaire game!”
Which brings us to the larger context behind this bullshit story…
This is a shortened version of a longer piece only available to subscribers.


thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-07-17--Russia-Baiting Is the Only Game in Town

Russia-Baiting Is the Only Game in Town

There is particular danger at the moment that powerful political alignments in the United States are pushing strongly to exacerbate the developing crisis with Russia .
The New York Times , which broke the story that the Kremlin had been paying the Afghan Taliban bounties to kill American soldiers , has been particularly assiduous in promoting the tale of perfidious Moscow .
Initial Times coverage , which claimed that the activity had been confirmed by both intelligence sources and money tracking , was supplemented by delusional nonsense from former Obama National Security Advisor Susan Rice , who asks “ Why @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before calling for a “ swift and significant U.S. response.
” Rice , who is being mentioned as a possible Biden choice for Vice President , certainly knows about swift and significant as she was one of the architects of the destruction of Libya and the escalation of U.S. military and intelligence operations directed against a non-threatening Syria .
The Times is also titillating with the tale of a low level drug smuggling Pashto businessman who seemed to have a lot of cash in dollars lying around , ignoring the fact that Afghanistan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for years .
Many of the dollars come from drug deals , as Afghanistan is now the world ’ s number one producer of opium and its byproducts .
The cash must be Russian sourced , per the NYT , because a couple of low level Taliban types , who were likely tortured by the Afghan police , have said that it is so .
The Times also cites anonymous sources which allege that there were money transfers from an account managed by the Kremlin ’ s GRU military intelligence to an account @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ alleged ” and consider for a minute that it would be stupid for any intelligence agency to make bank-to-bank transfers , which could be identified and tracked by the clever lads at the U.S. Treasury and NSA .
Also try to recall how not so long ago we heard fabricated tales about threatening WMDs to justify war .
Perhaps the story would be more convincing if a chain of custody could be established that included checks drawn on the Moscow-Narodny Bank and there just might be a crafty neocon hidden somewhere in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now faking up that sort of evidence .
Other reliably Democratic Party leaning news outlets , to include CNN , MSNBC and The Washington Post all jumped on the bounty story , adding details from their presumably inexhaustible supply of anonymous sources .
As Scott Horton observed the media was reporting a “ fact ” that there was a rumor .
Inevitably the Democratic Party leadership abandoned its Ghanaian kente cloth scarves , got up off their knees , and hopped immediately on to their favorite horse , which is to claim loudly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Russia did it .
Joe Biden in particular is “ disgusted ” by a “ betrayal ” of American troops due to Trump ’ s insistence on maintaining “ an embarrassing campaign of deferring and debasing himself before Putin.
” The Dems were joined in their outrage by some Republican lawmakers who were equally incensed but are advocating delaying punishing Russiauntil all the facts are known .
Meanwhile , the “ circumstantial details ” are being invented to make the original tale more credible , including crediting the Afghan operation to a secret @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was also behind the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury England in 2018 .
Reportedly the Pentagon is looking into the circumstances around the deaths of three American soldiers by roadside bomb on April 8 , 2019 to determine a possible connection to the NYT report .
There are also concerns relating to several deaths in training where Afghan Army recruits turned on their instructors .
As the Taliban would hardly need an incentive to kill Americans and as only seventeen U.S. soldiers died in Afghanistan in 2019 as a result @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the intelligence allegedly relates to , one might well describe any joint Taliban-Russian initiative as a bit of a failure since nearly all of those deaths have been attributed to kinetic activity initiated by U.S. forces .
The actual game that is in play is , of course , all about Donald Trump and the November election .
It is being claimed that the president was briefed on the intelligence but did nothing .
Trump denied being verbally briefed due to the fact that the information had not been verified .
For once @ @ @ @ @ @ @ truth , confirmed by the “ intelligence community , ” but that did not stop the media from implying that the disconnect had been caused by Trump himself .
He reportedly does not read the Presidential Daily Brief ( PDB ) , where such a speculative piece might indeed appear on a back page , and is uninterested in intelligence assessments that contradict what he chooses to believe .
The Democrats are suggesting that Trump is too stupid and even too disinterested to be president of the United States so they are seeking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ man who may be suffering from dementia .
The Democratic Party can not let Russia go because they see it as their key to future success and also as an explanation for their dramatic failure in 2016 which in no way holds them responsible for their ineptness .
One does not expect the House Intelligence Committee , currently headed by the wily Adam Schiff , to actually know anything about intelligence and how it is collected and analyzed , but the politicization of the product is certainly something that Schiff and his colleagues @ @ @ @ @ @ @ One only has to recall the Russiagate Mueller Commission investigation and Schiff ’ s later role in cooking the witnesses that were produced in the subsequent Trump impeachment hearings .
Schiff predictably opened up on Trump in the wake of the NYT report , saying “ I find it inexplicable in light of these very public allegations that the president hasn ’ t come before the country and assured the American people that he will get to the bottom of whether Russia is putting bounties on American troops and that he will do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that we protect American troops.
” Schiff and company should know , but clearly do not , that at the ground floor level there is a lot of lying , cheating and stealing around intelligence collection .
Most foreign agents do it for the money and quickly learn that embroidering the information that is being provided to their case officer might ultimately produce more cash .
Every day the U.S. intelligence community produces thousands of intelligence reports from those presumed “ sources with access , ” which then have to be assessed by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is either completely false or cleverly fabricated to mix actual verified intelligence with speculation and out and out lies to make the package more attractive .
The tale of the Russian payment of bribes to the Taliban for killing Americans is precisely the kind of information that stinks to high heaven because it doesn ’ t even make any political or tactical sense , except to Nancy Pelosi , Chuck Schumer , Adam Schiff and the New York Times .
For what it ’ s worth , a number of former genuine intelligence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Scott Ritter , and Ray McGovern have looked at the evidence so far presented and have walked away unimpressed .
The National Security Agency ( NSA ) has also declined to confirm the story , meaning that there is no electronic trail to validate it .
Finally , there is more than a bit of the old hypocrisy at work in the damnation of the Russians even if they have actually been involved in an improbable operation with the Taliban .
One recalls that in the 1970s and 1980s the United States @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Soviet presence in Afghanistan .
The assistance consisted of weapons , training , political support and intelligence used to locate , target and kill Soviet soldiers .
Stinger missiles were provided to bring down helicopters carrying the Russian troops .
The support was pretty much provided openly and was even boasted about , unlike what is currently being alleged about the Russian assistance .
The Soviets were fighting to maintain a secular regime that was closely allied to Moscow while the mujahideen later morphed into al-Qaeda and the Islamist militant Taliban subsequently took @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. effort was delusional from the start .
So , what is a leaked almost certainly faux story about the Russian bounties on American soldiers intended to accomplish ?
It is probably intended to keep a “ defensive ” U.S. presence in Afghanistan , much desired by the neocons , a majority in Congress and the Military Industrial Complex ( MIC ) , and it will further be played and replayed to emphasize the demonstrated incompetence of Donald Trump .
The end result could be to secure the election of a pliable Establishment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ United States .
How that will turn out is unpredictable , but America ’ s experience of its presidents since 9/11 has not been very encouraging .

by Philip Giraldi
Crosspost with The Unz Review
There is particular danger at the moment that powerful political alignments in the United States are pushing strongly to exacerbate the developing crisis with Russia. The New York Times, which broke the story that the Kremlin had been paying the Afghan Taliban bounties to kill American soldiers, has been particularly assiduous in promoting the tale of perfidious Moscow. Initial Times coverage, which claimed that the activity had been confirmed by both intelligence sources and money tracking, was supplemented by delusional nonsense from former Obama National Security Advisor Susan Rice, who asks “Why does Trump put Russia first?” before calling for a “swift and significant U.S. response.” Rice, who is being mentioned as a possible Biden choice for Vice President, certainly knows about swift and significant as she was one of the architects of the destruction of Libya and the escalation of U.S. military and intelligence operations directed against a non-threatening Syria.
The Times is also titillating with the tale of a low level drug smuggling Pashto businessman who seemed to have a lot of cash in dollars lying around, ignoring the fact that Afghanistan is awash with dollars and has been for years. Many of the dollars come from drug deals, as Afghanistan is now the world’s number one producer of opium and its byproducts.
The cash must be Russian sourced, per the NYT, because a couple of low level Taliban types, who were likely tortured by the Afghan police, have said that it is so. The Times also cites anonymous sources which allege that there were money transfers from an account managed by the Kremlin’s GRU military intelligence to an account opened by the Taliban. Note the “alleged” and consider for a minute that it would be stupid for any intelligence agency to make bank-to-bank transfers, which could be identified and tracked by the clever lads at the U.S. Treasury and NSA. Also try to recall how not so long ago we heard fabricated tales about threatening WMDs to justify war. Perhaps the story would be more convincing if a chain of custody could be established that included checks drawn on the Moscow-Narodny Bank and there just might be a crafty neocon hidden somewhere in the U.S. intelligence community who is right now faking up that sort of evidence.
Other reliably Democratic Party leaning news outlets, to include CNN, MSNBC and The Washington Post all jumped on the bounty story, adding details from their presumably inexhaustible supply of anonymous sources. As Scott Horton observed the media was reporting a “fact” that there was a rumor.
Inevitably the Democratic Party leadership abandoned its Ghanaian kente cloth scarves, got up off their knees, and hopped immediately on to their favorite horse, which is to claim loudly and in unison that when in doubt Russia did it. Joe Biden in particular is “disgusted” by a “betrayal” of American troops due to Trump’s insistence on maintaining “an embarrassing campaign of deferring and debasing himself before Putin.”
The Dems were joined in their outrage by some Republican lawmakers who were equally incensed but are advocating delaying punishing Russiauntil all the facts are known. Meanwhile, the “circumstantial details” are being invented to make the original tale more credible, including crediting the Afghan operation to a secret Russian GRU Army intelligence unit that allegedly was also behind the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury England in 2018.
Reportedly the Pentagon is looking into the circumstances around the deaths of three American soldiers by roadside bomb on April 8, 2019 to determine a possible connection to the NYT report. There are also concerns relating to several deaths in training where Afghan Army recruits turned on their instructors. As the Taliban would hardly need an incentive to kill Americans and as only seventeen U.S. soldiers died in Afghanistan in 2019 as a result of hostile action, the year that the intelligence allegedly relates to, one might well describe any joint Taliban-Russian initiative as a bit of a failure since nearly all of those deaths have been attributed to kinetic activity initiated by U.S. forces.
The actual game that is in play is, of course, all about Donald Trump and the November election. It is being claimed that the president was briefed on the intelligence but did nothing. Trump denied being verbally briefed due to the fact that the information had not been verified. For once America’s Chief Executive spoke the truth, confirmed by the “intelligence community,” but that did not stop the media from implying that the disconnect had been caused by Trump himself. He reportedly does not read the Presidential Daily Brief (PDB), where such a speculative piece might indeed appear on a back page, and is uninterested in intelligence assessments that contradict what he chooses to believe. The Democrats are suggesting that Trump is too stupid and even too disinterested to be president of the United States so they are seeking to replace him with a corrupt 78-year-old man who may be suffering from dementia.
The Democratic Party cannot let Russia go because they see it as their key to future success and also as an explanation for their dramatic failure in 2016 which in no way holds them responsible for their ineptness. One does not expect the House Intelligence Committee, currently headed by the wily Adam Schiff, to actually know anything about intelligence and how it is collected and analyzed, but the politicization of the product is certainly something that Schiff and his colleagues know full well how to manipulate. One only has to recall the Russiagate Mueller Commission investigation and Schiff’s later role in cooking the witnesses that were produced in the subsequent Trump impeachment hearings.
Schiff predictably opened up on Trump in the wake of the NYT report, saying “I find it inexplicable in light of these very public allegations that the president hasn’t come before the country and assured the American people that he will get to the bottom of whether Russia is putting bounties on American troops and that he will do everything in his power to make sure that we protect American troops.”
Schiff and company should know, but clearly do not, that at the ground floor level there is a lot of lying, cheating and stealing around intelligence collection. Most foreign agents do it for the money and quickly learn that embroidering the information that is being provided to their case officer might ultimately produce more cash. Every day the U.S. intelligence community produces thousands of intelligence reports from those presumed “sources with access,” which then have to be assessed by analysts. Much of the information reported is either completely false or cleverly fabricated to mix actual verified intelligence with speculation and out and out lies to make the package more attractive. The tale of the Russian payment of bribes to the Taliban for killing Americans is precisely the kind of information that stinks to high heaven because it doesn’t even make any political or tactical sense, except to Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Adam Schiff and the New York Times. For what it’s worth, a number of former genuine intelligence officers including Paul Pillar, John Kiriakou, Scott Ritter, and Ray McGovern have looked at the evidence so far presented and have walked away unimpressed. The National Security Agency (NSA) has also declined to confirm the story, meaning that there is no electronic trail to validate it.
Finally, there is more than a bit of the old hypocrisy at work in the damnation of the Russians even if they have actually been involved in an improbable operation with the Taliban. One recalls that in the 1970s and 1980s the United States supported the mujahideen rebels fighting against the Soviet presence in Afghanistan. The assistance consisted of weapons, training, political support and intelligence used to locate, target and kill Soviet soldiers. Stinger missiles were provided to bring down helicopters carrying the Russian troops. The support was pretty much provided openly and was even boasted about, unlike what is currently being alleged about the Russian assistance. The Soviets were fighting to maintain a secular regime that was closely allied to Moscow while the mujahideen later morphed into al-Qaeda and the Islamist militant Taliban subsequently took over the country, meaning that the U.S. effort was delusional from the start.
So, what is a leaked almost certainly faux story about the Russian bounties on American soldiers intended to accomplish? It is probably intended to keep a “defensive” U.S. presence in Afghanistan, much desired by the neocons, a majority in Congress and the Military Industrial Complex (MIC), and it will further be played and replayed to emphasize the demonstrated incompetence of Donald Trump. The end result could be to secure the election of a pliable Establishment flunky Joe Biden as president of the United States. How that will turn out is unpredictable, but America’s experience of its presidents since 9/11 has not been very encouraging.


thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-07-17--Economic Fascism Creates Political Fascism

Please make sure these dispatches reach as many readers as possible .
Share with kin , friends and workmates and ask them to do likewise .
The 21st century has seen the enormous inequality of previous periods expand to proportions that only those confined to a mental concentration camp could see as a system of democracy and equality , though idealized as such by majorities reduced to accepting the purchase of elections by a wealthy minority under the guise of choice for the working majority .
eo-liberal capitalism has transformed the social democratic capitalism that followed the Second World War @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with greater accumulation of minority wealth and majority poverty than the world has ever seen .
The present stage in the usual boom-bust cycle of market forces under private profit rule now multiplied by a still unperceived factor , seems nearer total failure and more frightening than ever .
This is leading to incredibly reactionary programs to assure minority rule while at the same time unleashing revolutionary possibilities for the global majority which threaten minority power as never before.In America , fading from dominance as the center of the global system but still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to all humanity , voices are raised in opposition to that power , but so far successfully divided into minorities of relatively less social impact which only rewards segments of the population to keep in power the smallest minority with the greatest state control : the wealthiest 1 % who own and operate what passes for a democracy but is no more so than the one which elected Hitler and the Nazis in Germany in the last century .
And that doctored historic memory of political fascism is constantly used to keep current @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suffering the horrors of pre-second world war capitalism , rather than becoming aware of that system ’ s present horrors kept nearly secret by consciousness control and mind management techniques to maintain the prevailing disorder of our social life in maintenance of the dominating order of their private profits .
Capitalism ruled Germany before and after Hitler and still rules up to the present moment , as it does in the USA and most of the global community .
Food , clothing , shelter , war , peace , health , illness , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for sale at the market and available to any who can afford the price , and to none who can not .
If there is a private profit to be made , the product will be available .
If only the public good will be served , forget about it .
That is why we spend more than 700 billion a year on war and more than seventy billion on pets while hundreds of thousands live in the street and medical workers and the entire health care community are criminally over-worked and suffering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suicide during the present capitalist pandemic .
Germany in the 1930s , like the United States , was in the grips of an economy near collapse and moved to total ruling class domination without pretense of democratic values by putting the commanding heights of that economy under control of the state .
That state , always an arm of ruling power , was a force to keep the peace among the rich and poor by having elections to maintain wealth and poverty in as polite terms as possible , even creating the world @ @ @ @ @ @ @ long before the collapse .
The USA was also in economic chaos with as much as 25 % unemployment and communist and socialist parties demanding real democracy , which would have meant radical transformation of the economic system .
While more overtly oppressive fascist capitalism took power in Germany , the social democratic form prevailed in the USA , as cooler ruling class heads saw that the market left alone , under religious belief that freedom would flower under the idiotic doctrine that buying cheap and selling dear was the word of god @ @ @ @ @ @ @ minority wealth could rely on .
It could lead to social revolution .
The capitalist war saw the USA triumph and after millions of deaths and incredible destruction the social democratic model took hold in the western world and market interference was allowed to the extent that dreadful poverty would not be visible to most of the population and confined to relatively invisible-by-design communities in national and foreign ghettos .
For some fifty years now that phase has been under assault by a return to free market fanaticism as an answer to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the social democratic form , with practitioners of both schools preventing the people from seeing that it is the system itself and not the way it is arranged that guarantees failure for most at tremendous benefit to only some .
The 21st century has seen the enormous inequality of previous periods expand to proportions that only those confined to a mental concentration camp could see as a system of democracy and equality , though idealized as such by majorities reduced to accepting the purchase of elections by a wealthy minority under the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In the past , thousands of multi-millionaires were somehow rationalized as healthy aspects of capitalism since they would invest in businesses and thereby create jobs and prosperity for the toiling masses and their professionally trained upper classes .
At present , there are some 700 earthly creatures called billionaires , having amassed such incredible wealth and power over perverse democracies that past tyrants seen as deities by their subjects might in present terms amount to no more than what were once called rich peasants .
These incredibly wealthy individuals shame the very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more royal than past deities in hopes that they will invest in “ my ” identity group ’ s security and that will somehow represent success for the millions left out of “ my ” group .
Viva capitalist democracy .
At a time when the most incredibly massive state and personal debt ever accumulated have the system tilting precariously on a mountain of symbolic finance with roots in a foundation of substantial fiction , a capitalist pandemic has both aggravated the situation further while also making radical change necessary not just to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
So , the people are bombarded anew into fear of political fascism bringing on further deprivation leading many to be swept up in fake-left and phony-right political excuses for the preservation of the moral toilet of an economic system which must be changed for humanity , which is composed of far more earthly beings than our relatively tiny American numbers .
There are more than 7.5 billion humans on earth and the shockingly anti-democratic inequality in America is far more horrifying on a global scale , but the American numbers are bad @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public finds out , which will never be the case as long as bi-partisan capital owns and operates both major political parties .
The class differences which have existed since organized states began have taken on far more malevolence and created greater threats to the future of humanity under the rules of market capitalism which have rewarded many while destroying far more .
The seemingly good life enjoyed by some under alleged democracy are really no different than they were under slavery , when many lived in a degree of comfort even though @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shrinking middle class now survives without owning any capital , let alone exercising any control over it .
And rest assured that being privileged enough to own some stock in a major corporation will not mean the 1 % will be phoning you asking your advice before hiring cheaper immigrant labor or laying off more expensive American workers in pursuit of still greater private profits .
The next American election will offer the usual lesser evil choice to be accepted by a minority of the electorate in a supposed exercise of democracy that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where pimping meant true love and starvation meant being on a diet , the organizing and action that must take place to end the virus of con-19 and its parent capitalism will need to take on greater efforts than ever to avoid potential disaster not only for America but humanity itself .
Democracy , in material reality and not continued rape of language , is more necessary than ever , to bring about another world and not just a different America .
We will all need to think globally while acting locally , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before that , lest our politics continually reinforce rather than transform social reality .
And the lives of the American and global majority matter more than ever but will amount to less than nothing if we only think of ourselves as nationals or different-than-human members of subjugated groups , and not our class of humanity which is now , as always , the overwhelming majority of working people on the planet .

Please make sure these dispatches reach as many readers as possible. Share with kin, friends and workmates and ask them to do likewise.
By Frank Scott
legalienate.blog
N
The 21st century has seen the enormous inequality of previous periods expand to proportions that only those confined to a mental concentration camp could see as a system of democracy and equality, though idealized as such by majorities reduced to accepting the purchase of elections by a wealthy minority under the guise of choice for the working majority.
eo-liberal capitalism has transformed the social democratic capitalism that followed the Second World War into a more oppressive and destructive form with greater accumulation of minority wealth and majority poverty than the world has ever seen. The present stage in the usual boom-bust cycle of market forces under private profit rule now multiplied by a still unperceived factor, seems nearer total failure and more frightening than ever. This is leading to incredibly reactionary programs to assure minority rule while at the same time unleashing revolutionary possibilities for the global majority which threaten minority power as never before.In America, fading from dominance as the center of the global system but still frighteningly powerful militarily and thus a menace to all humanity, voices are raised in opposition to that power, but so far successfully divided into minorities of relatively less social impact which only rewards segments of the population to keep in power the smallest minority with the greatest state control: the wealthiest 1% who own and operate what passes for a democracy but is no more so than the one which elected Hitler and the Nazis in Germany in the last century.
And that doctored historic memory of political fascism is constantly used to keep current populations in line, warning them against suffering the horrors of pre-second world war capitalism, rather than becoming aware of that system’s present horrors kept nearly secret by consciousness control and mind management techniques to maintain the prevailing disorder of our social life in maintenance of the dominating order of their private profits.
Capitalism ruled Germany before and after Hitler and still rules up to the present moment, as it does in the USA and most of the global community. Food, clothing, shelter, war, peace, health, illness, pets, tattoos and everything else are for sale at the market and available to any who can afford the price, and to none who cannot. If there is a private profit to be made, the product will be available. If only the public good will be served, forget about it. That is why we spend more than 700 billion a year on war and more than seventy billion on pets while hundreds of thousands live in the street and medical workers and the entire health care community are criminally over-worked and suffering breakdowns leading to death by disease and suicide during the present capitalist pandemic.
Germany in the 1930s, like the United States, was in the grips of an economy near collapse and moved to total ruling class domination without pretense of democratic values by putting the commanding heights of that economy under control of the state. That state, always an arm of ruling power, was a force to keep the peace among the rich and poor by having elections to maintain wealth and poverty in as polite terms as possible, even creating the world’s first national health care system long before the collapse.
The USA was also in economic chaos with as much as 25% unemployment and communist and socialist parties demanding real democracy, which would have meant radical transformation of the economic system.
While more overtly oppressive fascist capitalism took power in Germany, the social democratic form prevailed in the USA, as cooler ruling class heads saw that the market left alone, under religious belief that freedom would flower under the idiotic doctrine that buying cheap and selling dear was the word of god, was a bit more dangerous than minority wealth could rely on. It could lead to social revolution.
The capitalist war saw the USA triumph and after millions of deaths and incredible destruction the social democratic model took hold in the western world and market interference was allowed to the extent that dreadful poverty would not be visible to most of the population and confined to relatively invisible-by-design communities in national and foreign ghettos.
For some fifty years now that phase has been under assault by a return to free market fanaticism as an answer to the only slightly higher taxes and lower profits of the social democratic form, with practitioners of both schools preventing the people from seeing that it is the system itself and not the way it is arranged that guarantees failure for most at tremendous benefit to only some.
The 21st century has seen the enormous inequality of previous periods expand to proportions that only those confined to a mental concentration camp could see as a system of democracy and equality, though idealized as such by majorities reduced to accepting the purchase of elections by a wealthy minority under the guise of choice for the working majority. In the past, thousands of multi-millionaires were somehow rationalized as healthy aspects of capitalism since they would invest in businesses and thereby create jobs and prosperity for the toiling masses and their professionally trained upper classes.
At present, there are some 700 earthly creatures called billionaires, having amassed such incredible wealth and power over perverse democracies that past tyrants seen as deities by their subjects might in present terms amount to no more than what were once called rich peasants. These incredibly wealthy individuals shame the very notion of democracy and are treated as more royal than past deities in hopes that they will invest in “my” identity group’s security and that will somehow represent success for the millions left out of “my” group. Viva capitalist democracy.
At a time when the most incredibly massive state and personal debt ever accumulated have the system tilting precariously on a mountain of symbolic finance with roots in a foundation of substantial fiction, a capitalist pandemic has both aggravated the situation further while also making radical change necessary not just to overcome the pandemic but ultimately capitalism itself. So, the people are bombarded anew into fear of political fascism bringing on further deprivation leading many to be swept up in fake-left and phony-right political excuses for the preservation of the moral toilet of an economic system which must be changed for humanity, which is composed of far more earthly beings than our relatively tiny American numbers.
There are more than 7.5 billion humans on earth and the shockingly anti-democratic inequality in America is far more horrifying on a global scale, but the American numbers are bad enough to provoke social revolution once the public finds out, which will never be the case as long as bi-partisan capital owns and operates both major political parties.
The class differences which have existed since organized states began have taken on far more malevolence and created greater threats to the future of humanity under the rules of market capitalism which have rewarded many while destroying far more. The seemingly good life enjoyed by some under alleged democracy are really no different than they were under slavery, when many lived in a degree of comfort even though not owning slaves, just as a shrinking middle class now survives without owning any capital, let alone exercising any control over it. And rest assured that being privileged enough to own some stock in a major corporation will not mean the 1% will be phoning you asking your advice before hiring cheaper immigrant labor or laying off more expensive American workers in pursuit of still greater private profits.
The next American election will offer the usual lesser evil choice to be accepted by a minority of the electorate in a supposed exercise of democracy that would make sense only in a world where pimping meant true love and starvation meant being on a diet, the organizing and action that must take place to end the virus of con-19 and its parent capitalism will need to take on greater efforts than ever to avoid potential disaster not only for America but humanity itself.
Democracy, in material reality and not continued rape of language, is more necessary than ever, to bring about another world and not just a different America. We will all need to think globally while acting locally, and then not just politically but economically before that, lest our politics continually reinforce rather than transform social reality. And the lives of the American and global majority matter more than ever but will amount to less than nothing if we only think of ourselves as nationals or different-than-human members of subjugated groups, and not our class of humanity which is now, as always, the overwhelming majority of working people on the planet.
email: fpscott@gmail.com


thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-07-17--Nationwide kerfuffle developing over mask-wearing; US government system showing its chaotic structur

Nationwide kerfuffle developing over mask-wearing; US government system showing its chaotic structure.

Please make sure these dispatches reach as many readers as possible .
Share with kin , friends and workmates and ask them to do likewise .
DISPATCHES FROM MOON OF ALABAMA , BY `` B '' This article is part of an ongoing series of dispatches from Moon of Alabama America 's alarming lack of efficient and good leadership—that is , leadership that cares for and benefits the ordinary citizen—has never been more clear .
The US is now showing signs of increasing governmental dysfunction and even chaos at all top levels .
This post by Moon of Alabama 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , as is Germany , his home ) lays out how things are playing at the governors ' level , with no sign of effective coordination or authority emanating from Federal officials , while Trump himself continues to issue contradictory signals while focusing only on his reelection .
OpEds— Mask Mandates ?
Businesses Say Yes .
Some Governors Still Say No .
This sad joke is making the rounds : Unfortunately there is some truth to it .
Gov .
Greg Abbott says Harris County ca n't impose fine over face mask order @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Abbott said Monday that local officials can not impose penalties on residents who violate rules about wearing masks in public — including those in Harris County , where county Judge Lina Hidalgo ’ s mask order went into effect that morning .
“ We strongly recommend that everyone wear a mask , ” Abbott said at a press conference where he announced his plans for reopening Texas .
“ However , it 's not a mandate .
And we make clear that no jurisdiction can impose any type of penalty or fine .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ local orders , with regard to any type of fine or penalty for anyone not wearing a mask , ” he added .
Some three months later sanity had set in : ‘ It ’ s the least people can do ’ — Abbott ’ s mask order meets mixed response in S.A. - July 3 2020 The number of new cases in Texas started to rise at the beginning of June .
Hospitalization started to rise a week later and deaths numbers started to rise two weeks later than the hospitalization numbers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ established .
To prevent new waves of Covid-19 deaths one must introduce countermeasures as soon as the new case numbers trend up .
Abbott 's turn about on mask mandates should have been a warning for other governors .
Unfortunately some still do not get it .
Georgia governor suspends all local mask mandates , encourages but does n't require masks for residents - July 15 In terms of the epidemic Georgia is two weeks behind Texas .
New cases started to rise in mid June .
Hospitalizations started to rise a week @ @ @ @ @ @ @ numbers also start to rises .
It is obvious where this is going .
That 's why I do not get it .
What did Abbott think would happen in Texas ?
What does Kemp think will happen in Georgia ?
Does he wish for more deaths in his state ?
Is it malice that is driving him ?
If not malice what is it ?
The Republican governors claim to care about businesses .
But businesses will suffer as long as the epidemic is ravaging their states .
The people have fear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is n't the flu : As long as people have fear they will not go shopping or eat out while they know that their hospitals are already filled up to capacity with Covid-19 casualties .
They feel a bit safer when everyone wears a mask because they know that masks work well .
To get business back up one needs to push the epidemic down to a sustainable level and then manage it by testing and tracing .
The cheapest and most effective step on that way is to mandate the wearing of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at least threaten those who ignore the mandate with punishment .
There are further steps that need to be taken but mandating masks is the very first and easiest one .
Walmart , Target , CVS and others have recognized that under the current circumstances mandating masks is good for their businesses .
They now require nationwide a mask for anyone who wants to enter their shops .
Texas has currently some 320 new cases per day per million people .
Georgia has reached its current 322 per day per million in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ case and deaths numbers per inhabitant will therefore likely rise higher than in Texas .
Georgians can thank their governor for causing that .
Posted by b on July 16 , 2020 at 16:53 UTC | Permalink '' b '' is Moon of Alabama 's founding ( and chief ) editor .
This site 's purpose is to discuss politics , economics , philosophy and blogger Billmon 's Whiskey Bar writings .
Moon Of Alabama was opened as an independent , open forum for members of the Whiskey Bar community .
Bernhard ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ runs the site .
Once in a while you will also find posts and art from regular commentators .
You can reach the current administrator of this site by emailing Bernhard at MoonofA @ aol.com .
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License .

Please make sure these dispatches reach as many readers as possible. Share with kin, friends and workmates and ask them to do likewise.
DISPATCHES FROM MOON OF ALABAMA, BY "B"
This article is part of an ongoing series of dispatches from Moon of Alabama
America's alarming lack of efficient and good leadership—that is, leadership that cares for and benefits the ordinary citizen—has never been more clear. The US is now showing signs of increasing governmental dysfunction and even chaos at all top levels. This post by Moon of Alabama's editor (an advocate of mask wearing, as is Germany, his home) lays out how things are playing at the governors' level, with no sign of effective coordination or authority emanating from Federal officials, while Trump himself continues to issue contradictory signals while focusing only on his reelection.
OpEds—
Mask Mandates? Businesses Say Yes. Some Governors Still Say No.
This sad joke is making the rounds:
Q: What borders on stupidity?
A: Canada and Mexico.
Unfortunately there is some truth to it.
Gov. Greg Abbott says Harris County can't impose fine over face mask order - April 27 2020
Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday that local officials cannot impose penalties on residents who violate rules about wearing masks in public — including those in Harris County, where county Judge Lina Hidalgo’s mask order went into effect that morning. “We strongly recommend that everyone wear a mask,” Abbott said at a press conference where he announced his plans for reopening Texas. “However, it's not a mandate. And we make clear that no jurisdiction can impose any type of penalty or fine. “My executive order, it supersedes local orders, with regard to any type of fine or penalty for anyone not wearing a mask,” he added.
Some three months later sanity had set in:
‘It’s the least people can do’ — Abbott’s mask order meets mixed response in S.A. - July 3 2020
On Thursday, Abbott signed an executive order requiring nearly all Texans to wear masks in public.
...
First-time offenders will receive warnings. Subsequent violations are punishable by fines up to $250 — but not by jail time.
The number of new cases in Texas started to rise at the beginning of June. Hospitalization started to rise a week later and deaths numbers started to rise two weeks later than the hospitalization numbers. That pattern is by now well established. To prevent new waves of Covid-19 deaths one must introduce countermeasures as soon as the new case numbers trend up.
Abbott's turn about on mask mandates should have been a warning for other governors. Unfortunately some still do not get it.
Georgia governor suspends all local mask mandates, encourages but doesn't require masks for residents - July 15
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Wednesday suspended all local government mask mandates despite the rise in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in his state. Under the executive order the Republican governor extended the state's public emergency and said face coverings are "strongly encouraged," but not required. Kemp's executive order voids masks mandates imposed by some local governments as Covid-19 cases tick up in cities across the state, already claiming over 3,000 lives.
In terms of the epidemic Georgia is two weeks behind Texas. New cases started to rise in mid June. Hospitalizations started to rise a week later. Two weeks on the deaths numbers also start to rises. It is obvious where this is going.
That's why I do not get it. What did Abbott think would happen in Texas? What does Kemp think will happen in Georgia? Does he wish for more deaths in his state? Is it malice that is driving him? If not malice what is it?
The Republican governors claim to care about businesses. But businesses will suffer as long as the epidemic is ravaging their states. The people have fear. That fear is reasonable. This isn't the flu:
Although COVID-19 is most well known for causing substantial respiratory pathology, it can also result in several extrapulmonary manifestations. These conditions include thrombotic complications, myocardial dysfunction and arrhythmia, acute coronary syndromes, acute kidney injury, gastrointestinal symptoms, hepatocellular injury, hyperglycemia and ketosis, neurologic illnesses, ocular symptoms, and dermatologic complications.
As long as people have fear they will not go shopping or eat out while they know that their hospitals are already filled up to capacity with Covid-19 casualties. They feel a bit safer when everyone wears a mask because they know that masks work well.
To get business back up one needs to push the epidemic down to a sustainable level and then manage it by testing and tracing. The cheapest and most effective step on that way is to mandate the wearing of masks. To enforce that one must at least threaten those who ignore the mandate with punishment. There are further steps that need to be taken but mandating masks is the very first and easiest one.
Walmart, Target, CVS and others have recognized that under the current circumstances mandating masks is good for their businesses. They now require nationwide a mask for anyone who wants to enter their shops.
Texas has currently some 320 new cases per day per million people. Georgia has reached its current 322 per day per million in a much shorter time frame. Georgia's case and deaths numbers per inhabitant will therefore likely rise higher than in Texas.
Georgians can thank their governor for causing that.
Posted by b on July 16, 2020 at 16:53 UTC | Permalink
Comments. Sampler
NOTE ^1000Careerist lackeys serving the elites control the American press. Ever pushing for war and inequality, covering up the oligarchy's crimes... They are in reality shameless disinformers. No wonder the world is in such terrible disarray.
About the author(s) "b" is Moon of Alabama's founding (and chief) editor. This site's purpose is to discuss politics, economics, philosophy and blogger Billmon's Whiskey Bar writings. Moon Of Alabama was opened as an independent, open forum for members of the Whiskey Bar community. Bernhard )"b") started and still runs the site. Once in a while you will also find posts and art from regular commentators. You can reach the current administrator of this site by emailing Bernhard at MoonofA@aol.com.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
ALL CAPTIONS AND PULL QUOTES BY THE EDITORS NOT THE AUTHORS
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