Bonnie Faulkner of Guns and Butter (program) from KPFA in Berkeley, California interviews Canadian Prof. Graeme MacQueen in a one hour program.
In this excellent interview MacQueen provides many little known facts about what happened during and after 9/11 to intimidate Congressional leaders who were key figures to pass the Authorization for Use of Military Force and Patriot Act, and connects many other events to reveal a pattern of a grand false-flag conspiracy to promote a War on Terror, the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, and related events.
Graeme MacQueen discusses the intimidation of elected representatives by the executive branch in both the United States and Canada as a core feature of the War on Terror. MacQueen's pattern of Threat; Unity and Response (both internal and external) to perceived danger. The War on Terror as a threat to democracy.
Click here to access article by Craig McKee from Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth.
McIlvaine says he doesn’t tell his son’s story that often anymore because most people just don’t want to hear it. Even the 9/11 families don’t want anything to do with the idea that the event was, as he claims, perpetrated by their own government.
“People look at the United States as a father figure, and they just can’t believe their father could do something that evil.”
This statement supports my theory of why the Big Lie works so effectively. The lengthy period of childhood, that is
needed to fully develop the marvelous human brain, creates dependency on parental authority, and many people find transitioning into adulthood a challenge in today's society. I think that ruling classes intentionally take advantage of this potentially human weakness in order to sustain their rule.
Ruling classes do so by indoctrinating subordinate classes into believing that
authority figures who serve the ruling class have superior knowledge
(historically they used religious authorities, nowadays they are more often "experts") to maintain control over their subordinate populations. In today's societies capitalist control over institutions of indoctrination--education, media,
religion, entertainment, etc--strongly reinforces
authoritarian mindsets. The capitalist ruling classes use these instruments of socialization very effectively by transferring childish notions about the infallibility
of parental authority onto ruling class authorities to prevent the transition from the dependency of childhood
into responsible adulthood.
This
is especially effective if people are taught in their childhood to
always respect authority, that there are right answers to everything and
the authorities can provide them with these answers. Most ordinary people are conditioned to trust authorities of the ruling class much like they
did their parents. They can't conceive of the fact that authorities
often lie to them; and when presented with evidence of lying, especially major lies, they feel
very psychologically threatened. If successfully indoctrinated, such people entering adulthood tend to look to powerful persons (bosses) for their
material well-being, other authorities on how to live, what to believe, and for their understanding of political and
economic issues which, they are taught, are much too complicated for them.
Click here to access article by Daniel Lattier from Intellectual Takeout.
Propaganda is typically defined as the dissemination of particularly biased information in support of a political or ideological cause. In his 1965 book Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes, philosopher Jacques Ellul provided us with some of the basic characteristics of propaganda: it thwarts dialogue, it is geared toward the masses, it utilizes various media, it is continuous, it is not intended to make one think.
If these are the characteristics of propaganda, then it is no exaggeration to say that we are surrounded by it today. Most news organizations have become partisan shills and propagandists. They provide viewers with a steady stream of videos, audio clips, images, and articles—most lacking nuance and of dubious intellectual merit—that serve the intended purpose of promoting an ideology while fueling disdain for the “opposition”. And they have become very successful doing it.
Click here to access article which is a summary of the weekly commentary (written before the G20 summit) from the Conflicts Form (see this and this to learn more). ("NIRP", aka "quantitative easing, is referred to in the article. Here is what it means more specifically.)
So far I have been exceptionally impressed with the reports issued by this panel, and this piece reinforces that impression. I think it is particularly insightful toward an effort to untangle the mysterious muddle currently going on in Syria and Turkey, and the world at large.
You might also be interested in Professor Alexander Azadgan's rather pessimistic commentary entitled "US rulers - psychopaths,who will not allow peace in Syria".
Click here to access article from Washington's Blog.
Judges and lawyers know that – if someone intentionally destroys evidence – he’s probably trying to hide his crime. American law has long recognized that destruction of evidence raises a presumption of guilt for the person who destroyed the evidence.
So what does it mean when the US government intentionally destroyed massive amounts of evidence related to 9/11?
Click here to access article by F. William Engdahl from Katehon.
Engdahl supplies a brief commentary on what he thinks is the significance of 9/11.
The events of September 11th, 2001, dealing with the attacks on two towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, created the basis for a police-state transformation in the United States. It was created through an atmosphere of fear and the passage of very anti-constitutional laws, such as the “homeland security act”, which was supposed to be only a temporary measure. The war on terror, that President George W. Bush declared, referred to as a new holy crusade, has been used by the Pentagon to create a worldwide network of terror.
Click here if you wish to access this 6:32m video which was posted by James Corbett, or access the transcript which he provides with his post.
As we approach the 15th anniversary of 9/11, many bloggers are
addressing the government's interpretation of this event and its
resistance to any questioning of their interpretation. Many like Corbett, who is posting this series, are
going further by naming people who have participated in what appears to
be a coverup of the tragic event, or evidence implicates them in the planning or execution of the event, or in this case an "accessory after the fact" and therefore can be considered criminal suspects in the crime (thus far) of the century. However, I think that Baer knows to keep his mouth shut in order to preserve his comfortable retirement or even his life when crimes are committed by the ruling class.
Click here to access article by Mike Bondi, P. Eng., from Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth.
Building 7 of the World Center Complex (WTC) had always been the easiest to attack regarding the many official fantastic explanations for the collapse of the three buildings during 9/11. Here, among so many, is one more piece of research that disputes the government's fantastic and unbelievable tale.
Dr. Robert Korol, professor emeritus of civil engineering at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and a fellow of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, has led a team of academic researchers in preparing two peer-reviewed scientific papers on the destruction of World Trade Center Building 7. Both papers were published in the Challenge Journal of Structural Mechanics — the first one in July 2015, the second in February 2016.
Click here to access article by Forrest Palmer with Cory Morningstar from Wrong Kind of Green.
Don't miss the latest fantasy development by our rich allies among the desert kingdoms who like to behead people, sponsor terrorist armies, and participate in other horrific events like 9/11.
...this dance with fantasy is beyond delusional as this incessant growth continues presently, there is an acknowledgement by the leaders in the UAE that the ongoing building of this dream world is in danger by their acknowledgement that an absolute storm is brewing in the form of catastrophic climate change. F. Scott Fitzgerald once said that “the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function”, but this missive doesn’t hold true when it comes to conflicting ideas that are manifested in the tangible aspect of everyday life which can’t exist under illogical circumstances.
Click here if you wish to access this 15:42m video which was posted by James Corbett on his website, or access the transcript which he provides with his post.
As we approach the 15th anniversary of 9/11, many bloggers are addressing the government's interpretation of this event and its resistance to any questioning of their interpretation. Many like Corbett are going further by naming people who have participated in what appears to be a coverup of the tragic event, and therefore can be considered suspects in its planning and/or execution.
Click here to access article by Douglas Lyons from World Socialist Web Site.
Critics from major media do not like the recently released film entitled "Free State of Jones". The author of this post especially goes after a critic of the NY Times, the "newspaper of record" and the newspaper of the capitalist class that rules the US, because it points to the class nature of that war. In the US any kind of analysis that even hints of class issues is strictly "verboten". No doubt, the critic will go far in his career at the NY Times and other major media.
The recent film, Free State of Jones (directed by Gary Ross) was condemned by numerous media figures and film critics, perhaps most notably op-ed columnist Charles Blow of the New York Times. According to Blow, the film “tries desperately to cast the Civil War, and specifically dissent within the Confederacy, as...a populism-versus-elitism class struggle....
No, according to all agents of the ruling class, the American Civil War was all about the issue of slavery. Referring to the myth of a "solid south" waging war over slavery, the author concludes his article with this insight:
Advocates of identity politics today, such as Blow of the New York Times, cling desperately to this myth for a contemporary purpose—to divide the American working class along racial lines in order to protect and advance their own interests.
Click here to access article by Christine Dell'Amore from National Geographic.
The oceans, which have borne the brunt of most of global warming, have finally hit their limit as dying corals and plummeting fish stocks signal that the seas are at a dangerous tipping point, according to the broadest ever look at the issue. And people are already experiencing direct consequences, such as more extreme weather events, including hurricanes, says the report, released by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Click here to access article by Robert Parry from ConsortiumNews.
Traditional U.S. journalism and the American people are facing a crisis,
as the preeminent American newspaper, The New York Times, has fully
lost its professional bearings, transforming itself into a
neoconservative propaganda sheet eager for a New Cold War with Russia
and imposing a New McCarthyism on public debate.
Although Parry does do us a service by pointing out the increasing slanted anti-Russian propaganda that passes for news in US media, he implies in the introductory paragraph above that this is only an exceptional reversion to the McCarthy days of the 1950s and that major media had once functioned according to the professional principles of journalism.
Liberals like Parry are able to see this distorted news coverage simply because the anti-Russian theme began so abruptly after Russia has increasingly refused to acquiesce in the numerous Empire projects to extend their control over keys areas of the world: the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, etc; the color revolutions, the calculated overthrow of the Ukrainian government, and the attempted destruction of Syria. Otherwise there is the implication that mainstream media has mostly functioned according the lofty principles of journalism with the exception of the Vietnam War, and as such is regarded and tolerated as acceptable criticism of major media (by ruling class authorities).
A radical critique would show how news and all information (including history), like all institutions (including entertainment), has always been shaped by the ruling capitalist class to serve their interests. It is only times like this when the ruling class has been thwarted by a major player on the world scene, followed then by news coverage that rather suddenly targets that country, do liberals start to notice, question, and criticize.
As an activist of many years and after a rather thorough reading of real history, I know otherwise. I know that every ruling class has always functioned to control information to sustain their rule--that is why they are ruling classes. What has changed in recent times is the increasing sophistication of propaganda designed to serve the ruling capitalist class of the US Empire especially within the US as well as abroad.
A better article was posted last year by Don North entitled "US/NATO Embrace Psy-ops and Info-War", but it still falls short of raising the class-serving nature of information. Although it is clear from a careful reading of the article that intentionally designed news and information is now targeting ordinary people in the US:
...as part of this Brave New World of “strategic communications,” the U.S. military and NATO have now gone on the offensive against news organizations that present journalism which is deemed to undermine the perceptions that the U.S. government seeks to convey to the world.
I would go much further by furnishing evidence that US major media corporations have been thoroughly integrated and organized into a propaganda function of the ruling class.
Every ruling class depends on deception to sustain their rule simply because their control over society favors only their particular class, not society as a whole. This goes against the sense of fair play that makes up a fundamental part of our human nature. To point out the class-serving nature of information is absolutely forbidden. Those journalists that do so are banished.
The same Don North has written a book about a journalist in WWII who was banished after writing about the heroic deeds of Italian partisans and against their Nazi occupiers. It seems that the partisans had the wrong politics, that is, their interests and outlook did not conform well to the capitalist interests of the Allies. Thus he was banished as a journalist.
Click here to access article by Colin Todhunter from his website East by Northwest.
Todhunter argues that the capitalist ruling class through their corporations, their engines of profit and ultimately power, are now putting considerable pressure on scientists to serve their interests.
Coming from the GMO biotech industry, or its political mouthpieces, the term "sound science" rings extremely hollow. The industry carries out inadequate, short-term studies and conceals the data produced by its research under the guise of commercial confidentiality while independent research highlights the dangers of its products ....
It has in the past also relied on fakery in India, bribery in Indonesia and smears and intimidation against those who challenge its interests, as well as the distortion and the censorship of science (see this and this about the "Seralini affair" as well).
The GMO agritech sector is only concerned with a certain type of science: that which supports its aims.
Click here to access article by economist David Ruccio from his website Occasional Links & Commentary.
Everyone knows Wall Street is just a racket, soaking up large portions of the surplus and stuffing the pockets of wealthy bankers. That’s especially true since the spectacular crash of 2007-08, when millions lost their jobs and homes.
But many people also harbor the illusion, based on the relentless campaign from mainstream economists and financial journalists, that perhaps Wall Street bankers, even if they’re not doing God’s work, are at least doing something—anything—that is useful for the wider society. Why else would they have been bailed out with taxpayer money and, then as now, be paid such a fortune?
Click here to access this book review and commentary by Stuart Jeanne Bramhall from Dissident Voice.
Bramhall is a retired psychiatrist formerly from Seattle but now living in New Zealand as a political refugee after fleeing from FBI harassment. In this article she reviews a book by John L. Potash entitled Drugs as Weapons Against Us which reveals the history of our and the British ruling classes' close relationship with highly addictive drugs for purposes of profit and as a weapon against their targeted enemies.
Author John L Potash devotes special attention to the long involvement of the British and US governments in illegal drug trafficking – for the political and financial benefit of the elite families who control these governments. Most of the book focuses on MKULTRA, the top secret CIA program devoted to developing and experimenting with mind altering drugs, such as LSD, MDA (an ecstasy precursor), STP, PCP and Scopolamine.
.... As the title suggests, Potash is mainly interested in the CIA’s use of LSD (with the help of British intelligence, which ran a parallel MKULTRA program at the Tavistock Clinic) to “neutralize” leftists and activist pop stars, such as Paul Robeson, Mick Jagger, Abbie Hoffman, Brian Jones, Janis Joplin, John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix.
Click here to access article by Wu Yan from China Daily (based in Beijing, China--USA version).
This article reports on six achievements that resulted from the conference. I also recommend other articles: "China convinces G20 nations with ‘fair’ communique" from Euractiv and "China’s G20 summit was big on show, but short on substance" from Australian based The Conversation.
I think that this G20 summit, in which the most important leaders from capitalist countries and countries where private enterprises are used as major engines of development, served mostly as a platform for them to exchange ideas about further economic development. Because it was hosted by the Chinese government, it offered a major platform for China to urge the world leaders to support its win-win policies, the Belt and Road development plans for the Eurasian continent, and the China established Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank. However, many other issues were discussed at the conference including the Syrian conflict, refugees, computer hacking, terrorism, etc.
To assuage those concerned about the effects of further economic growth driven only by profitable opportunities, US and China ratified the Paris Agreement to limit the global warming to 2C by the end of this century but without any specific shorter term commitments. (To be fair to China, they are making some efforts at encouraging environmentally friendly investments.) This, of course, is the major failing of China's win-win policy. Under this principle the Chinese have always sought economic development as a means of reducing conflict particularly within its borders, but increasingly by investing in the development of other countries. This has worked wonders for China and is having a major influence for better relations particularly with other developing countries.
But the fact remains that unbridled economic development for its own sake is contributing to the increasing crisis of climate destabilization. On the other hand, their win-win policies also contribute to peaceful solutions and cooperation among nations. This is in sharp contrast to the hostile, imperial policies of the US in general, and in recent incidents in relations to other countries: the US delegation's recent arrogant behavior at the G20 and in the attempt to lecture the Philippine government about its handling of criminals.
Click here to access article by Tyler Durden from Zero Hedge.
Durden reveals how privately owned central banks are attempting to keep economies going by issuing money to major economic enterprises. Such banks create money on their computers and issue it at low cost to enterprises that appear to be profitable regardless of what effects they might have on the world's ecosystem. The motto that capitalists live by is "profits über alles".
Yes, I know that they, in their control of the government, try to provide a cover of responsibility by setting up regulatory agencies to oversee the operations of these corporations, but the activities of such agencies are always compromised by low budgets and staffed by personnel who have ties to these very corporations.
Click here to access article by Nozomi Hayase from Information Clearing House.
Hayase lifts the mask of "democracy" off the USA and finds mostly deep psychopathology among its leadership (capitalist ruling class).
Those who are devoid of empathy hide their lack of internal structure in a façade of normalcy. By emulating good human attributes, these unknown members of society prey on the rest. They have found the best way to mask their vice by infiltrating governments and directly altering the definition of the norm. Through control of monetary supply and monopoly over markets, these 1% pathological beings have financially engineered a perversion of humanity through a pyramid Ponzi scheme of Darwinian survival of the most callous and cunning. By turning morality upside down, they not only make their deviance invisible, but actively incentivize these disturbing characters, making all people engage in this race to the bottom.
Click here to access article by Scott Jay from libcom.org.
The author poses some very difficult questions that left-liberal activists have a lot of difficulty answering such as "how serious is she or any Green Party leaders to solve the myriad and profound problems of today's nation?" In contrast to this party that seems to offer political careerists many advantages and their supporters a "warm fuzzy feeling", the author points to the real dedicated activists.
It is not the case that everybody involved in political organizing in the US is simply looking for a warm fuzzy feeling when they go home at night. Rather, there are hundreds and thousands in cities like Ferguson and Baltimore and Anaheim and Salinas and Milwaukee and Oakland who have risen up against police violence. They are not looking for a good feeling, rather they are looking to protect their lives from state forces that want to kill them. They are not revolting out of inspiration over a Keynesian economic program or a promise to cancel their student loans, rather they are risking their lives and their livelihoods to construct a different world because they cannot survive in the one that they have been born into. They have nothing to lose but their chains.
Click here to access article by Karl Mathiesen from Climate Home.
Once more we see the representatives of ruling classes in the nations of the G20, who use capitalist methods and are committed to economic growth rather than economic justice, cannot agree on any commitments to deadlines to reduce their burning of fossil fuels. This, at least, is an honest admission that ecological sustainability and capitalism are incompatible. Their reaffirmations on climate commitments are only to assuage those in the public who are concerned about the accelerating degradation of the biosphere and the growing symptoms of climate destabilization.
Leaders of the world’s biggest economies reaffirmed their commitment to tackling climate change as the G20 summit came to a close in Hangzhou on Monday night.
What they did not agree on were hoped-for deadlines to ratify the Paris climate agreement and phase out fossil fuel subsidies.
Click here to access article by Alain Savard from Jacobin.
The Quebec student movement centered in Montreal had very impressive victories in 2012 against the provincial government which was intent on raising tuition and outlawing student demonstrations. This article attempts to analyze why and how they succeeded in contrast to other campuses in the rest of Canada and the US.
It appears to me that the basic ingredients are one-day strikes, general student assemblies which are limited in size, maintaining an activist core, and the hiring of more permanent key staff funded by student fees. You might glean other elements that contribute to their success. He concludes his article with this statement:
As the impact of the Great Recession drags on, the time is ripe for student unions across Canada, and the United States to take a page from the Quebec students’ playbook and take back their campuses.
